Whether you’re a student, young parent, worker, business owner or anything in between, the chances are – you’d use some help with handling your personal finances and doing more with your money.
That’s why we’ve prepared a few tips that will help you be more successful in saving and handling your money, without missing out on things and experiences you like.
1. Create a Financial Calendar
You should have reminders for any important tasks regarded money, like paying taxes or pulling a credit report. You can look at it like having a reminder for car tune-up, doctor’s visit or any other important appointment.
A financial calendar can also be useful for you to get an overview over your costs and you can even set different dates for paying the bills, insurance and so on.
Pro tip: You can have a shared Financial Calendar and plan for your home budget, roommates or partner. CollaboraZon can help you create events, share files like invoices and more. Register here and get a free 1-month trial!
2. One Minute a Day Keeps Troubles Away!
If you take a single minute every day to go through your finances, you could identify potential problems immediately, as well as keep track over your goals and situation. This way, you can easily see how much you want to spend a given day, if you need to set some money aside for eventual costs and so on.
3. Set Aside at Least 20% of ALL Your Income for Savings and Financial Priorities
You should always allocate at least 20% of total income towards your financial priorities like paying off debt, or savings. It might seem like a large number, but it is necessary for both financial discipline cumulating any serious saving within a certain period.
As the time goes by, you might even want to try to gradually increase the percentage up to 30%.
4. Financial Vision Board
Let’s be honest. Adopting better money habits and being more disciplined requires a loth of effort. This is why motivation is crucial for success.
Drafting your own Financial Vision Board can help you stay focused on your goals and remind you of why you’re doing this. A vision board is any sort of board where you display images representing your goals or whatever you wish to achieve or have in your life. In this case, it’s focused on financial part. It can be both an actual physical board, or a digital version you could keep on your phone or desktop.
5. Start Saving Right Away
You should start saving ASAP. Not next Monday, not next year, not next month… Not when you get a raise or a better job. Right now. The sooner you set the money aside, the more time it has to grow through compound growth.
Also, like everything in life, saving gets easier the longer you do it. Any beginnings are hard, but the sooner you start saving, the better. If you follow these tips and persist, you’ll become a real personal finance ninja in no time!