Family Financial Planning

With the holiday season fast approaching, now can be a great time to bring up plans for potential improvements – both financially and within our home life. Here we provide some useful tips on how to discuss and create a joint plan for your family’s financial future and to work collectively in small ways towards reaching your goals. If homeownership is one of your goals, we are happy to discuss your options and provide the Fairway Advantage Pre-Approval™* so you can make a strong offer when the time comes.

CARVE OUT TIME FOR A PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATION

While you are just about to sit down to a big fancy dinner with all of your relatives probably isn’t the best time to bring up any long-standing financial issues (or groundbreaking resolutions you’ve come up with) to your kin. The subject of finances is a sensitive one – it can be personal or seem intrusive to some and is best discussed when all parties have a little bit of time to mentally prepare and adjust to the concept. A better approach is to openly schedule a time to brainstorm collectively with your family members on how you can work together towards a common goal. That way, they’ll be better prepared to handle any difficult aspects of the conversation, and will likely have creative ideas to contribute that you probably didn’t consider.

START SMALL

Saving money and cutting costs can definitely seem like a daunting task, particularly with all of the cutbacks and layoffs that have happened over the course of the past couple years. A great way to bring the family together while bringing in a bit of extra cash for the holidays can be something as simple as an old fashioned Saturday yard sale or perhaps even a fire sale on eBay. Not only will it give you a chance to de-clutter your valuable home space, but it’ll also feel good to work on as a home improvement project with your loved ones – going through some old memories and making some room for new ones in the process.

Another small step towards saving a bit of money that nearly all families could use a little help with is lowering the interest rate on your credit cards, especially if you have outstanding balances that you are trying to pay down at Fairway Independent Mortgage Company. While in the past this may have been laughably impossible – many credit card companies have been quite lenient in their policies the past couple years due to the economic impact of the pandemic. There could be major reward savings at stake if you take the time to call your creditor and inquire as to what your options might be for a lower APR given your circumstances.

THINK GREEN

Be open to discussing improvements and changes to daily routine chores or DIY projects that can both better your living space and save a little money in the process. Many everyday tasks can be modified slightly to cut costs with minimal effort on your family’s part. Only running the dishwasher when it’s full, making creative meals out of leftovers, starting your own mini herb garden, and investing in a water filter (versus buying bottled water) are all great examples of things that benefit both your wallet and the planet. There are many positive changes you can make in your household that will help your family spend less without really any inconvenience. Working on how to lower your home electric bill can be a productive long term project for the whole family. This will not only help you instill good practices towards cleaner living but learning how to use less water and energy will save the household valuable dollars at the same time.

Source By: https://www.fairway-newengland.com/family-financial-planning/