Simonne's tip for tracking your spending

Here’s an easy way of staying in control of your money while you’re on the move.
There’s a great tool you can download on your iPhone for free - called ExpenseIT.
It allows you to keep track of spending against budgets you set for everything from food to frivolity.

We’ve had great feedback on it so far, but have a play with and let us know what you think... Simonne.

Your financial fitness regime from Simonne

I’ve just started getting into a habit of jogging most days (well – it’s only a tad faster than walking, but it’s a start!).

I’m noticing how it’s getting easier by the day and that, just by maintaining it, I’m able to stick to a level of fitness which is pretty much what I hoped I’d achieve.

It got me thinking about the similarities with getting into good money habits.

It’s just as hard getting started (all too easy to find excuses), and then keeping things up can be challenging.

But once you’ve found the right financial fitness regime I’m sure you’ll share the experience of finding it easier to maintain by the day and never having to experience the pain of getting started.

And it doesn’t have to be perfect to make it worthwhile.

So if money management is something you’re putting off, what can you do today to get started?

Stop feeding the bin!

Here’s a quick question. How much food do you think we Brits chuck away every day?

a) Half a million tonnes

b) 1.6 million tonnes

c) 6.7 million tonnes

The shocking answer is c! And it costs the average family £420 a year. It’s like scraping eight slimy, putrifying, past-their-sell-by-date pounds into the bin every week. I blame supermarkets, who encourage people to overbuy with their constant BuyOneGetOneFree (BOGOF) offers.

And, up until now, delivered groceries have been a problem because you couldn’t be sure the produce was fresh enough to last.

But I love the fact that Ocado are tackling this. They show the use-by date on all the fresh stuff on their website. It’s also printed on your receipt so you stick it on your fridge as a guilty reminder of what to use up. Brilliant.

It pays to start early

A big bash was held in London this week to celebrate top female fund managers. Its star was 58-year old American, Mina Gerowin, who (managing a £2 billion fund) posted positive results last year whilst many of her male counterparts racked up losses.

As delighted as I was to hear about these alpha females giving the men a run for their hedge-fund money, I was mindful of a report earlier this year showing that most women in the city still receive significantly lower salaries and smaller bonuses than men.

So how did Gerowin rise above this?

Apparently her interest in investing came when she joined her New York school’s investment club as a nine year old.

I think UK schools missed a trick there; 50 years ago the only after-school activity our schools offered was detention.

There's more on offer nowadays but I suspect not many nine-year olds are investing. Given the demise of the state pension it wouldn't be a bad idea though.

I can see Mums sending kids off to school with their dinner money in one pocket and their pension money in another before too long...

Reminder from Simonne....

Did you know that the rules for ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) are changing tomorrow for anyone over the age of 50 (and from April 2010 for all other adults)? That means you can now pay up to £10,200 each tax year (6th April one year to 5 April the next), £5,100 of which can be in the form of cash (bank/building society accounts earning tax-free interest). If you want to compare different cash ISAs, try http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings.

Simonne says....Second-hand’s not second rate

Did you hear that the car scrappage scheme has been so successful that the scheme is being extended to fund an extra 100,000 car and van purchases?
Don’t we just love it when the government gives away money!
But, if you’re tempted by this offer, just remember that the £2,000 contribution towards a new vehicle will be wiped out in depreciation after just a few short months. It’s still far better value to buy a slightly older car, especially if the new car is being paid for via expensive credit.

More Sheconomics research

I'm doing some more research - this time into the fascinating world of behavioural economics.

The survey poses some interesting financial dilemmas and is aimed at demystifying some of the irrational behaviours we all have around money.

It only takes about 10 minutes and there's a £25 cash prize and a signed copy of Sheconomics for the person who recruits the most respondents (so fill it in and send the link to a friend).

Click Here to take survey
And I'll post the results on www.sheconomics.com so keep a lookout! Thanks.

Please, Sir, can I have some more?

Stories about sexism in the city have cropped up everywhere this week. Women, it seems, earns far less than men in the city and encounter sexual discrimination more befitting of a Victorian workhouse than the 21^st century finance world.

A thought struck me. Yes, there is sexism out there but women also have to guard against another enemy – self-sabotage. If women undervalue themselves, the world will undervalue them. Many women still confess to being uncomfortable with the concept of success. And we live in a society that still sees thrift and 'making do' as a highly prized female trait.

Women, research has shown, are twice as likely as men to volunteer (it’s good to give to others but also important to value your time) and two and a half times more likely to dread asking for a salary increase.

How should the modern woman knock down the barriers set up by society and her own self-limiting beliefs? Here’s the Sheconomical way to succeed in those negotiations:

• · Recognise your true value
• · Make the first move (be proactive)
• · Prepare your case
• · Aim realistically high
• · Don’t settle for less

More on this is our chapter on self-limiting beliefs in Sheconomics.

Pay it forward

Good to see the concept of paying it forward taking off. An innovative broadband company has, apparently, recruited ex-pickpockets to creep around London and slip fivers, tenners and twenty pound notes into people’s unguarded bags and pockets. It’s their way of helping people beat the blues caused by the recession.

Yet psychological research shows that it’ll be the ones giving away the money who get the biggest boost in their happiness.

In one study in the US, students were given $10 each, then half were told to buy themselves something and the other half to spend it one somebody else. Their happiness levels were measured before and after. The group who’d spent the money on another person were happier than those who’d spent it on themselves.

So if you want to cheer yourself up, Do Something Different and spend some money on another person.

Put it on expenses.....

I was interviewed on LBC Radio today about the case of the guy who falsely claimed half a million quid's worth of expenses from his employers. The reason he gave was that he had to fund his wife’s lavish lifestyle.

A London paper I picked up on the train today had a huge photo of the wife on the front page, while the guy’s photo was tucked away in a corner. OK, the wife might have been naïve, unhappy and demanding, but let’s not forget he was the one who broke the law.

As I said in my interview, financial secrets are the kiss of death to any relationship. Communication is absolutely crucial and our chapter on Financial Intimacy in Sheconomics delves further into this.

I think most of us might have stopped and asked him, on yet another one of those luxury holidays, where the money was coming from?