- Save 10% of your income. As a minimum put aside at least 10% of your monthly salary. You never know when you might need it. Place it somewhere with easy access, preferably earning interest – not under mattress!

- Search around for best deals. How often do you check out best deals available for insurance, mortgage, fuel, credit cards? I’ve just saved myself almost £200 on my car insurance renewal. Check out all brokers and online insurance companies for best quote. Use cost comparison sites such as www.kelkoo.com and www.dealtime.com. You can also save money by switching to a different energy supplier via sites such as www.uswitch.com.

- Talk to a Financial Advisor. While you can learn a certain amount from newspapers, magazines and Internet, it’s always worth discussing your financial requirements with a good IFA. Your bank may be a place to start – they may not be independent but will be able to advise you on your financial needs for your situation depending on age, family, income and future plans. The sooner you start better off you’ll be.

If you’d like some more information on getting your finances under control then contact me directly.

I work with individuals and small businesses wanting to grow. I provide the tools, techniques and strategies to help them improve their time management and planning skills to increase their productivity and effectiveness.

Risk is generally defined as return volatility, or degree of ups and downs of returns. But there's more to risk than volatility. Risk and long-term reward are generally related. Risk is chance that your actual return will be less than you expected.

People sometimes think that a good return can be achieved with little or no risk. Unfortunately, that's impossible. To achieve your objectives, you need to assume certain risks and avoid others.

Your ability to handle risk is related closely to your individual circumstances, including your age, time horizon, liquidity needs, portfolio size, income, investment knowledge, and attitude toward price fluctuations.

What's highly risky to one individual may be no problem to another. Short-term fluctuations are not that relevant for long-term investors who have discipline, patience, and understanding to deal with them. Stock funds are actually less risky than money market funds for those with long time horizons.

Well-informed investors are far less likely to let risk get best of them. Those who understand various elements of risk are better equipped to enjoy a profitable long-term investment journey!