For most Australians the dream of owning their own home is a very high priority. We work very hard to pay-off our home mortgage, educate our children hopefully provide for a better lifestyle for our family.

You must have a plan to be debt free and this is all about managing our money early in our life. A lot of us only look at doing this when we have around 10 years to retirement and we start to wonder how we can afford to retire ! Time is our worst enemy, if we can start young quality lifestyle is obtainable, which may be at various levels as we all have different circumstances.

• Use a finance vehicle - have a home loan that is structured correctly to work for you, that suits your particular circumstances, whether it be a Standard loan or a Line of Credit facility.
• Understand all the features of the loan – you will be surprised at how you can then make use of your loan
• Budget – take the time to do your budget, then act on it……………

• Keep a weekly, monthly, yearly record of your budget ( if you require some budget worksheets please call us)
• Monitor your mortgage.
• Leave all excess monies in your mortgage if possible. Most mortgages these days charge interest on a daily rate and have re-draw facilities.
• Target personal debt. Consolidate into the loan if possible and put excess funds from consolidating your debts into the loan as additional payments.
• Build up a credit balance in your loan – this gives you a "buffer" if you lost your job for a couple of months or have illness in the family. Less stress on the family.
• If you need help to get started - ask for it and gets some guidance, seek professional advice !
• Make the effort – you will then move into the upper 30% of Australians who have realized the need to take steps to fully secure their future. The first step of money management is the hardest to take.

By taking the time to act on the little things you will find that you could save thousands of dollars of interest over the life of a loan, pay the loan out many years sooner and have your home free of debt.

You can then stay this way if this is your comfort zone or suits your circumstances due to work and age or you can start to use the equity in your home to build future wealth assets, plan for retirement lifestyle and save through retirement planning.