5 Personal Finance Tips You Can Implement Right Away
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We have been super interested in taking control of our personal finances this year! Our dad was a stockbroker, so we were lucky to have brokerage accounts set up at a young age and be raised in a smart money mindset family. We only wish we would have asked more questions! While it’s important to work with brokers and financial advisors you trust, it’s also so important to learn and be knowledgable about money so you aren’t solely relying on others for something so incredibly important in our society. And above all else, we want to learn more about best practices for saving & growing our hard-earned cash.
Through that journey, we came across Becca of Blonde Broke & Boujee (Instagram + website!). We love how informative all of her Instagram stories are & encourage you to follow along if you aren’t already. She has a way of explaining complicated financial things in a really easy-to-understand format & it makes us feel like we can really take charge & save. We asked Becca to share five personal finance tips that people of all ages can implement right away. We hope when you finish reading this blog that you make it your mission to tackle at least one of these tips straight away. Taking control of your finances really can be that easy!
Transfer your savings to a high yield savings account.
If you have savings in a normal savings account with your bank, it is barely earning interest – usually around 0.01%. Since the price of everything is going up from inflation, you are essentially losing money. Transferring this money to a high yield savings account helps your money to keep up with inflation. Most high yield savings accounts are earning around 1.7% right now! That is 170 TIMES HIGHER. There is no good reason to have a low yield savings account when you can earn so much more.
Trick yourself into feeling like you have less spending money.
You know that feeling at the end of the month when you realize you have nothing left to spend before the next paycheck and you stop spending money? There’s nothing like getting yourself to stop spending by feeling like you have nothing left to spend. Set up an automatic transfer to your savings account with every paycheck to get to that feeling a little earlier and spend less overall. Even if it is just $10 a paycheck, taking that money out of your checking account means you won’t spend it, and you’ll realize you don’t even notice it’s gone. Raise that up every month and your savings will grow and grow without any major life changes.
Contribute to your retirement.
If your company offers a 401k match, you 100% should take advantage of this. Contribute at least up to the match, because that is free money they give you. It is basically like me saying “give me all the cash in your wallet and then I’ll give you double that back.” Sure, you can’t spend what was originally in your wallet, but you just doubled that money to spend when you retire. Challenge yourself to raise that contribution up as much as possible above the company match too. If your company doesn’t offer a 401k, open a Roth IRA instead.
Budget!
The most common thing I hear on my budgeting coaching calls is “I have no idea where my money is going.” How can you save more and spend less if you don’t know what you’re spending on? The key to budgeting is to understand what you do now, and then making reasonable cuts from there. If you try to make extreme cuts without understanding your current spending, you will set yourself up to fail. Budgeting should not be a scary word and it doesn’t have to mean restricting yourself. Once you know how much you spend, you budget to make sure you have enough money to spend on the things you actually want!
Investing today is better than investing tomorrow.
Not sure if it’s a good time in the market to invest? The good thing is you don’t have to! The earlier you invest the better, so the best time to invest is today. Women in general are slow to invest because they want to plan and make sure it’s a good time but no one is giving them the information on how to figure that out. Invest early and often! If you need help, signing up for a robo-advisor like Ellevest or Wealthfront is a great option because they automate the process for you.
A little more about Becca of Blonde Broke & Boujee:
Becca created Blonde Broke & Boujee in February 2018 to help millennials, like herself, save money and normalize talking about their finances. She shares the tips and tools that allowed her to save over $100k before turning 26 and continue to grow her net worth.
Based in Brooklyn, NY, she lives like she’s broke while working full time as a business analyst, earning a Masters degree in Applied Economics, and being boujee.
Thank you to Becca for sharing those tips! After seeing her posts around the holidays, we immediately researched high-yield savings accounts & moved our 3-6 month emergency funds out of our bank’s 0.01% interest earning savings account and into a high-yield savings account. It was one of many steps we’re taking to be in control of our personal finances & it feels great to be doing so. For more tips from Becca, be sure to follow her on Instagram & even book a one-on-one session with Becca on her website.
We’d love to hear how you’re tackling your personal finances this year! Please share your success stories & any questions you might have in the comments. And for more wellness tips, be sure to discover 10 easy ways to be a happier person, learn how to get a good night sleep & implement 10 steps to a stress-free work week.