Before you do anything else, you need to get the basics right… or at least get them started! Then move on to the intermediate and advanced to-do lists after this.

• Invest in yourself, your career and/or your own business to maximise your income earning and investment capacity.

• Do a budget to analyse all your daily living expenses, and try to reduce them where possible.

• Check if your employer allows “salary packaging” of personal expenses, and if so make sure you maximise the use of this.

• Have a decent cash buffer sitting in a high interest rate online savings account, or your home loan offset account.

Refer to the following links:

www.canstar.com.au

www.ratecity.com.au

• If you don’t have a home loan, also consider putting some cash into higher interest rate term deposits and/or bonds.

Refer to the following links:

www.canstar.com.au

www.ratecity.com.au

• If you haven’t bought your first home yet, also consider utilising a first home saver account.

Refer to the following link:

First home saver account

• Pay off any outstanding personal loans as a priority.

• Pay off any outstanding car loans as a priority (especially if they are not tax-deductible for you).

• Pay off any outstanding credit card bills that are incurring interest as a priority.

• Pay off all future credit card bills when they are due, without incurring any interest.

• Avoid having numerous credit cards with high credit limits – keep this to the minimum number and to the credit limits that you really need to meet your daily needs.

• Sign up to a few frequent flyer and rewards programs (eg. associated with your credit cards, Qantas Frequent Flyers, Woolworths Everyday Rewards, Coles FlyBuys).

Refer to the following links:

Qantas Frequent Flyers

www.everydayrewards.com.au

www.flybuys.com.au

• Consider paying off any accumulated higher education (eg. HELP) debts.

Refer to the following link:

Repaying your HELP debt 2012-13

• Make sure you have adequate home building and contents insurance (and/or landlord insurance if you own investment property, and/or contents insurance if you are a tenant yourself), and regularly review the sum insured and replacement values on your policies.

Refer to the following links:

Suncorp Insurance Calculators

GIO Insurance Calculators

• Make sure you have adequate car and roadside insurance.

• Consider getting private health insurance.

• Check you are not overpaying on your home, contents, landlord, car, roadside and private health insurances using online insurance comparison websites.

• Rollover all your super accounts into one low-cost industry super fund.

Refer to the following link:

SuperSeeker

• Check with Centrelink that you are receiving any income or other benefits that you may be entitled to.

And/or refer to the following link:

A guide to Australian Government Payments booklet

• Check your state government website for any concessions you may be entitled to.

Refer to the following link:

www.gov.au

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