We are ingrained to have an annual health check plus a visit to the dentist, but how about your financial health?

If you were to check your financial health, here are some good indicators:

Income vs. spending

It is easiest to compare this over a 3 month period – simply check your bank balance over this time and see if it has increased or decreased. An increasing bank balance will indicate you are earning more than you are spending, so a healthy diagnosis for that. A decreasing bank balance would indicate overspending, a potential warning sign.

Short term debt

No short term debt would be a strong indicator of financial health, under $5000 in total short term debt would be okay. Greater than$15000 would be definite warning sign.

Mortgage term

Having a mortgage taking 25 to 30 years to pay off is not healthy. This means most of your loan repayments will be on the interest, this is a pretty unfortunate position to be in. Taking 15-25 years is reasonable position, you are ahead of the curve. Less than 15 years, great. With a term, or loan payoff time under 15 years the majority of your repayments will be principal, this is a far better financial arrangement and would leave you financially healthy.

Savings

Having regular savings  is superb, indicates living within your means and some financial discipline. Irregular savings, pretty good and indicating you are able to balance your income to expenses. None indicates you are walking a bit of a tightrope, generally managing your living expenses but any unforeseen cost could hurt you.

Taking some time to consider your financial health is a worthwhile exercise, you may be doing well so carry on. However if you are ‘sick’, in one or more of the mentioned areas, use it as a call to action.

The information contained in this article is of a general nature and should not be taken as advice. It reflects the opinions of the writer only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of New Zealand Home Loans.