Money saving tips – The basic principles of financial saving and attaining financial well-being have remained constant over time. This piece will try to highlight these principles which families and individuals can use to attain financial security.
Spend less than you earn – No matter how much or how little you are paid, you will never get ahead if you spend more than you earn. Often its 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.
Stick to a budget – 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.
Pay off credit card debt – Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. These cards are easy to use forgetting that its real money we are dealing with. Despite our good resolve 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.
Have a savings plan – If you wait until you have met all your other financial obligations before seeing whats left over for saving, chances are you will 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. Even better is to have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account.
Invest – If you are contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, that’s even better.
Maximise your employment benefits – Medical and dental insurance are worth big bucks, so make sure you are maximising yours and taking advantage of the ones that can save you money by reducing taxes or out of pocket expenses.
Review your insurance coverages – Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it’s by adding these coverages to car loans, buying whole life insurance policies when life term makes more sense or buying life insurance when you have no dependants.
Keep good records – If you don’t keep good records,you are probably not claiming all your allowance income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. Its much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.
