Changing spending behaviour

At 53 years-of-age Maree gave little or no thought to money, other than there was never enough of it.

That was until The Smith Family Saver Plus Program transformed her knowledge and relationship with money and for the first time in her adult life, she began to save money.

In May 2012 she met Mark Norris and it was an introduction that would see her begin a 10-month personal journey that would alter her relationship with money.

Mark is the friendly face of The Smith Family Saver Plus Program in the Manning Valley and the man who guided Maree to learn about money and importantly, learn how to save money.

Maree describes her decision to participate in Saver Plus as simply "going in blind".

"I had absolutely no idea what to expect but felt the reward of earning $500 for saving money was too good an opportunity to pass up," Mrs Coleman said.

"I needed to find a way to save money to buy a laptop for my daughter, Sarah, and so I decided to do the course."

That was May 25, 2012. Today Maree is proud to say that during the 10-month program she saved $800, Saver Plus contributed $500 and her daughter now has a much-need laptop for her senior school studies at Chatham High School.

According to Maree, the most unexpected benefit of the Saver Plus program is the knowledge she acquired from the series of financial education workshops hosted by Mark.

"Every Tuesday for about four or five weeks a small group of us met with Mark to learn about money. It wasn't daunting and you didn't have to be an 'A-Plus' student to participate," Maree said.

"We learnt how to save, how we waste money, the difference between needs and wants, how to ask the right questions of banks, how to change our spending behaviour - it was so beneficial.

"I had never saved money but now, even after the program has finished I am still saving! In fact, I hate spending now.

"Times are tough out there and I learnt the value of my money."

Mark is also keen to see more Manning Valley women improve their financial knowledge and achieve important goals for themselves or their children.

"It is an opportunity to have every dollar you save matched with one dollar, up to $500," Mark explained. "It is an opportunity to build your financial skills with personal support and guidance."

Mark explained that Saver Plus participants open an ANZ Progress Saver account in which they deposit their savings. This account does not have any monthly account keeping fees and at the end of the 10-month saving period, the money is matched up to $500.

The appeal for more Manning Valley women to sign-up to Saver Plus flows from the second annual MoneySmart Week in September. MoneySmart Week campaign director, Rebecca Glenn said the objective of the campaign was "to prompt women into taking action to improve their money health."

"Statistically, we know that women are much more likely to retire financially worse off than men. We need to keep tackling the taboo of talking about money and make it easier for women to feel inspired to take control," Rebecca said.

"Research into financial literacy in Australia reveals that of the five indicators of financial literacy, women score very well on 'keeping track of finances' but poorly on 'financial control' which can include medium and long term financial needs such as making most of their financial assets."

And again, that is where Saver Plus contributes to improving money management skills.

According to Mr Norris the Saver Plus MoneyMinded Financial Education Program covers personal finance and money management. He said the program usually involves four workshops that are conducted in small groups.

"The workshops are informal, fun and interactive and designed to develop financial skills, knowledge and confidence," Mr Norris said.

"They include saving strategies, setting goals, budgeting, credit, credit cards and banking."

For further information about Saver Plus contact Mark on 6557 8284 or email mark.norris@thesmithfamily.com.au