MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3 February 2011

Impulse Buying – Beat It With A Sound Financial Plan

Although a recent Westpac survey shows that New Zealanders fritter away $16M a day on impulse purchases, falling into expenditure traps is easily avoidable with the right plan, an Auckland-based Chartered Accountant who paid off her mortgage in less than four years, says.

Hannah McQueen, Chartered Accountant and founding director of enableMe financial personal trainers, disagrees with Westpac Chief Executive David McLean’s advice that “impulse saving” is a good way to achieve financial goals.

“To really get ahead financially, you need to have a plan that is tailored to your expenditure and lifestyle, rather than hoping that if you stick a bit of money in the bank once in a while you will magically reach your financial objective,” Mrs McQueen said.

“The answer is to allow for a certain amount of expenditure, which might even mean allocating a certain amount of money each week for impulse purchases. A proper plan and budget will let you spend money on the things you want while also achieving your long-term goals.

“Budgeting is easy to do in theory, but changing income levels, children, partners, and mortgages can all interfere with smooth financial sailing. There will always be something on the horizon that requires expenditure, which is why a proper plan that factors in your lifestyle and likely changes over the short-to-medium horizon will help you set and achieve your goals.”

Mrs McQueen says that using her company’s qualified experts to apply financial ‘smarts’ to a person’s situation can let them reach their financial goals with little or no change to their lifestyle.

“Getting a better paying job isn’t always the answer to financial stress. I deal with plenty of clients with high salaries who still find themselves going backwards or not saving what they feel they should be able to,” Mrs McQueen said.

“Many of our clients are surprised to discover they have been frittering away between $10,000 and $20,000 a year. That’s money that can easily be saved when they know how.

“Everyone can benefit from sitting down with someone to take an objective look at where their money is going and work out a plan and some priorities. The answer might be to re-structure the mortgage, prioritise expenditure, or set some clear financial goals so that there’s a reason to save and a way of measuring your progress. The important thing is to have a proper plan.”

After realising that her own $350,000 mortgage would mean paying $1M to the bank, Mrs McQueen developed and patented a mortgage repayment formula that she calls “mortgage optimisation”.

The formula allowed her and her husband to pay off their mortgage in only three-and-a-half years. She started the company enableMe in 2007 to help other families pay off their mortgages faster and achieve their financial goals.

ENDS

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