Transcript

NARRATOR:

Making sound financial decisions, including those when you’re buying big-ticket items requires a clear and coherent plan. Let’s see how a four-step decision-making model can help with spending decisions. Step 1 is where you assess your finances. The budgeting and taxation model will help with this.

Try to identify items in your weekly, monthly, or annual budget where you’re paying too much. Can you get a better deal? This may involve looking at internet comparison sites, studying personal finance web sites or sections in newspapers, or simply talking to your family and friends.

Step 2 is where you identify what you’re going to do to improve your finances once you’ve assessed them. You may be paying too much for your gas and electricity, and you might think the best course of action to take is to switch energy supplier. Cancelling membership of clubs and societies you don’t really use, changing the supermarket you use, or moving to a new insurer could all save you money too.

But before making a change, it’s often worth approaching your existing supplier to see if it can offer you a better deal. Don’t be shy about haggling here. Compare any deal it offers with those offered by alternative suppliers to make sure you’re making the right decision, whether that’s to switch or stay.

Step 3 is, on the face of it, the easy bit. Simply act on your decision, say terminating your existing energy deal and signing up to a new supplier. For some utility services, there are sites that do this for you. But this is the stage where inertia, where you put off a financial decision, or stalling, perhaps from misplaced loyalty to an existing supplier can interfere with good decision making. So don’t delay and don’t stall if you want to get a better deal and help your finances.

Step 4 is the final stage of the decision-making model. Once you’ve acted, don’t just sit back. Make sure you review the decisions you’ve made. For example, has switching supermarkets saved you money? Is the new gym really offering better value for your money than the one you used before?

Reviewing your decisions is vital. Only then will you know for sure if the action taken was wise. If not, you may need to start again at step 1. Really, you should always be using the four-step model with the process of assessing, deciding, acting, and reviewing becoming a routine process for managing your finances effectively.

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