Starting a new year means getting the chance to accomplish goals you’ve been thinking about like taking care of your health more. Another important goal people tend to focus on in a new year is how they handle their wealth. While you’re not likely to ever get rich fast, taking the right strategy in mind now can be the difference between you retiring 30 years from now or working for the rest of your life. Take a look into these ways that people plan on tackling their wealth strategies into the new year.
Monthly Expenses
If you’re someone who doesn’t think much about your finances, you might be spending way too much money on things that you could be saving money on. To figure out what you can save money on into the next year, gather up all of your expenses together and see what categories you spend the most in. For example, think about making all of your meals from scratch if you’re someone who spent all of 2020 getting their meals from delivery services like Uber Eats. For other expenses that you don’t necessarily want to get rid of, think about ways that you can spend less like purchasing subscription services only for the months you use them instead of purchasing them for the entire year. Saving on your monthly expenses is one of the best ways that you can end up thousands of dollars ahead at the end of next year.
Savings Accounts
Many people don’t think about their long-term finances at all which is why they deposit all their money into a debit account and leave it there. This is a bad idea as many savings accounts are out there that offer no fees while giving customers a certain percentage back every year. To start saving money with a savings account, look around and find the savings account that works for you with the largest rate back you can get. You should be able to then set up a service in which you can automatically deposit money into that account every time you get a paycheck so you don’t even need to think about it. The percentage of the money you get back can seem small but this adds up rapidly to money you can use on a vacation or for your future retirement.
Investments
While putting your money into a savings account seems like a great way to make hassle-free money over time, you might start thinking about amping it up a bit by getting into investments. Investing is typically riskier in that you have a chance of losing money but the potential gains are much higher than just sitting that money into a savings account. For those new to investing, starting slow is the best idea which you can do by putting small amounts of money into businesses that look good so you get a handle of how the stock market works. Safer investments some people take on are index funds like the S&P 500 which follows the performance of the 500 largest businesses listed in the United States. No matter what you do with investments, ensure that you play it safe and never put on the line money you’re too scared to lose.
Cars
Many people all around the world are having issues with their finances due to getting a loan out on a new car which can add up to hundreds people are spending monthly on a car payment. Purchasing a used vehicle instead of a new one can be great as you don’t have to worry about monthly payments when you can budget for paying the entire vehicle up-front along with not having to think about the natural depreciation of the car. By saving money on car payments, that’s money you can put back into your savings account or additional investments.
