Friday, February 20, 2009
AmBank Family First!Due to the current economic climate, I guess everyone is tightening his or her belt in terms of spending. J and I are no exception. As the financial planner of the household, the responsibility is on my shoulder on how to make our cash outflow more efficient while improving our savings on the side. Although I am not a trained accountant like J, I am constantly looking at various options to manage our household finances, which includes our savings, daily expenses, mortgage, car loans, study loans, credit card, bills etc.
Due to the power of Internet, I have recently came to know about Family First Solution from AmBank. Their tagline “Manage your finances for what matters most” really caught the attention of middle class wage earners like myself. According to AmBank, Family First is an all-in-one financial solution that offers a full suite of products and services to meet every aspect of a family’s financial needs - TRANSACT, SAVE, BORROW, PROTECT and INVEST. I guess that’s really what every household needs, especially during bad times.
Since J and I married, I have been planning the household budget while J (the accountant she is) has been handling the day-to-day cash flow. As our small little family grows, we really have little time left to manage our finances. Currently, we have more than 5 savings and current accounts with various banks. Consequently, we need to login to many websites just to check our bank transactions. With Family First’s Everyday Account, we can just login into one website and voila! All our bank accounts are there for us to see and manage.
As for our future plans, J and I were thinking about saving up for a few goals, namely education fund for our 3 boys, retirement and annual vacation etc. We find it difficult to refer to a bank account number for all our different purpose. The Special Savings Account offered by Ambank Family First is really user friendly. We are allowed to create up to 10 accounts at any one time. Each account can be named accordingly to our own liking.
To cater for our house mortgage, Family First members enjoy special rates and privileges through the exclusive Flexible Home Financing scheme. This would really help in terms of our long term commitment towards owning our own house. I always thought that we are paying way too much interest for our existing mortgage plan!
On top of everything, members get exclusive access to a wealth of financial tips, ideas and budgeting tools assistance at the website at www.familyfirst.com.my
Here is a glimpse of a few financial tips that are available on www.familyfirst.com.my
- A budget planner will help you tabulate your total income and organize your expenses. It gives you an idea of where your money goes and how to make changes to plan and manage your finances better.
- Simply by flashing your Family First Card at selected merchants like KFC, Nokia, Focus Point, Pizza Hut, Smart Reader Kids etc., you will be rewarded with exciting privileges.
- If you issue a standing instruction to transfer a small amount of fund directly from your salary to a Savings Account, your savings will grow automatically every month!
- Keep your expenses in check so that you do not fall into the debt trap.
- Think about how you want to live your life and set some goals. You'll be surprised how motivated you'll be when you have something to look forward to.
- Saving will be easier than you think when you have a budget to tell you where your money is going.
- It is always a good idea to have separate accounts to manage your transactional and saving funds. When you do this, you are more likely to keep to your budget and not dip into your savings.
- Children learn from their parents. Teach your child the value of money by being open about how you manage your finances
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 2/20/2009 11:52:00 AM :: and invited 0 Blah(s):
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