London is one of the most sought after places to live on the planet. People from all corners of the world would love the chance to live in this energetic and vibrant city. Whether you’re moving closer to your family or for your job, living in London is unlike anywhere in the world. You have incredible shopping destinations, endless culture and fabulous entertainment right on your doorstep. But due to it’s popularity, buying a home in London can be challenging. From high house prices to finding a suitable area, there is plenty of things you must consider. To make the process easier, there are three things you must do first.

Do your homework

London is an enormous city that is full of different boroughs all of which have their own unique qualities. Use accommodation search engines, talk to friends and search on Google to establish which boroughs might appeal to you. Do plenty of research into each one including property types, transport links and local entertainment. The house prices will also vary from borough to borough and how close you want to live to the city centre. So find out what the average prices are as this will help you budget and plan ahead. If you have a family, you should also research what schools, parks and attractions are in each borough too. This should help you choose some viable places to start your search.

Visit the city

It’s not alway wise to move somewhere you have never been before. So if you have never visited London before, you should always take the time to do so before moving here. You may find that city life is not for you after all or that the areas you can afford to buy in aren’t what you thought they would be like. If you have visited before, you should still visit again but from the perspective of a buyer not a tourist. You can spend your visit contacting Canary Wharf estate agents or viewing potential properties. Try to fit in as many viewings as you can to see what options are available. You can also use this time to explore the borough’s you researched previously. Doing this will help you determine whether moving here is right at this moment in time.

Look for work

With people from the UK and beyond looking for employment in London you face stiff competition. The sooner you start your search for work the better. If you work for a large company, you may be able to relocate to their London office. Or you might want to look for something completely different to what you are doing now. Sign up to recruitment sites or contact an agency to help you find a suitable role. Securing work should be a top priority as it will help to fund your new home and life.

Whatever your reason for wanting to move to London, these tips will help make the transition go a lot smoother. Take the time to do each action and carefully consider each decision you make. Acting on impulse may sound exciting, but it could have expensive repercussions.

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If you are not able to keep your new business’s finances under control, then things can spiral pretty quickly. Businesses only succeed when they are financially secure, so here’s how to keep your money issues in order.

Budget

Budgeting is something that every business should do. If you are not budgeting for the year ahead, then you will face problems later on down the line. A strong budget will outline how much money you aim to bring into the company through revenue streams. And it will also outline how much you plan to spend. Then you obviously need to make sure that you make more money than you spend. Otherwise, you’ll make a loss, and that’s clearly not what you want. You can take advantage of loans and maximize loan budget in order to stretch your cash a little further if you really need to. This should all be prepared and planned out in advance though.

Organize Tax Documents from the Start

Nobody particularly enjoys paying taxes, but it has to be done. And failing to pay your business’s taxes is a criminal offence, so it’s not something that you can afford to ignore. Making sure that you pay the right amount of tax and meet all the relevant deadlines can be a challenge though. If you are not properly organized, then the whole task becomes so much harder than it really needs to be. So, you need to make sure that all your payroll documents, tax deductible expenses and other paperwork are kept in order. Then, when it comes to filling in your tax return, your life will be so much easier.

Consider Seasonal Cash Flow

Many businesses will see variable sales rates over the course of the year. This is pretty obvious for some companies. For example, a company that sells sunglasses will sell more in the summer than the winter. This is just common sense. But there can also be season cash flow variations for businesses operating in less obvious sectors too. You need to get to grips with your company’s sales cycles as quickly as possible. Once you know when your sales are at their highest and when they dip, you can organize your finances accordingly. If you don’t, you could be caught short when those sales dip.

Always Ask for Discounts

The amount of money you spend is one of the key financial considerations for your business. If you are spending more money than you need to be, that extra money will eat into your finances. Whereas, if you were to cut the amount of money that your business spent, there would be less pressure on your sales efforts. You can afford those sales dips if you are keeping your monthly expenditure as low as it possibly can be. One of the things that you should always do is ask for discounts. If you have suppliers that you are buying from in bulk, then you should be able to get some for of discount from them. This will certainly be possible if you can show them loyalty.

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There is no point in leaving all your cash in your current account. The interest rate will only be fairly low. It is much more advisable to move your money into a better investment that can help it increase. Of course, leave some money in your current account for everyday needs. But all your savings? It’s better off to invest them. If you are a complete novice when it comes to investing, it can be a very daunting prospect as there is a slight risk that you could lose some money. Here is what you need to know before you start.

Diversify

One of the big things to remember is the importance of diversifying. This helps you reduce the risks of investing. What does diversifying mean? Simply put, it is when you split up your money and invest in different methods. This is a much safer alternative than placing all your cash in just the one investment. Diversifying reduces the risks of investment. Because you are essentially spreading your eggs across different baskets.

Stocks And Shares

One of the most common ways to invest your money is in stocks and shares. This involves buying some stocks and shares of a company that is floating in the stock market. You will be able to buy as many as you like, although some companies have a minimum purchase limit. Before you commit to buying a company’s shares, you need to do your research. If the company is currently doing well, then there is a good chance the value of your shares will increase, leaving you with a profit. However, if the value falls, you could end up out of pocket. If you do your homework, you can make a lot of money over a long period of time!

Funds

Instead of investing directly in stocks and shares yourself, you can put your money into mutual funds. This is, basically, where you get a professional to invest your money for you. You transfer the money you want to invest to this financial advisor who then places it into a fund, so he can keep an eye on your money on a daily basis. This is known as a mutual fund, and your advisor is now the fund manager. There are a few different types of funds available. For self managed super fund advice, check online.

Savings Account

One of the safest ways to invest money is to place it in a high-interest savings account. There is no risk involved with a savings account, as the amount of money held in there won’t change depending on the economy. It is an easy way to get more money, though. The more money you have in the account, and the higher rate of interest, means you can get a substantial payment from your bank each month.

So, to be clever with your money, sometimes you have to take a risk and invest. If you do your research, you’ll find the benefits far outweigh any potential risks!

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Our finances are our bread and butter, the feature of our lives that makes everything tick. With taxes, cheques, loans, credit and mortgages, the whole thing can become slightly overwhelming. So, just what can you do to help yourself help your money?

The online space is a wonderful tool with many assets. This means there are no shortage of ways to pull your money organisation together, and here are but a few of them.

1. Online and mobile banking

It’s surprising to learn that so many people still aren’t banking online. In fact, in a relatively recent survey, it was revealed that only 51 percent of adults bank online regularly. What about that other 49 percent?!

There are certain stigmas surrounding online banking, and they’re understandable. They are generally believed by the older generations, and most of them are concerned with security risks. And while it’s true that online banking is as safe as you make it, it’s far more beneficial that just using a branch.

You can send and receive payments, check statements and open new bank accounts in minutes. In fact, it takes mere minutes to open a brand new bank account from the comfort of your laptop – I can attest to that. So, if you aren’t banking online or on the go yet, consider it. It could be the solution you need to better organise your money.

2. Receive financial supplies with the click of a mouse

The rise of online shopping and giants like Amazon has made it pretty easy to find a wide range of commodities on the internet. You can now order cheques online, buy bank books and even browse for credit and bank cards, to arrive within days. It sure beats the old-fashioned method of strolling down to your local vault and requesting some documents.

Part of the solution to organised financials is saving time. Just like online banking in point number one, you don’t have to lift a finger with the online space. You can order everything you need and check your bank statement within two minutes, while watching Game of Thrones.

3. Tracking income and expenses with ease

As many self-employed contractors and business owners will attest to, tracking finances is difficult. With the latest news that could see the introduction of a quarterly tax return, it’s never been more important to watch our money.

Luckily, it’s simple to do so. A service such as Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet creator, that can tot up your daily, weekly and yearly earnings with ease. What’s more, you can access it anywhere that has an internet connection, from the airport to the library.

4. Send invoices quickly and hassle-free

Jumping back into self-employment, businesses around the world will have heard of the dreaded invoice. If you forget to send it, you don’t get paid. It can be a hard document to organise, especially if you’re owed a lot of different amounts of cash. If your business wants to make money, you’ll need to use these documents every week – but how to do so efficiently?

Well, luckily, the internet is here to help. Using an online invoicing tool you can even schedule invoices to go out on certain dates. You could even line up your invoices for the next month, or two months. Additionally, like Google Sheets, many of these systems are cloud-based, so you can update them and send from anywhere.

Hopefully these tips have helped you somewhat. Our money is our most precious commodity, so give it the attention it deserves!

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When your business needs office space, you need to consider a lot of things. The decisions you make here are going to affect your finances in the long run. One of the problems here is that you may not know exactly how many things you need to consider here.

The first thing you should do is check your finances. You need to see how much capital you have immediately available. You should work out how much profit you’re looking to make in the next few months. You should review your company’s credit score to assess your suitability for a business loan. All of these things will be integral to the decision you make.

Here are the things you need to think about when you’re deciding to make a move to a new office.

Do you need office space?

Let’s say you’re a startup company and you’re all currently working from home. Obviously, the dream here is to have a nice office space for yourself eventually. Having your own office for your own company is such a thrill. It;s easy to see why people are so eager to get office space. But you need to think about this decision carefully. Do you really need the office space? It can cost quite a bit of money, especially if you’re in urban business areas. It may be smarter for you to continue to use your virtual office setup while you save even more money for your business.

Maybe you’ve already got a company in an office. Why are you considering a new office? If your company has hit a sweet spot of profit recently and you’re just buying a new office to splash cash, think twice. Don’t go making frivolous purchases! You should really only be moving office if there is a specific problem with your new one. If you’re expanding too fast and have employees sharing desks, then it’s time to move.

Where should you get your office space?

It’s not just about the office itself. The location of the office is extremely important to consider. Let’s say you’re looking for office space in prestigious business areas like London and New York City. This is a smart decision, in most aspects. But offices in these areas can have quite a hefty price tag. You should consider what profit you stand to make with this move and weigh that against this cost.

Of course, you may not want to go for a slightly cheaper office in a much less desirable location. You may end up in a lease contract that has you stuck in that office for longer than you’d want. In other words, be careful when it comes to compromise. You don’t want to get yourself stuck in one place and, as a result, missing opportunities for offices in really prestigious places. Added prestige make it much easier to get business going with potential clients!

Should you buy or rent?

With cost in mind, you should also work out if you’re going to buy the space or rent it. On the buying side, it may be much better for you to be the landlord of your office space than some other party. You also won’t fall victim to egregious rental rate increases. Some specialized equipment may require you to own the property, too.

Of course, if you don’t have the available capital, then you’ll have to rent. That, or just keep saving money! Work out what your business can afford and what it deserves. Strike as close a balance of the two as possible.

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