Friday, November 18, 2011

Set up an extra recurring payment

Most home loans allow you to make additional payment. Set up a recurring payment that you will never miss - don’t aim too high.

The key to the success of this is to make sure it is an amount that you will never miss. If you are likely to miss it – you are likely to stop the repayment in the future. Start low and if you can increase the amount over time all the better, but even $10 per week will make a huge difference over time! So how much could an extra $10 per week save you??

Well, you may be surprised to hear that an additional $10 per week could save you around $35,000 in interest over the term of the loan and reduce your term by nearly 2 years.

$10 does not buy you much these days, but would you have thought that $10 per week could make such an impact on your home loan and long-term financial independence?

If there are 2 of you and you both put in an extra $10 per week your savings could double!!

This example is based an initial loan of $300,000 over 30 years at a rate of 7.5%. The savings are not exact and are designed to be nothing more than thought provoking. The scenarios are generic and do not take individual circumstances into account. You should seek independent financial advice before making any significant changes to your financial products.