FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT BBS104

Improve your Financial Life!

Who is this Course for?

Any person or small business who wants to learn how to reduce costs, increase assets, and improve their overall finances, through more effective financial management practices. It is quite simple to improve your financial lot, but you must begin with the right learning.

What will you learn?

Learn how to make your money work for you and reduce your expenses! This course teaches you to take charge of your finances by getting better deals when spending, borrowing or investing. There are more options than you may know. Get an understanding of financial terminology and gain an insight into how money works. Learn how to make the most of what you've got.

This course is equally relevant to both individual/personal and business financial management.

Stop being a slave to money, and learn how to make it work hard for you!

  • Learn how to accumulate, borrow, spend, invest and save money
  • Improve your ability to more successfully manage your finances
  • Plan better for your future

While some people have an intuitive ability with money, others need to take a much more conscious approach to handling money if they are to maximize their wealth. Develop the ability to make better decisions with respect to the following sorts of problems:

  • Investing
  • Using your home as capital
  • Grocery shop smarter and save a fortune!
  • Reduce the amount of tax you're paying
  • Bulk buying: how to, and why
  • How much you really need for that rainy day
  • How often to restructure your personal budget.

All of these problems and more are dealt with throughout this comprehensive guide to money management.

 

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course contains 10 lessons:
1. Understanding Financial Terminology
  • Goals for financial management
  • Financial terminology/language
  • Financial statements

2. Planning & Managing your Cash

  • Budgeting
  • Cash flows
  • P&L, Balance sheet
  • Financial records
  • Problem solving

3. Borrowing : for goods and against your home etc.

  • Why borrow?
  • Types of loans/Sources of funds
  • Getting a mortgages to suit you
  • Credit card control
  • Debt Management

4. Buying

  • What to look for, hidden traps, consumer protection, credit
  • Do you need to buy?
  • The best time to buy.
  • Which is the cheapest?
  • Buying and the law/Consumer protection
  • Buying business,
  • Buying property

5. The Money Market

  • How it works
  • Money market operations

6. Investing

  • What is an investment?
  • Types of investments -Housing, land, stocks, bonds, trust funds, antiques, business investments, insurance (annuities) and more.
  • Buying shares
  • Spread your investment
  • Investment appraisals
  • A lifetime guide to money matters: Managing your cash, debt, insurance, housing, strategic planning
  • Making your own money
  • Using your money
  • Keeping your money
  • Counting your money
  • Enjoying your money
  • Investing in shares
  • Buying or starting a business

7. Risk and Superannuation -Lump sum, roll over etc.

  • Handling lump sums
  • - Investment options
  • - Superannuation for:
  • - Employees 
  • - Employers

8. Reducing Costs - Cutting down on expenditure. Getting better credit card rates.

  • Methods of cost saving
  • Alternative Living
  • Reducing the cost of credit
  • Use your property
  • Organizing your finances

9. Banks - How they can help you

  • E-commerce
  • Bank clearing house
  • Choosing a bank
  •  Types of banks
  •  Bank fees
  •  Getting the most from your bank including reduced credit card rates.

10. Communication

  • Dealing with financial experts, bank managers, accountants and others in the financial world.
  • Using the right financial terminology
     
Duration: 100 Hours (Nominal Duration).

 

Tips for Understanding Financial Language

Accounting System
Accounting systems aim to collect a complete set of records of financial transactions needed for all important functions to be carried out by the individual or organisation concerned.

Annuities
Usually purchased from a life insurance company and provide for the payment of an income stream for a specified period, or life, in return for the payment of a lump sum at the outset.

Cash Management Trust
Fund managed by an institution, such as a bank, building society or credit union, which usually pays a higher return than ordinary bank deposits and invests in fixed interest securities, such as bank bills. Generally will be a short term investment with a specified minimum investment.

Deferred Sales Fee
This works in reverse to the Front End Fee and is only deducted when an investment is realised (sold) or a loan fully paid off. Deferred fees usually decrease to zero over a period of time; also called deferred sales charge or back-end load.

Direct Deposit
This is where funds are transferred from someone else’s bank account directly into your account.
(E.g. Employers frequently pay wages this way)

External Accounting (Activities you must do for someone else such as the government)
These are accounting activities that need to be carried out in order to satisfy external organisations (e.g. preparing submissions to the taxation department).

Financial Adviser
A licensed investment planner or counsellor who recommends investment strategy and gives advice on related matters, including tax, life insurance and superannuation. The adviser may charge a fee or earn a commission on recommended investments. Only very few insurance agents can honestly call themselves financial advisers as most are not licensed to give this type of broad service.

Fixed Interest Securities
Financial instruments with a fixed rate of return, such as company debentures, which pay 13 per cent per year: generally safer than investments in stocks and shares.

Friendly Society
Conservative financial institution, run on a co operative basis and owned by members, that offers a limited range of conservatively invested products; also known as a Co-operative Society or a Mutual Society.

Front End Fee
A once only surcharge levied on investment products, which is deducted from the investment at the outset and paid to the investment manager: also applies to other financial products such as loans. May also be known as front-end loading: generally based on the amount of the investment/loan.

Growth oriented Property Trusts
Trusts which invest primarily in real estate to make capital gains in the medium to long-term

Growth Trusts
Investment vehicles generally for a medium to long-term investment, the objective of which is capital gain rather than regular income.

Income Trusts
Investment vehicles formed as trusts, which invest in income producing assets and pay earning distributions quarterly, half yearly or yearly.

Indexing/Index-linking
Adjusting the value of something to take inflation into account, thereby maintaining its real worth.

Insurance Bonds
Life insurance policies with no death cover, which are investments in a range of assets, and which either earn a rate of return declared each year, or the value of which rises and falls to reflect market movements in the values of the assets owned by the fund.

Internal Accounting (Activities you carry out mostly for your own benefit)
Accounting activities that are necessary for day to day operation such as keeping a record of buying and selling, or making decisions about activities which should or should not be undertaken

Liquid
Deposits or investments that can be accessed or cashed at very short notice

Managed Investment Trust
Fund managed by a professional manager, such as a bank, merchant bank, life insurance company or fund manager, which invests in a range of assets, including cash, fixed interest securities, real estate and shares in varying proportions.

Negative Gearing
Usually used in connection with real estate or short investments: refers to a situation where the outgoings and expenses of making an investment, such as mortgage interest, maintenance, agent's fees, repairs and rates exceed rental income and produce negative cash flow, which must be met from income from other sources, but eventually provide a tax advantage.

Personal Loans
Loans taken out for a set period at a given rate of interest to be repaid over a specified period of time in fixed installments, usually monthly. Interest rates do not vary throughout the loan and sometimes penalties apply in the event of early repayment.

Positive Gearing
Positive Gearing occurs when you borrow to invest in an income producing asset and the returns (income) from that asset exceed the cost of borrowing.

Units
Shares or denominations in a trust or fund, whose price reflects the underlying asset value of the fund or trust.

Unit Trust Groups
Professionally managed investment vehicles where investors' funds buy individual units in the trust, the price of which varies according to the value of underlying investments. Investment mix varies.

Redemption Fee
This fee is charged when money is withdrawn from an investment fund. The fee goes into the fund itself and does not represent a net cost to shareholders. Redemption fees usually operate only in short, specific time clauses, commonly 30, 180, or 365 days, although this is not always the case.

 
The Key to Managing Money

The most important thing about managing money, is not how much you earn, but what you do with it.

Plenty of individuals and businesses earn huge amounts and spend even more, sending themselves bankrupt.

Other people who earn much less, and manage their earnings well, will often become far more wealthy.

Studying this course will help you understand how to minimize financial risk; whether in your personal wealth or in business.