Money is one of the most important aspects of life because there's a cost to almost everything in life.
You want a roof over your head? That's going to cost rent or a mortgage payment?
Food? Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) is only giving out free fruit to children.
Transportation? Caltex Australia Limited (ASX: CTX) needs to be paid before you can drive off with a full tank of petrol.
Helping a friend with their finances can be one of the most useful things you can do. But, that doesn't mean giving them a loan. You can lose a friendship or family relationship over lending money. If you do need to give money then it would be best to consider it as a gift.
If you truly want to help your friend (get back on their feet) with their finances, here are three things that can really help:
Help with their CV
One of the most important aspects for improving their finances is to have a good job that allows them to pay the bills. They need to advertise/'sell' themselves as much as they can, outline their best qualities and how their previous experience could help in the job.
There are various sites that can help write a good CV, but a good place to start is with tips from employment business SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) suggests. Make sure you keep to the employer's submission requirements and "Avoid using cluttered or complicated layouts with headers, footers, tables or other items that may not look right when viewed on different computers with varying software versions."
Check over their budget
Having an income is one thing, but making sure that their expenditure is less than their after-tax income is another important factor for sustainable finances for anyone.
You can use bank tools from your bank such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) or from budgeting apps like YNAB or Pocketbook to track spending.
Google Sheets could be a good way create a budget on a spreadsheet for free.
Give them a finance book
There several money experts that can explain money philosophies and techniques more eloquently than me, so why not give your friend a book from one of the gurus?
One of the best Australian personal finance books out there is "The Barefoot Investor" (2018 edition). Mr Pape boasts that this is the only money guide you'll ever need.
