Spooky stories and giving friends and family a fright is encouraged over Halloween, but when it comes to your finances it’s best to avoid the scary stuff!

It’s important to stay organised with your money so you can hit your financial targets and turn your nightmares into dreams, so grab a warm drink and keep reading as we delve into five financial tips to save you from any potential horrors.

Don’t budget like a ghost

Unless you’re a ghost, everyone should have a financial plan. Setting up a budget and planning your monthly expenditure is an absolute must and shouldn’t be avoided. No matter the size of your savings goal, you’ll want to make sure you’re staying within your means.

Overspending and losing track of your outgoings leads to overdrafts and increasing debt.

Have a look at your past account statements and collate all your monthly bills and subscriptions - you may realise you could make a few cut backs, such as having too many streaming services.

Next, check your calendar for any upcoming birthdays and events that may require you to set aside some funds. If you have enough funds leftover, we recommend adding them to your savings pot.

Prepare for the walking dead

Picture this…your windows and doors get broken into by zombies, you’ll soon wish you had set up an emergency fund!

They are exactly what they say on the tin; emergency funds are for the unexpected financial shock.

We recommend saving between three to six months of your household income and keeping this in a separate easy access savings account to ensure it’s accessible for potential emergencies, including the trespassing of the walking dead.

Clear your cobwebs of debt

It can be a scary and horrifying feeling with debt looming over your head, so prioritising clearing debt is important for your wallet and your mental health. 

Ensure you devise a plan to pay this off as quickly as your funds will allow and, once it’s all cleared, that money can be put to better use in your savings pot.

Open a spellbinding savings account

Don’t miss out on putting your hard-earned cash to work by adding it to a high interest savings account.

Banks have a plethora of savings accounts with different terms and rates, where you can earn interest from the money you put in. By the time you’ve reached your savings goal you could have more in there than you originally thought.

Banks such as Paragon have savings accounts with a range of options, including ISAs. ISAs were introduced by the UK Government to encourage people to save, giving people an annual tax-free allowance of £20,000 (for tax year 2023-24) that’s renewed each tax year.

Have a browse of the savings products out there, find one that suits you and get your cash working!

Grow your pension patch

It’s a terrifying thought to think that for a massive chunk of your life you’ve worked hard, five days a week, 9-5 daily and when your glorious retirement day comes you discover you don’t have enough funds to see you through.

Luckily, thanks to the Government’s Automatic Enrolment scheme this means a percentage of your monthly payslip has a pension contribution deduction, which your employer also adds to. To improve the quality of your retirement, it’s wise to use the maximum contribution allowance set by your employer.

Visit our Savings  webpage to view our latest rates.