'A Girl’s Guide to Money' - Top Tips for 2009

10 months ago 07th Jan 15:07

Money matters are at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the moment, with the current financial climate placing a heavy burden on society.

To help women tackle their money worries and plan sensibly for the year ahead, financial expert Laura Howard, author of A Girl’s Guide to Money, offers her top tips on holidays, nights out and budgeting.

When confronting the issue of how much money women can afford to spend each month, Howard warns that people tend to forget about their larger one-off expenses, such as holidays, weddings and birthdays.

“If women save the money each month in a separate account, it’s all the better,” says Howard. “And they will be earning interest on it too”.

To do this, she advises that women work out how much money these special occasions will cost, and divide that amount by the number of months leading up to them, so that the money can be saved in equal measures and more gradually.

Secondly, Howard urges people to be realistic when working out a budget for each month, as this will make the spending limit more easily achievable.

“A budget is rather like an exercise plan,” she says. “It’s easy to draw up, but sometimes a lot more difficult to carry out”.