Author and accountant Steve McKnight says anyone can learn to revamp their financial situation from surviving to thriving, no matter their income.
In his new book, Money Magnet: How to Attract and Keep a Fortune that Counts, McKnight provides a simple yet powerful guide to make, manage and multiply your money.
Here, he offers up his top tips to avoid paying a ‘lazy tax’, which is money you voluntarily pay when you forget to negotiate a better deal.
Query your home loan
Engage the services of a mortgage broker to see if they can find a lower interest rate loan. If they can, ask your current lender to match it, and if they won’t, move your business. Even if you only negotiate a small discount, on a big loan, over a long time, the savings will be significant.
Tackle the energy providers
Make it a rule to price shop your power at least once a year. Power providers are always dangling incentives and lower prices to get new sign-ups, and then hope you prefer the convenience of sticking with them rather than shopping round.
Revise your insurance
As for energy providers, price shop your home and car insurance annually to see if you can get a better deal. Before changing, ask your current provider to price match, and if they can’t or won’t, then move.
Look at your phone and internet bill
The rule is to pay for what you use, not what you don’t. Paying for data and speeds that you rarely use but want ‘just in case’ is flushing cash down the ‘toilie’. If you require more data or more speed for a special occasion, you can usually buy the extra needed by the block.
TV subscriptions add up
Keep one paid TV subscription at a time, for two months at a time. Binge watch the shows you like, then cancel and move on to the next TV subscription. You’ll get through six providers in 12 months, watch all the good shows, but only effectively pay for one membership.
We all have vices
Finally, name and number your vices and make the call on whether the cost is worth the benefit. It might not be an all-or-nothing decision, but rather a less-is-more mindset. Here’s a few on the vice list to consider with the average weekly spend in after-tax dollars next to it (Wallis, 2021), which I have recalculated back to before-tax dollars, assuming a tax rate of 30 per cent.
| After Tax | Before Tax | ||
| Spending Category | Weekly | Annual | Annual |
| Recreation and culture | $208 | $10 816 | $15 452 |
| Hotels, cafes and restaurants | $120 | $ 6 240 | $8 915 |
| Alcoholic beverages | $46 | $2 392 | $3 418 |
| Cigarettes and tobacco | $36 | $ 1 872 | $2 675 |
For instance, if your marginal tax rate is 30 per cent, then $10 816 in after-tax dollars requires $15 452 in pre-tax dollars. If your spending isn’t under control, then it’s out of control, and that’s a problem because runaway spending repels money. To fix the problem, you need to learn and implement spending control.
