Want to get better at saving your hard-earned money? Welp, don’t we all! On our quest to find true financial freedom we recently came across The Money Wizard – a 28 year-old finance blogger who has grown his net worth over $100,000 in just two years! Sound way out of reach?
By tracking his finances and putting simple practices into place, a few unexpected lessens emerged. Below are 4 stand-out tips to get your savings on track and start increasing your net worth today!
Ditch the budget, and focus on tracking your spending
Turns out, the act of tracking your spending just might make more of an impact than trying to stick to a budget itself. Because budgets often tend to come with a sense of pressure, anxiety and restriction, experiment with a more stress-free approach by simply tracking what you’re spending money on. This exercise will shine a light on any areas that could use improvement, and you just might find yourself naturally motivated to cut spending and make savvier choices.
Explore smart investments
Once you’ve learned how to save, invest that money into wealth-building assets. Here’s the thing: your money can work harder than you can. While you’re constrained to your paycheck, your money itself has no such limitations. Through investment and compound interest, the money you can earn even more money, itself.
Be mindful of compound spending
Ever heard of compound spending? It’s when one purchase turns into another, turns into another… causing a domino-like affect. You know the drill – “just one drink” out turns into a few (plus snacks for the table) or an incredible online sale turns into a flat-out shopping spree (gotta hit that free shipping, though!). Nip unnecessary spending in the bud by stopping it before it starts.
Remember: money is time
Before making a purchase, think about exactly how many hours of work that item would cost you. You just might find that the leggings in question are cute, but not cute enough to be worth half a day of dealing with difficult clients or boring meetings. Plus – the longer you put off saving, the less time you (and your money!) have to save and accumulate. Let yourself release any money hang-ups, guilt or perceived failures of the past, and just focus on the now. Start from where you’re at, and start today.
