Financial fitness is not that different to physical fitness. Both take time, moderation and discipline, and both are equally rewarding in terms of improving your quality of life.
Here’s a five-step plan for putting your finances in healthy working order.

1. Know what you want

When you set out to improve your fitness you usually have a goal in mind – maybe you want to look good for summer or be fit enough to keep up with the kids. Do the same with your finances: work out what you want to achieve so that you can make a financial plan for how to get there.
       2.  Make a plan
To include exercise into your week you have to schedule it in. Maybe you have to wake up earlier? Give up your lunch break? Take the same approach when making a plan for financial fitness: ask yourself what practical actions you can take on a daily and weekly basis to meet your goals.
       3.  Aim for moderation
It’s easier to stick with a new habit or goal if you give yourself some flexibility. There will be days when you don’t feel like exercising, just as there will be days when you spend more than your budget allows. Give yourself permission to have these occasional treats. Without moderation you are more likely to give up because it all seems too hard.
       4.  Focus on your weak spots
It’s often the body parts you avoid dealing with that need the most attention. For example, if you hate working abdominals, you’ll fail to build strength in that area. A universally disliked financial chore is tracking spending, yet ignoring it won’t make it go away.
       5.  Use mental preparation 
Starting and maintaining a fitness routine requires willpower, effort and accountability. It’s no different with finances because in both situations there is often a lifetime of bad habits that need to be broken. When faced with roadblocks, remind yourself why you are making these changes – to get out of debt, to afford a new car, to take a holiday.

Some home loan approvals can be processed in days, others take weeks. Why the delay?
Don’t be tempted to blame your mortgage broker because rarely they are the ones causing the hold-up. Usually it is either a delay by the lender or incomplete client paperwork that causes the blowout.
Some lenders fund loans faster than others, and an increase in the number of loans can slow down a lender's usual processing time. The time of year also has a part to play – expect delays the closer you get to Christmas, as well as around Easter and the end of the financial year.
You can help move along the mortgage approval process by pulling together the necessary documents before you apply for a loan. Missing documents and inconsistent information on the paperwork are common reasons for delays.
The more complex the loan, the longer it takes for lenders to review. This is why many clients value the help of a mortgage broker – to assist with the time-consuming task of getting loan documents ready for approval.
Another important benefit of dealing with a mortgage broker is that we often know which lenders are experiencing processing delays, which means that if you need fast home loan approval we can usually recommend a lender that is more likely to provide approval within the necessary time frame.

We all set goals, either consciously or unconsciously, but most of us are content with vague easily set targets that are just as easily forgotten the next day.
We sort of know where we’re going and we count upon fate, luck, providence and quick thinking to get us there. This might work sometimes, but it also makes it easy for us to become confused, find excuses or give up.
Goal setting is one of the simplest and most powerful tools you have to bring about positive changes in your life. Like driving in a big city, it’s harder to find your way if you don’t know exactly where you’re going.
Setting goals is like stopping to look at a map – it takes a few minutes to do it, but it makes sure you’re headed in the right direction.
Here are some examples of the big picture goals we help our customers achieve.
Moving to a bigger house
We often hear parents say they wished they had moved to a bigger house when their children were young, rather than when they are teenagers and nearly out of home.
Parents of young children are often faced with the dilemma of where to prioritise their finances: family holidays, children’s education or a larger home? Some become paralysed by indecision and end up following a path without purpose.
To overcome indecision like this it helps to map out your goals – making sure they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-framed. If your goal is a bigger house then work out your cash flow on paper – what does it look like this year? What do you expect it to look like in three years?
Talk to us about what funding options are available and what risks you may encounter.
Funding retirement
It’s easy to put your head in the sand about retirement and hope it will sort itself out nearer the time, but unfortunately it rarely does.
Property can be used as a means to fund retirement but a successful approach requires goals to be set well in advance. The two commonly used retirement property investment approaches are to live off the equity or to live off the rental income, yet many investors don’t have a strategy to ensure their plans bear fruit.
As your mortgage broker we can help you plan for success by setting you up with the right financing, as well as pointing you in the right direction for specialist financial planning and tax advice.