5 Small Tips that Will Make a Big Improvement in your Financial Situation

Improve your financial situation is a good thing to start at any time of year.
Regardless of when you begin, the basics remain the same. Here are five tips to getting ahead financially.

1. SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN

No matter how much or how little you’re paid, you’ll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn. Often it’s easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of areas can result in big savings. It doesn’t always have to involve making big sacrifices.

 2. STICK TO A BUDGET

One of favorite subjects: budgeting. It’s not a four-letter word. How can you know where your money is going if you don’t budget? How can you set spending and saving goals if you don’t know where your money is going? You need a budget whether you make thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

3. PAY OFF CREDIT CARD DEBT

Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. Those little pieces of plastic are so easy to use, and it’s so easy to forget that it’s real money we’re dealing with when we whip them out to pay for a purchase, large or small. Despite our good resolves to pay the balance off quickly, the reality is that we often don’t, and end up paying far more for things than we would have paid if we had used cash.

 4. HAVE A SAVINGS PLAN

You’ve heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you’ve met all your other financial obligations before seeing what’s left over for saving, chances are you’ll never have a healthy savings account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account.

5. INVEST!

If you’re contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, all the better.