Less than one month into the new year and you’ve already screwed up your New Year’s Resolution. I’ll be the first to admit it, that I’ve already fallen off the wagon, but that’s okay. On the first of each January the 3 biggest resolutions that we make are:
1. Lose Weight.
2. Pay Off Debt.
3. Save More Money.
Now, I’m not a “health guru” but I’m confident I can help educate you on the best ways to grow your wealth. So, if you’re looking to improve your financial situation this year, then I have a solution for you.
Here are a few easy tips that you can start using TODAY to increase your net worth.
1. You Want to Increase Your Savings.
With the accessibility to purchase anything we want with a few clicks on our phones, saving money is hard! A lot of investment companies make it super easy to “Automate” your savings and putting them away for you. But, this doesn’t give you the reward your brain needs in order to have a sense of accomplishment.
One of the best ways to increase your savings is to put $10 to $20 away every time you cook dinner at home. This will allow you to get the satisfaction of accomplishing your goal and help you give yourself a reward for avoiding the temptation to eat out.
2. You Want to Pay Off Your Debt.
With student loan debt affecting more than 40 million Americans, many of us are struggling with handling the pressure. A lot of “financial coaches” may recommend refinancing your debt using companies such as www.sofi.com. This may be a good way to lower your payments, but all in all, you’ll still need to pay off your debt. I wish I had a magic silver bullet to help you pay off your debt as fast as possible, but unfortunately, there is no magic when it comes to paying off debt.
I would definitely under NO CIRCUMSTANCES every refinance into an income-based student loan program because as your income rises, this will negatively affect your student loan. Definitely consider refinancing to lower your interest rate and then get your payments into a place where you feel comfortable. Other than inheriting a bunch of money, there is no short-term solutions that are worth exploring.
3. You Want to Improve Your Investments.
Nowadays, it seems like everyone is a financial guru, a financial coach, and knows everything about investing. However, the stock market has been on a record run over the past decade and if you talk to any experienced investor, they know what goes up, must come down. Where I see the biggest room for investors to improve their financial health, is to pick an investment strategy and stick with it.
Most people are just investing blindly into stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and that’s been working so far. Yet, when the shit hits the fan and you don’t know what to do, that’s when novice investors end up making mistakes that affect their financial health.
Overall, we can all improve areas in our lives and the best way to do so is to invest in learning or hiring experts to show us the way to the promised land. At the very least, I’d implore for you to listen to an Audible book called, Life Cycle Investing. Lifecycle Investing develops a strategy to better spread risk over your working lifetime—that is, diversifying over time. Time diversification makes it possible to earn the same return with lower risk or a higher return for the same risk.
Your Guide,
Leave a Reply