Financial insight and saving tips from a Budget Coach

With high inflation and rising energy prices, money worries are a growing problem, even among working people and young adults. At least three in five companies have staff with money problems, so a growing number of companies are taking action. For example, 38% already offer the help of a budget coach.

What can a budget coach do for you, and what can we already learn from a budget coach? We find out and provide some practical savings tips.

A budget coach helps you with everything related to your finances and administration. This can be done when you are in debt, but also to prevent (high) debt. Are you short of money every month or did you have more money left over at first and do you have no insight into how to improve this? A budget coach can help you regain balance in your income and expenses. A budget coach can also help you with life events such as divorce or having a child and when you start working more or fewer hours.

A budget coach is sometimes confused with a debt relief worker. A debt relief worker is assigned and often given full management of your finances, while with a budget coach you always retain your free will and control.

Together with the budget coach, you will set a goal and create a budget plan. Are you purely concerned with creating insight? Then the budget coach will come up with a clear schedule for your income and expenses. Do you want to have more money to spend? Then together with the budget coach you will look at possible savings. Depending on the set goal, follow-up appointments are scheduled to discuss progress.

Would you rather get started saving money right away? Below we highlight a number of tips.

• Get your records in order. If you visualize your expenses and income on a monthly basis, you will know how much you have free to spend and you will also see when you create situations that do not fit your income. Handy: many banking apps already offer the ability to see which items your spending goes to. So you can see at a glance how much you spend monthly a catering or clothing. An eye-opener.
• Save on your energy bill. Especially now, with the high energy and gas prices, there is a lot of ‘profit’ to be made. For example, replace your light bulbs with more energy-efficient LED bulbs, shower less and turn down the heating. You can read more concrete tips here https://geldfit.nl/gids/energie/. At Geldfit you can also ask questions anonymously and free of charge.
• Save on groceries. Do you only use your debit card anymore? Budget coaches say that using cash makes you more conscious of your spending.
  Check your subscriptions and insurance policies. Are you really using them or are you making these companies sleepy rich? For example, if you cancel a magazine subscription, you often get a cheaper offer or you can take advantage of an introductory offer after a while, saving you a lot.
• Share or buy second-hand. A drill that you hardly ever use is better borrowed (for example through peerby.com) and lots of other things you can find much cheaper on vinted or marketplace. Better for your wallet and better for the environment.

More saving tips on groceries and other expenses can be found here.

Using a budget coach is a proven lasting solution to the underlying problems of money worries. This is much more effective than a one-time bonus, for example. It is therefore positive that more and more companies are offering a budget coach to make money worries more negotiable. Doesn’t your employer offer a budget coach? Then check the compensation PGB (Personal Budget), health insurance coverage and payment by UWV. You can also contact your municipality. They can provide guidance themselves or have outsourced this and refer you to the right place.

Read more:

• https://www.nibud.nl/dossiers/geldproblemen-in-nederland/
• https://www.bespaarinfo.nl/budgetcoach/
• https://budgetcoach.nl/budgetcoach-voor-werknemers/
• https://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/werkgevers-stutten-geldproblemen-van-personeel-met-coaches-en-bonussen-en-dat-doet-wat-met-de-werkverhouding