Wednesday, 20 April 2011

10 Resolutions for the New Financial Year

The start of a new financial year provides a number of opportunities to develop or fine-tune your savings and investments so it's a good time to review your strategy and approach. Here are my 10 financial resolutions for the next tax year.

With the new tax year you will have a number of opportunities:
  • new ISA allocation (for you - and possibly a spouse)
  • new payment into a company pension or SiPP (for you or another member of your family)
  • managing your tax affairs, if they are more complicated
  • reviewing annual deals with utilities, Sky or cable operator

The New Financial Year also gives a reason to review your expenditure, to see whether there is anything that is no longer essential.

So, my 10 Financial Resolutions are as follows - with a link to the relevant level of the DIY Income Investor Income Pyramid:

1) Review my current account - my preferred provider, Lloyds TSB has reduced the interest on offer (Level 2).

2) Make my savings work harder by moving cash out of an easy access account to a fixed interest account (Level 3).

3) Cut out one item of regular expenditure - in my case this is buying books (from Charity shops): I'll use the library instead (Level 1).

4) Plan for major expenditure in the future (my children's University costs).

5) Continue to develop alternative income streams - such as this blog and selling on eBay (a new topic I'll need to develop).

6)  Hunt out the best utility deals - in my case, looking for the best replacement deals for electricity/gas supply (Level 1).

7) Make the most of tax breaks (UK) - pay the full allocation into my ISA and my spouse's ISA and SiPP.

8) Investigate new fixed-income investments, such as PIBS (Level 7)

9) Refine my selection process for high-yield dividend shares (Level 6)

10) Invest in my health - to maximise the time I will be able to enjoy the financial benefits of being a DIY Income Investor (more about this to come...)

So, plenty to do over the coming 12 (financial) months!


I am not a financial advisor and the information provided does not constitute financial advice. You should always do your own research on top of what you learn here to ensure that it's right for your specific circumstances.

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