6 smart money moves to make in 2024

Want to make the most of your money in 2024? Here are six things to do that may help you improve your financial fitness in the year ahead.

Many people see the new year as an opportunity to make a fresh start. Fitness and finances are two areas that often feature on people’s New Year’s resolutions lists. If you want to take control of your finances in 2024, here are nine smart money moves you can make that could help you save or make money.

1. Review your home loan

Chances are your home loan repayments will be one of your biggest regular expenses so making sure you’re not paying any more than you have to is definitely a smart money move. According to Canstar, variable rates on owner-occupier loans with an 80% loan to value ratio, start from as low as 5.69% and go up to 9.39% – that’s a massive variation. The average variable rate is sitting at 6.91%.

If you were paying the average variable rate of 6.91% your monthly repayments would be $3,296 and you’d pay about $687,000 interest over the life of the loan. If you moved to a loan charging 5.69% you could potentially reduce your repayments by close to $400 a month and save about $143,000 in interest over 30 years.

Take a look at what rate you are paying on your home loan and check how it stacks up compared to other home loans on the market. If there are better rates on offer, it’s a good idea to talk to your lender first and ask if they can offer you a cheaper rate. This means you can avoid any of the costs associated with refinancing.

If you have no luck with your current lender then you may consider making the switch to get a better deal.

2. Shop around for better deals on your household bills

From various insurances and utilities to internet and mobile plans, there are a lot of regular bills that take a big chunk out of our bank accounts each month. You may be able to reduce the amount you’re spending on these bills each month by shopping around for better deals on all your regular expenses. It might seem overwhelming but you don’t have to do it all at once. Pick one bill to look at each week, fortnight or even month.

It’s also worth doing a subscription audit. Make a list of all the subscriptions you are paying for whether that be streaming TV or music services, shopping rewards programs or a meal kit delivery service. Work out which ones you can do without and ditch them to save some cash.

3. Revisit your emergency fund

Having a stash of cash set aside for unexpected expenses means you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay for a new fridge if yours stops working or where you’ll find the cash to cover the cost of root canal.

If you don’t already have an emergency fund, then now is as good a time as any to start building one. If you do already have an emergency fund ask yourself whether it needs to be topped up.

4. Clear your ‘bad’ debt

Many Aussies have had to resort to using credit cards to cover their everyday expenses thanks to the cost of living crisis. If you have credit card debt that you can’t seem to get rid of, it’s a good idea to put a plan in place to clear it as quickly as possible.

You may consider taking out a balance transfer offer where you pay no (or very low) interest for a limited period on the debt you transfer to a new provider. There are several providers currently offering 0% for periods of 12 months or even more. At the time of writing, for example, both ANZ and Westpac were offering a balance transfer rate of 0% for 28 months. When comparing balance transfer offers be sure to find out what the rate reverts to when the introductory period ends and if you’ll be charged a balance transfer fee.

If you have multiple debts other options you may want to explore are the snowball or avalanche methods or consolidating your debt into a personal loan or your home loan.

→ Related: How to become debt free: 8 tips to boost your finances

5. Put your savings on autopilot

One of the simplest ways to grow your savings is to put them on autopilot. Once you have decided how much you want to save from each pay, arrange for that amount to be automatically transferred to a separate savings account. Automating the process means you don’t have to remember to do it yourself each time and there will be less temptation to spend it than if it was sitting in your everyday account until you transfer it.

6. Give your super fund a health check

Your superannuation is a very important asset so it’s vital to give it a bit of attention. Some of the things you should be taking a closer look at include:

• How has your super fund performed over the long term and how do the returns compare to similar funds?
• Are the fees you are being charged reasonable when compared with similar super products?
• How is your money being invested and does it still match your needs?
• The insurance cover and whether it’s enough for you or if you need to make any changes to the level of cover.

If you can, it can be worth adding extra money to your super. It doesn’t have to be a large amount – even $20 a week can make a difference to your retirement savings. Or, perhaps you can make a one-off contribution if you get a refund from the tax man. If you have no spare cash consider using a cashback provider such as Grow My Money (formerly Super Rewards) or Boost Your Super. They’ll put any cashback you earn from shopping straight into your super account.

→ Related: Super hacks that could help you pocket up to $171,225 more at retirement

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