It’s never too late to transform your financial life. We wrote this article several years ago, but the advice is just as good today as it was back then, so we’re re-posting it. If you didn’t read it the first time it came along, or if you weren’t ready to implement this simple-yet-amazingly-effective advice, now is the time.
Put down the lottery tickets! You don’t have to pray to the God of Powerball or wish on a shooting star to improve your financial life. You have the power to turn your finances around and sail into retirement on a metaphoric yacht of financial stability. Change your habits and change your financial life with these seven simple secrets:
1. Save Every Month
Sounds simple enough, but so many people don’t put money away each month. Start by saving for a rainy day fund that covers 3 – 6 months of expenses, and then start researching mutual funds so you can earn interest and that sweet financial manna know as compound interest.
2. Put as Much into Your 401k or IRA as Possible
If you work for an employer that provides any percent match for your 401k contributions, that’s FREE MONEY! Go after that! Even if you don’t get a match from work, try to max out your 401k ($18,500 in 2018) or IRA ($5,500) or put as much away as you can. This money goes into your 401k or IRA tax-free, which means all that extra tax-free money can grow and earn interest over the decades.
3. Buy Good Health Insurance
The health insurance landscape continues to change as different political ideologies do battle, but the value of maintaining insurance has never wavered. If you don’t receive health insurance from your employer or are self-employed, buy health insurance even if you are healthy. If you get a cancer diagnosis or are in a bad car accident, your medical bills could easily wipe out your life savings.
4. Ask for a Raise
Ladies, when is the last time you’ve asked for a raise? No, we don’t mean the 3% raise you get at your annual evaluation. A quick online search can show you what others are making in your field. Are you on par? If not, then arm yourself with this data and a list of all the reasons why you are an awesome and critical employee and ask for a raise. If you get a no, it might be a sign to start looking for greener pastures.
5. Pay Your Mortgage Bi-Weekly Instead of Monthly
If you were to take out a 30-year, $400,000 mortgage loan today at a 5% interest rate and make all your payments on time, you would end up shelling out $361,891 in interest over the life of the loan. Simply by paying this same mortgage bi-monthly (an option that most lenders allow), you would pay off your home four years sooner and save $68,713 in interest in the process. Think about what all of that money could do if it were in a mutual fund instead? You could save even more on interest if you paid just $100 extra on each bi-monthly payment.
6. Cut Up Your Credit Cards
It’s so easy to swipe your credit card at the register and take home your purchases when the minimum monthly payments seem small and reasonable. However, when you use credit cards, it’s easy to lose sight of how much money you truly have. All that extra debt you carry around will incur interest, and that interest will incur interest. If you have high-interest cards like department store credit cards, you could quickly slide into a huge debt hole without even realizing it. If you ever hit your credit limit, Game Over.
7. Learn a New Skill
If you are not making enough money at work or dream of one day owning your own business (a risk that could pay off handsomely), learning a new skill can increase your value to your employer or give you something you can build your business around. Engineers are a dime a dozen, but what about an engineer who can also write clear and compelling marketing copy? That’s a girl who could probably ask for a raise and get it!
Put This Advice into Practice
The advice in this article is powerful and really can change your life… but only if you put it into practice. Some people love reading advice articles, but they never take action. Even just making one of these suggested changes will move you a little closer to financial strength and stability.
If you need help implementing this advice, our FREE Money Club curriculum goes into much more detail on almost all of these topics. Gather a few close friends or family members and start your own Money Club. You don’t need to be a financial planner or CPA to start a club. The material is all designed for everyday people looking to improve their financial advice, just like you!
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I thought I hit the jackpot. I thought I was so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who stood up for fellow workers against tyrrant boss. I looked up to him and thought he was a hero. There were things I was able to over-look. 2 DUI’s and I still stayed and supported him. Cops showed up saying he’s missing, come to find out he was out partying, or cheating.. who knows.. I still stayed. He sold my car to buy his truck. It hurt, but I couldn’t drive it anyway. I had to save money, and going out shopping or to anywhere would mean spending his hard earned money. I wore 1 pair of shoes for 20 years. I never buy clothes. I ware his old work shirts. I don’t buy anything. I don’t go anwhere. I don’t get to have friends. I didn’t get to really live. I had to sit and wait for him to talk to me. I sat and waited but he never had time for me. He’s never home. And, now, he admitted to me he’s been cheating on me most of our marriage. I feel like I was walking around in a fog being brainwashed. Now 24 years later, I’m too afflicted with agoraphobia and can’t step out or my house. How will I be able to go to work. I don’t even have a car now. I’m older, no energy, no desire to even continue to live. I’m tossed away like yesterday’s trash. My life is ruined in one fell swoop. I gave my whole life to one man who betrade me so utterly. My heart is broken. My mind is broken. My spirit is broken. Now I have nothing. I have no friends, no family. Just me and the cats I rescued and love. I only live now for them.
I don’t know how to keep going.
I am so sorry this has happened to you, and it sounds as though you have tried everything you could to make this work. Please reach out to resources in your community — here’s what to do. Use your search and search for “Abuse Hotline”. Or go to http://www.thehotline.org, where you will find the help you need. Or dial 211 to talk to someone about community services in your area. Do this! It may not seem like classical abuse to you, no bruises or broken bones, but it is definitely abuse, and there is definitely a way out of your situation that will work.
is there a statute of limitation on the 10 year rule of marriage to receive social security benefits from my ex husband.? Some states recognize the common law marriage. I lived with my ex-husband for one year as his finance before we were married for 9 years and 10 months. Is there anyway i can add the one year living together towards our 9 years 10 mth marriage. I’m 70 years old and living on very little money.
If your state recognized common law marriage, to prove common law marriage to Social Security you will need to submit SSA-754-F4 (Statement of Marital Relationship) from each spouse; and SSA-753 (Statement Regarding Marriage) from a blood relative (i.e., a person related by blood, not by marriage or adoption) of each spouse.