With inflation running rampant and the cost of living spiraling rapidly downward, it’s safe to say that most people can’t go on living as they used to. While these issues may or may not be transitory, the fact remains that if you want to get through this period with your finances intact and still retain the chance of increasing your wealth over time, you need to take immediate steps to ensure your financial security. This post will highlight a few options you should consider if you want to keep your family’s finances in order and still have some money to enjoy life.
Put Your Money To Work Now (With Some Caveats)
If you want to ensure you and your family will have enough money in the future and avoid living paycheck to paycheck, you need to begin considering all options when it comes to saving and investing. The longer you wait to put your money to work, the less you will have by the time you want to begin drawing it down. Trading has historically been one of the best ways to increase one’s financial standing, and nothing is set to change on that front. Nonetheless, while you have numerous options, you must be careful about what you select and how you go about it. For example, if you have a slightly higher appetite for risk, you might choose something like forex trading (trading currencies against each other). However, this involves a lot of skill and plenty of unbiased forex content to utilize for learning the ropes. Perhaps a better option for novices is selecting a broad-based ETF (exchange-traded fund), like something that tracks the S&P 500. This isn’t quite as fun, and the rewards may be lower than other options, but it’s relatively safe (as much as trading stocks can be), and you can drip money into the fund each month when you get paid to benefit from the magic of compounding.
Prioritize Spending Needs Versus Wants
Everyone wants the latest iPad whatever or a brand new phone with 100x optical camera zoom, but you should always ask yourself the question before buying anything: “Do I need this or do I want it?” If it’s the latter, you should probably do yourself and your family a favor and forgo the expense in favor of something more worthwhile. This can become frustrating pretty quickly, particularly if you have kids who demand the latest and greatest gadgets. Nevertheless, you must explain the reason for your frugality and begin to instill in them the value of saving and only buying what you can afford. Always remember that any money you spend on unnecessary things now could result in a considerable deficit in your retirement fund down the line. Just think of it like this: If you had put $1000 in Tesla 10 years ago, it would now be worth almost $95,000! Although this is an extreme case, it illustrates the amount you could lose by using the money for unnecessary things rather than investing it wisely. You don’t have to deprive yourself of the finer things in life; just give careful consideration to your purchases instead of making hasty decisions.
Establish A Monthly Budget And Stick To It
You’ve probably heard this piece of advice a thousand times before, but that’s because it’s so important. Setting a budget will allow you to see where your money is coming from and going, giving you peace of mind and the ability to sleep better at night! It’s up to you how simple or complex you choose to make it, as long as you have one. You can use free tools like Google Sheets, which is a cloud-based spreadsheet solution that you can access anywhere. Also, if you have a lot of different bills coming out every month, you can prioritize which ones are essential and which ones can be cut. If you want to go the extra mile, you could even look for a credit card that offers rewards on every purchase. As long as you always pay back on time, you can use these rewards to save vast amounts of money on things like travel, groceries, and more.
Prioritize Paying Off Debt
The final point is perhaps the most important and involves paying off as much debt as you can to save money in the long run. If you have debt at 12% interest per year, for instance, you are paying more than the most astute investors can hope to earn via savvy investing (the average return from an S&P 500 index is only 10.7%!) So do yourself a favor, eliminate this burden, and use the money you save to enjoy your life.
Taking charge of your financial situation may seem like an insurmountable challenge, but it’s not. As long as you take into account the points in this post and avoid wasteful expenditure, you can turn your dream of a happy retirement into reality.