This is a collaborative post.
Image Courtesy of Pixabay
Life throws many things at us and some of the biggest decisions of our lives usually cost big as well. However, with careful planning and a little effort on our part, they don’t have to. Huge expenses such as medical treatment, education, funerals and home sales can cost a lot of money, but there are some methods for reducing the cost, getting the best deal or preparing for expenses in the long term.
Many important life events have large initial expenses, but this will only feel like a huge expense if you haven’t prepared for it. In the UK alone, millions of couples have incurred massive debts due to taking out wedding loans (an average of £9,167, which still only covered a third of the total cost.
You don’t need anyone to tell you that this is ridiculous and there are some things that you can do right now in order to manage some of life’s biggest expenses:
- Use Comparison Websites
- Set Up Payment Plans
- Open Savings Accounts
Comparison websites have been around for a while now and are a quick method of finding the right company in a given industry. Payment plans are an excellent way of offsetting the large costs associated with things such as dental treatment, and savings accounts are great for squirreling away money for an important life event.
Use Comparison Websites
You may or may not have seen the funny TV ads with the cute little meerkats, yet despite their comedic value, comparison websites are seriously efficient at what they do. From a burgeoning industry in the mid-1990s to a multi-billion dollar industry now, these easy-to-use sites can find the best deal for you for almost anything.
Things like car insurance, utility suppliers and even conveyancing quotes can be found on the many web-based comparison sites that now litter the internet. However, some of them are paid to promote specific companies, so be aware that the top business listed might not be the best, but these are required to be labelled as such.
Set Up Payment Plans
For the most frugal of you out there, you might shudder at the thought of setting up a recurring monthly or weekly payment that comes directly out of your bank account and into the account of a business or service provider. But the fact of the matter is that some services are worth paying these small fees over a potentially large amount should they be needed.
Such things as funerals, dental treatments and even household furniture and flooring can now be paid for with payment plans. When you consider that even the cheapest funeral service will set you back almost £3,000, a couple of pounds a week doesn’t sound so bad after all.
Open Savings Accounts
Of course, the age-old tradition of saving money is always an option and one that should be considered for some of life’s more important events. Mortgages are very dangerous and saving for a home might be a better option or perhaps for your daughter’s wedding, the kids’ college fund or even as inheritance should the worst happen.
But just stuffing wads of cash under your mattress isn’t feasible anymore. Inflation and interest rates have a dramatic impact on how much cash is worth, so saving it in a specialised and safe savings account might be a better idea. Banks will also provide interest on money saved so you actually get a return on investment in yourself.
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