While you may not have the savings account balance you had hoped for in this time of your life, and while you always hear the “it’s never too late”, the truth is, the more you wait and it will be too late to have that nest egg that you always wanted by the time you retire. If you start to make financial improvements now, you can really give your finances not only a boost now, but for the future. After all, by the time you retire you want to make sure you’re out of debt, have a rainy-day fund in case of emergencies, and have enough to life off with your retirement account that has hopefully grown over the course of a few decades.
Put a List of Goals Together
You have to start somewhere, and sometimes it can really kick yourself into gear by making a list of what you want to achieve both short and long-term. Keep in mind that these goals should be attainable, and not along the lines of a weight-loss target of twenty-give pounds by summer if you don’t plan on sticking to diet and exercise, instead of trying to lose a few pounds a month. Start small, and it can be rewarding to actually see success in even the smallest goal that it can provide motivation to continue down the list.
Create a Realistic Budget
Much like creating goals you can actually achieve, the same goes with a budget. While anyone can put a budget together, it’s no wonder that most budgets fail, either because the allocation of funds are not adequate, or you simply cannot curb spending enough to stick with a budget. If you really follow though, you can start to see the extra money pile up every month and really put your hard-earned money to better use instead of careless spending and being shocked when you see the credit card statement come in the mail, finding yourself wonder how you’re going to pay it off.
Build Up a Few Months’ Worth of Reserves
You never know what is going to happen in life when all of a sudden, a financial curveball comes your way by the form of your furnace breaking down in the bitter cold, causing not only the purchase of a new one, but paying someone on short notice to come out. Not being prepared would cause this sudden charge to go on a credit card, putting yourself deeper in debt having the balance carryover each month with interest, until you’re able to pay it off. By building up a few months’ worth of reserves, you can give yourself the much-needed cushion if any large unexpected charges were to come up.
Cut Out Unnecessary Spending
In order to get ahead in your finances, it will take some sacrifice, and some may be harder than others. Taking your food budget for example. While preparing meals at home by stocking up at the grocery store is a cost-effective, not to mention healthy option, however, it is much easier to go out to lunch at work, pick up carryout for dinner, or take your significant other out to a nice night on the town. While of course every so often it’s much needed to get out of the normal daily grind, the costs can add up pretty quickly. If you’re able to reduce the unnecessary spending of going out to eat often, you can see savings add up pretty quickly. Same goes with cable. You hear many are cutting the cord, and it actually can be a viable option if you think about how much you’re spending each month, only to watch shows taped on your DVR or even on a streaming service.
Increase Retirement Contributions
While it may still be decades away until you finally do get to walk away from work, that doesn’t mean you can continue to kick the retirement account can down the road. By increasing your retirement contributions now, you can ensure you will have adequate funds to continue to grow over the next few decades are really giving yourself a shot at income to live off when you finally do retire.
Don’t Miss Out on Free Money
Since we’re looking at holding onto every dollar we can, don’t forget about free money. By signing up for a rewards credit card you can earn points or cashback on the purchases you make anyways. Also, while we were on the subject of retirement, don’t forget to make sure you’re contributing the max of any company matching contributions from your employer.
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