Table of Contents
1. An Introduction to Mastering Money
In this short introduction, you will begin to understand how better money management will fatten your wallet or purse, plus make you feel better mentally, physically and spiritually.
2. The Benefits of Better Budgeting
How to:
Boost your earnings
Claim state benefits
Get a pay rise
Get help with childcare costs
Keep a spending diary
Keep up with the Joneses
Manage your money like a business
Measure and manage your progress
Spend less than you earn
3. The Secrets of Spending Less
How to find gains without pain, including:
Bash your bills/trim everyday expenses
Beware of your latte factor
Claiming cashback
Getting discounts
Giving to charity/Gift Aid
Haggling
The paradox of 'affluenza'
4. Become a Better Borrower
Everything you need to know to get to grips with:
Credit cards
Current accounts and overdrafts
Getting out of debt
Home loans/mortgages/secured loans and second mortgages
Store cards
Understanding your credit report
Unsecured personal loans
5. Be a Smarter Saver
Discovering the joys of saving, including the ins and outs of:
Accounts for the over-fifties
Cash Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)
Child Trust Funds (CTFs)
Children's savings accounts
Everyday savings accounts
Guaranteed income bonds (GIBs)
National Savings & Investments (NS&I)
Regular-savings accounts
6. Protect Yourself and Your Assets
Learn how to protect yourself, your income, your family and your prized possessions through insurance. Covers:
Breakdown insurance
Car/motor insurance
Critical illness cover
Dental insurance
Extended warranties
Home insurance
Hospital cash plans
Income protection
Life insurance and mortgage protection
Making a Will
Payment protection insurance
Pet insurance
Private medical insurance
Travel insurance
7. Turn into an Intelligent Investor
How you can harness the power of long-term investing to make you rich. Topics covered include:
Alternative investments
Buying into businesses is not like buying a lottery ticket
Buy-to-let/property investing
Choosing a stockbroker
Employee share schemes (Sharesave/SAYE and Share Incentive Plans)
Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs)
Fund supermarkets and discount brokers
Guaranteed equity bonds
Index trackers
Individual savings accounts (ISAs) and Personal Equity Plans (PEPs)
Investment styles: high-yield, index-tracking, value, etc.
Monthly saving and investing lump sums
Picking individual shares
The power of compound interest
Unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs)
8. Pump up Your Pension
Planning ahead for a luxury retirement; advice covering:
Additional voluntary contributions (AVCs)
Defined-contribution/money-purchase schemes
Final-salary/defined-benefit schemes
Occupational pensions
Personal pensions
Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs)
Stakeholder pensions
State pensions
The tax benefits of pensions
9. Steer Clear of Scams
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to recognise and avoid a whole host of swindles, including:
Advance-fee frauds
Bogus property investments
Boiler rooms
Criminal cashback
Dodgy share-trading software
Fake invoices and data-protection services
Fake lotteries
Gambling syndicates
Home-working scams
Land-banking scams
Lotteries
Make a Million seminars
Phishing emails and calls
Ponzi, pyramid and matrix schemes
Premium-rate telephone lines
Scratchcards
Sham charities
Share-buyback frauds
10. Summary and useful contacts
Addresses, telephone numbers and websites