Experts reveal top savings tips to get ahead and beat inflation
Our guests have ranged from investment advisers to property experts to economists to the Shadow Treasurer. And savings tips have ranged from calculating investment risk to meal prep and cutting down on streaming services.
So, read on, and you never know - maybe you'll pick up something that will be useful for you. You can also listen to the podcast embedded below. They are in no particular ranking or order.
Of course, these savings tips are provided generally in nature, and should not be considered personal financial advice. Tips may have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Saving, Budgeting & Tax Tips
1. Have an annual savings surplus target
We're taught to spend less than we earn, so how much should that target be? I think it's really important that people don't just guess it. They should think: "Okay, this is my income coming in, this is the expenditure that I've set aside for the year, and this is the target that I'm going after."
Every decision outside of those dollars allocated is going to impact how much they're going to track over the course of 12 months. I think that's a huge one for people to be thinking about.
Ben Kingsley, investment adviser and co-founder of Moorr money app, episode 88
2. Segment your payslips into different bank accounts
I'm the annoying guy with the payroll team that asks to cut my paycheque up into different segments and pay it into different accounts. We've got an account for each of our kids … and they don't know this, yet, but they take a little bit off the top every month.
Hopefully, by the time they're 18 or perhaps a little bit older - I don't know if I can trust them at 18 to spend it wisely - they'll have a nice little savings buffer to put towards a house deposit or towards their education.
Matt Kandelaars, Property Council Australia group executive of policy and advocacy, episode 91
3. Carve some time out for financial admin
I find it really interesting that my husband never misses his tee time on a Saturday, and I always find time for Westfield on the weekend. But for some reason, with finances we always say, "I'll do that tomorrow" or "I know I've got to do a budget".
My little tip is draw a line in the sand - the beginning of the new financial year is the perfect time for us to be doing this. Put a little reminder in your phone, set an alarm, and make a date with yourself to sit there and get on top of your finances.
If we don't schedule that time, we'll just keep pushing it aside and kicking that can down the road - we'll probably be having the same conversation in five years' time about how to build our financial confidence.
Jenneke Mills, Head of Technical Services at MLC, episode 108
4. Keep your tax receipts
I'd like to emphasise the importance of keeping proper records, particularly for all of your work-related expenses. You need to keep a receipt or an invoice for all of those expenses.
Spend some time going through your books, making sure that you've actually got those expenses - all those receipts, those invoices. Otherwise, you're potentially losing out on a tax deduction.
So it is very important that you do keep those receipts and invoices, even if you might not ultimately be able to claim a deduction. It is worthwhile keeping them just so you can check with your accountant at our tax time.
Mark Chapman, Director of Tax Communications at H&R Block, Episode 102
5. Start saving early
The key to savings is compound interest. The earlier you can start your saving plan, the earlier or the quicker you can build up your savings through time - because it builds rapidly through time. So if you leave it late in life to start saving, you're going to find it a lot more difficult. But if you start early, it'll be a lot easier.
Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital, episode 106
A similar sentiment was shared by Belinda Allen, CBA's head of Australian economics, in episode 118:
"I'm a mum to two girls, nine and 12. My tip would be getting them to understand how to budget. So they are big user of a product where they can have their spending money, but also a stuff account to put money into savings," she said.
"Get kids involved at an early age in looking at their funds. And that's been a great evolution for their financial wellbeing."
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Investment Tips
6. '100 minus your age' for equities allocations
A lot of people say to maximise your retirement contributions and recognise the power of compounding - but my savings tip is '100 minus your age'.
When you are putting money into superannuation or savings, 100 minus your age should be the contribution that you put into equities. So if you are 20, 80% of your contribution should go into equities. And as you get older, the contribution to equity should reduce as you take less risk.
Greg Boland, chief strategy officer at Tiger Brokers, episode 89
7. Keep it simple
Just invest simply; shop around. For me, it's always been low cost index funds, and whether it's in superannuation or outside of that, keep it simple. Shop around, keep the fees down and over decades, that has a big impact.
Angus Taylor MP, then-shadow treasurer and member for Hume, episode 92
8. Look at gold in uncertain times
The one to watch at the moment is gold. Going back to the old relic, it's at an all time high right now as we speak, and it's attracting a lot of attention globally, because there is global uncertainty - both geopolitical trade uncertainty and economic uncertainty.
More and more investors are moving into that space - central banks buy it. It's a safe haven, as we know, against inflation as well. So that would be my tip: Keep an eye on what goes on in the gold market.
Paul Bloxham, HSBC chief economist, episode 99
9. Invest in ETFs
I'm an economist and lots of friends and relatives ask me for advice as to where they should put their money. And I think the answer is very clear and very simple; you want to put it in an equity index fund where you get a high rate of return - not every year, but on average - and it's incredibly simple.
Just go to the Vanguard site and put it in an equity index fund, or even better than that, if you're under the concessional cap, do it via your super. It's completely hassle free and it takes 15 minutes to enrol. You don't need to think about it. And then you've got 10 minutes of work when you do your taxes once a year.
Peter Tulip, chief economist at the Centre for Independent Studies, episode 103
10. Be consistent
I think one of the best savings tips that I have is just being pretty stringent with setting aside a portion of your salary or earnings or whatever it is, and making sure that without a doubt, without fail - whatever else you have going on that month, whatever else you're saving for - that you continue to put that portion into an investing bucket.
Now, I usually use an app called Raiz, which has been pretty good for me over the past six of seven years. And I've just been very diligent with every month putting the same proportion of my earnings into that account. And it's been great in terms of accumulating a long term investment and savings jar.
Eleanor Creagh, Proptrack senior economist, episode 122
Mortgage Tips
11. Keep your mortgage repayments the same
Don't change your mortgage repayments when the interest rates go down. If interest rates are going to fall from, let's say from a 6% to a 5%, what that means is if you have have a $700,000 mortgage, with the extra repayments you'd be able to save around $188,000 on your mortgage and interest.
That's massive and it also means you'd be cutting off six years and one month by paying it early. So try and not change your mortgage repayments if you can and you'll be making massive savings.
Denjola Bhutia, director of Nine Ten Finance, episode 110
12. Make the most of your offset account
I'm a big fan of offset accounts. so generally the way we've set up our finances is to put every spare dollar we have into our offset account.
Belinda Allen, head of Australian economics at CBA, episode 118
See Also: Offset Account Calculator
13. Change repayments to fortnightly
This is something we've only done recently ourselves, but a lot of people pay their mortgage monthly. One thing to consider if you're in a position to do so is to pay it fortnightly instead of monthly. It saves quite a surprisingly large amount of interest over time.
Shane Garrett, chief economist at Master Builders Australia, episode 131
See Also: Mortgage Calculator
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Lifestyle Tips
14. Cut your streaming services
We did a piece of research recently on how much Aussies are spending on subscription services - 900 bucks a year, roughly, is what Aussies spend.
All the prices seem to be going up at the moment. Netflix got rid of their basic plan; Kayo bumped its prices up by $5 a month, so $40 a month for premium.
My savings tip for listeners is to jump into their banking app, search through those transactions, make sure you're still using all these subscriptions that you're paying for because they're getting more expensive, and if you've forgotten about them, then it's money down the drain.
Matt Bowen, ING's head of consumer & market insights, episode 94
This was also echoed by Olivia McArdle in episode 120. Olivia is the head of payments and deposits at Macquarie Bank.
"I'm a big fan of always reviewing your subscriptions and culling them until someone else in the household screams when you've turned off their favourite podcast or subscription," she said.
"I'm sure we've all been caught by the seven days' free trial and then we forget to go back and turn it off after we've watched that movie or binge that series. And same for those ones that are like $2 for six months and then they go up to like $30 a month."
15. Meal plan
I think everybody stresses out when it comes to the weekly food shop. It's an extraordinary expense. Meal planning is the best way to save money - and stick to that meal plan. And also do not go food shopping when you're hungry because that's detrimental to the food bill.
Dr Nicola Powell, Domain Chief of Research, episode 98
This was a similar sentiment shared by Michael Harvey, senior food analyst at Rabobank, in episode 117.
"I've got two young kids that have got lots of after school activities, whether it's dance classes and netball training, all that sort of stuff," he said.
"We spend a bit of time on meal preparation for the week, and it's really just about trying to reduce wastage. So if you're buying a tub of cream for one meal, you want to try and use the rest of it, because that's quite expensive.
"And it's the same with fresh produce. There's nothing earth shattering in terms of what we try and do, but it's really about a well prepared meal plan for the week and trying to use up all the stuff that you're buying and reduce waste.
"Because, it's expensive, the average food basket, these days."
In a similar vein was the concept of stretching your meals, shared by Monique Llewellyn, OzHarvest National Food Waste Campaign Manager, in episode 123:
"In my household, spaghetti bolognese is always on the menu. I've got two young kids and with rising prices of groceries, one thing that I've started doing is when I make my spag bol, I actually mix it with a can of lentils because you get extra fibre, extra protein," she said.
"The lentils just absorb all the flavours of the spag bol and it bulks it out. So you get much more bang for your buck. And my kids never even noticed they're in there."
16. Use telehealth for pets and vets
You'd be familiar with the concept of telehealth in human medicine, but did you know that veterinary telehealth is actually a thing? It's fantastic.
When it's three in the morning, when everything seems so much worse, there's something going on with your dog or your cat and you're thinking, "Do I actually need to head to the 24-7 emergency centre or do I need to call my vet and get them out of bed for this?"
Whatever's going on, think about calling a veterinary telehealth service first, because for a low cost and particularly one like Vet Chat [1300 702 032] that's staffed by experienced vets, you can get some really great advice, which might not only save money, but your stress as well.
Dr Simone Maher, Chief Veterinary Officer at PetSure, episode 107
17. Wear-out your clothes and don't buy fancy labels
I'm notoriously stingy, to put it mildly. Despite my current income being quite adequate, I wear my clothes until they wear out, until they've got holes in them or they're irreparable.
If it actually wears out - if it's got a hole - I will let it go eventually and I've got to be respectable but I just don't have many clothes. I buy clothes from Kmart, my shoes are 20 bucks and they suit me fine. I just don't worry about fashion or appearing rich or anything - I just like to wear what works.
Jim Penman, founder of Jim's Group, episode 109
18. Shop around for a better insurance deal
Ring your insurer and get a discount on all those insurance policies you've got, whether they're car or house and contents or even health insurance. I've undertaken this exercise myself over the past 12 months and saved about $6,000 for the whole year just with a couple of phone calls.
Julian Finch, founder & CEO of mortgage brokers Finch Financial Services, episode 115
19. Get on the same page as your partner
I think it comes down to partnering up with someone with a similar philosophy. My now wife, Whitney, was a much better saver than me before we met and she really whipped me into shape. I found that's been probably the best star savings tip I've had.
Harry Ottley, CBA economist, episode 124
20. Shop around for fuel
I'm a big fan of the New South Wales fuel saver [FuelCheck] app. For me, there's nothing more frustrating than filling your car up and driving 50 metres down the road and finding that you could have got the exact same thing for 20 or 30 cents cheaper a litre.
Dr Joel Bowman, Domain senior economist, episode 132
And an avenue that could save fuel would be putting enough air in your tyres, as recommended by Peter Willis, director of buying at Carma, in episode 111:
"Not only does getting your tyre pressures right minimise some uneven wear, it also reduces the rolling resistance, minimising some fuel consumption. You should check it a bit like your bank account - quite often - just to make sure that you're not wearing your tyres quickly and causing yourself undue fuel usage."
The recommended pressure can be found in the car's user manual.
See Also: Fuel Finder Apps Compared