4 common financial mistakes of new Malaysian families

Looking at some of the common financial mistakes that new families have to overcome.

New Malaysian families have a lot to look forward to. There’s baby’s first words and baby’s first steps.
New families also have challenges to overcome that are unique to their situation. Many new families must still be reeling for huge expenses such as wedding expenses or from having just paid the hospital bills when the baby finally came. All this puts some financial pressure on a new family that they should try to overcome.

Let’s look at some of the common financial mistakes that new families have to overcome.

Failing to Budget

With more expenses on the way (diapers, milk and other baby stuff like special toiletries) it’s important to make – and keep - a budget. Parents should take the time to study their income and expenses and make sure that the expenses are kept in check. It could be time to find new income sources if a new family’s income is not enough to cover the basic expenses. Ask the boss for a raise, there’s no harm in asking.

Failing to Keep Expenses in Check

It’s easy to take note of a family’s income. A common family income is the salary that comes twice a month so that’s easy to note down especially if you’ve kept the paychecks. Expenses are harder to keep note of since there are more of these. If you have a credit card, take the time to study your monthly bill and check if these have any fraudulent charges. New families might also be paying for services that they don’t get to use as much. New parents should reassess if they’re taking full advantage of their membership at gyms and shoppers club and consider cutting these services if there are cheaper alternatives available such as daily gym rates.

Failing to Save Money

“A penny saved is a penny earned” goes the saying and it’s especially useful for new families. There will be other expenses on the way that comes with having a baby, there are the birthday parties and trips to the baby’s doctor for check-ups and vaccines. In a few years, the baby will be a toddler so he’ll need to go to school and that means tuition fees and school supplies. There are other ceremonies in Malaysia that a child will have to go through and these also need funds. Further along, your child will need go to college and that means even higher tuition fees. There’s no better time to save for those expenses than now. For parents that are employed, they might want to check with their employers if they can get a portion of their salary automatically routed to a savings account. This takes away some of the “hassle” of this chore. New parents can also save by turning off the lights, this could help save on electric bills.

Getting Too Much Toys for the Kids

As new parents, you want to give your child everything that he or she wants. It’s fun to take the kids to a toy store and see them have fun with all the toys there. Kids will be kids and ask their parents to buy them the toy that catches their fancy, but parents should set clear rules on when their kids can get new toys. And anyway, relatives always give toys to kids so they might have too much toys already. As a parent, you are in the best position to teach your kids about keeping a desire for a new toy in check. They’ll learn about wants and needs if you teach them how toys are more of a “want” than a “need.”