37 THE IRISH DAILY STAR, Thursday December 5 2013

By Eva Hogan

LifeStyleIDEAS

HOW TO BUDGET FOR XMAS

5 WAYS TO GETRICHER!

IF YOU’RE worried about overspending this festive season, help could be just a click away.

The National Consumer Agency has a Christmas budgeting tool and some useful money saving tips on www.consumerhelp.ie to help you keep your festive finances right on track.

It sets out the main costs associated with Christmas such as gifts, food, drink and decorations, and includes some less obvious costs people may forget to budget for.

These include Christmas nights out or increased heating and electricity bills

So plan ahead with the National Consumer Agency’s CHRISTMAS money-saving tips:

CHRISTMAS cooking doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Look out for own-brand goods,

particularly as ingredients in the likes of stuffing, mincemeat, ham glaze and so on.

Remember that shops are only closed for a

day or two, so don’t buy more than you need. That way you’ll prevent waste.

HEATING and electricity costs can rise at Christmas. Tree lights and lighting

around the house are expensive to run. Try putting lights on a timer and make simple changes such as regularly turning off lights, switching off appliances and buying energy-efficient light bulbs to cut down on costs.

RESEARCH is a great way to keep on top of your budget. If you have a present in

mind, shop around and compare prices both in-store and online.

INSPIRATION is very cost effective at this time of year! Think of ways to help limit

your spending on gifts, including Secret Santa. If there is an expensive item that you really want to give to someone, consider splitting the cost with a friend or relative.

SHOPPING without a list or in a panic is not a good idea and could lead to impulse

buys that could cost you dear.Make a list (and check it at least twice!) of

everyone you intend to buy for and how much you will spend on each person.

THINK about a present for family or friends that you could make rather than

getting in a shop.If you’re good at baking, biscuits that

double up as tree decorations are thoughtful and effective. If you enjoy photography, you could do an album or frame a particularly nice photo.

Handmade gifts and cards are appreciated, and if you have children, getting them involved is a fun and inexpensive activity to while away a cold winter evening.

MAKE sure you know your rights. If you buy something in a shop and change

your mind, you are not entitled to a refund.However in some cases they may give you a

refund or allow you to change the item. You are likely to be asked for proof of

purchase (a receipt or a gift receipt if you are returning something someone else bought for you). You can learn more about your rights www.consumerhelp.ie

ASK about terms and conditions if you are buying gift cards or gift vouchers. What

is the expiry date? Are there any charges?

STRESS isn’t going to help with the Christmas spirit, so try not to get worked

up about the presents you have to buy and how you are going to afford them.

This is a time for enjoying family and friends, and with a bit of pre-planning, it can still be a time of plenty.

lSee www.consumerhelp.ie for more tips.

LOOKING for ways to earn more money in 2014? Well who better to turn to for advice than a self-made

multi-millionaire and entrepreneur?British man Vince Stanzione is the

extremely rich investor and author of the bestselling book The Millionaire Dropout: Fire Your Boss, Do What You Love & Reclaim Your Life (Easons, €10.99).

In his book, Vince explains that you can join the ranks of those who are living life-styles that others only dream about — those who are not only rich financially, but also in time and fulfilment.

The book shows you how you can take control of your mind, supercharge your money and make millions — anywhere.

We asked him to reveal his top five tips to making the New Year a more profitable one as 2014 looms around the corner.

START YOUR OWN BUSINESSYou’re never going to get rich working for

someone else, so start your own business. You don’t have to give up the day job to

start with and many businesses, such as mail order and internet-based ventures can be set up on a shoestring budget and you can work from home.

You may also have a skill that you use in your day job that you could use in your own business. Skills like IT, translation and marketing are all services that you could offer on the side.

These days it seems that everyone is time-starved, with lots of problems arising from this. Do you have a service to offer that can solve their prob-lems? If you do, you are likely on to a winner.

Remember your potential customer is thinking WII FM (no that’s not a radio sta-tion), What’s In It For Me. You have to give them what they want and make it easy for them to buy it from you.

Also, think niche. Rather than offering, for example, a general personal training service, offer a specific service, such as personal training for the over-55s, and you will be able to charge more.

INVEST IN ANOTHER

BUSINESSInvesting in a start-up business has risks

but also rewards, ask anyone that was an early investor of Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.

The big money is made when the business is sold or the company gets floated on a stock exchange and your private shares are converted to publicly traded stock. You may also be able to make money from a short-term private loan; many new business are funded by friends and family.

In the last few years crowdfunding has also become popular. This involves invest-ing in a business for part of the return – who knows, you could be the new Dragon!

It’s unlikely that one small investment will make you a fortune but you can compound your profits from one business to another.

LEARN HOW TO TRADE AND

INVEST IN MARKETSTrading in financial markets gives you a

way to profit from currencies (FX), com-modities, indices and listed shares.

Unlike investing in a private company you can trade in the short-er term and profit from rising and falling prices.

You can start small and build up. There are many good books and courses available and you can practise trading with a virtual account before using real money.

Movies may depict 20-year-olds, glued to a

computer all day and shouting loudly, but the truth is you can trade successfully by automating everything and spending no more than 30 minutes a day on it.

BUY AND SELL

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTYWhilst many think of property as bricks

and mortar, these days it includes web domain names, websites, books, DVDs and music. It’s possible to buy the rights to all these items and either resell them as is or repackage them, spruce them up and sell them at a mark-up.

Sites like Flippa.com allow you to buy and sell websites. Other sites allow you to buy the resale and reprint rights to books and DVDs.

Another moneymaking opportunity is looking for expired domain names and re-registering them. You can then offer them

out to businesses that may find them of use.I reregistered a dropped site for $10 which

now has a value of over $3,500 – not a bad return for about 10 minutes work!

LEARN TO SPOT A BARGAIN IN PROPERTY AND AT

AUCTIONSWhilst it doesn’t happen every day there

have been plenty of instances of under-priced items, such as works of art, property or items sold at government auctions at sub-stantially reduced prices.

This is going to take some research and may mean turning up to the middle of nowhere, but the profits you can make can more than compensate.

You can also act as a middleman or agent if, for example, you find a good deal but cannot fund it yourself, you can look to sell the idea on for a cut.

n IN THE MONEY: We all want to earn more cash

n GET RICH: Vince and (right) his bestselling book