Even the most budget conscious person is always finding ways to save money and budget better. Whether you’re wanting to create a smart money buffer for emergency situations, paying off a loan or looking to invest in a home or holiday experience; every single one of us can benefit from saving more money. Whilst we all like to believe we have a good sense of discipline when it comes to saving funds, putting aside money on a regular basis can be financially stressful and difficult for many. Not to mention those times when you dig into it promising you’ll repay back with the next pay check.
Online calculators and budgeting apps can be a huge lifesaver. Designed to almost act as your own personal finance advisor, they offer an easy outlet to manage your incoming and outgoing funds. Budget management is an essential part of any successful saving plan. It allows you to clearly define your finance goals and visually see how you’re working towards them. Online calculators help keep things in check and there’s one to suit every goal and savings plan. Here’s a few of the top ones to consider:
Salary sacrifice calculator
If you haven’t clued onto the benefits of salary sacrifice – you’re missing out! Salary sacrifice is an arrangement made for employees by their employer to receive a combination of income and benefits in a tax-effective manner. Whilst part of the regular salary is sacrificed, it’s taken out before tax enabling better buying power for the employee. Superannuation, fringe benefits, car parking costs, novated leasing and loans are all examples of payments that can be salary sacrificed.
Salary sacrifice calculators can be utilised online to weigh up your yearly salary and compile all your personal details from education, corporate, health and government benefits to determine individual benefits to your situation. From here, you can compare the effect on your take home pay and how these figures reflect and profit superannuation benefits, novated leasing or other advantages linked with salary sacrifice.
Novated lease calculator
Novated lease is a very popular benefit of salary sacrificing. It’s one of the smartest ways for salary earning employees to get a new car in an arrangement between their employee and bank. This process is beneficial to both the employee and employer. Online novated lease calculators offer a reasonable estimate of the cost of salary packaging vehicles under novated leases.
These calculators allow you to enter in your salary, your desired car and your lease term. From here, lease payments are calculated and you can determine how much money you will save. Play around with different cars and lease terms to see how this will affect the money you save in the long run to see which offer is best suited to your individual needs.
Calculate how much a Novated Lease could save you each year
Saving goals calculator
We all have a savings goal (or multiple ones) in mind. For some, it’s to purchase or build a house. For others it’s to pay off that dreaded loan or credit card, work towards that paradise holiday or simply create a savings buffer that can be utilised for anything down the track. Having savings goals – regardless of what they entail – is an important part of budgeting for any persona, couple or family. It gives you something solid to work towards and offer the right tools for positive budgeting in the future.
An online savings goals calculator like the following will give you the steps you need to put your savings plan into action. The timeline offers an idea on how long it’ll take you to reach this goal, based on the amount of money you’re putting aside, how much you earn and what other financial commitments you have. From here, you can also find specific calculators to assist with personal loans, retirement plans, credit card loans and mortgage calculators.
Offset home loan calculator
If you have a home loan, then an online offset calculator can help to pay less interest. It can also be beneficial in helping to pay your loan off faster, which let’s face it – every homeowner wants to achieve! Almost all home loans can have room for saving potential but many people fail to (or don’t have the time) to shop around and consider all options. Find an offset home loan calculator like this one to manage your loan repayments, compare home loans and interest rates and make sure you’re getting the best deal for your financial budget.
Budgeting and saving doesn’t have to be hard or confusing. With the right information, online tools and apps – you can save a significant amount of money and start moving forward to ticking off those financial goals. Chat to one of our staff today to find out how we can help.
