The Path To Better Financial Status Starts With These Single Steps March 9, 2017My MoneyOff

When your financial situation isn’t so good, it can feel like there’s a gulf between you and a better way of living with your money. When it feels like you’re living week-to-week, always one crisis away from debt, it’s easy to feel miserable. But you don’t have to stay that way. Every path begins with a single step, and there are a lot of little steps you can start making right now that are going to close the gap between you and financial health.

Find your stability. The first step is to find out the details of how much you’re spending, how much you should be spending, and the extra that you can immediately start putting aside. A household budget is going to help you identify the necessary expenditures and the unnecessary expenditures and can help you cut down the latter. It’s important to set yourself aside some money for unnecessary expenditures, since it’s a lot harder to stick to a rule for yourself if it deprives you of too much. But when you figure out how much you can reasonably put towards savings like an emergency fund and the kind of steps highlighted in the next points, you shouldn’t try hold onto it. Instead, as soon as you get your paycheck, put that ‘goal money’ in another savings account so it’s a lot harder to touch accidentally.

Get your credit working for you. How much money you’re saving isn’t the only way to improve your financial standing. There’s another factor running underneath your finances that should be better understood. We’re talking about credit. The good use of credit, from making regular use of credit cards (and staying on top of them) to making sure you’re regular with all loans and bills, has a lot of benefit to you. For one, you can check the details on things like Chase Sapphire Preferred credit score prerequisites, showing you the kind of score that can actually start making it easier to save money by using a card. Saving up on rewards points stops you from spending your own money, after all. But better credit also offers you more access to loans, which can be a very important tool for staying out of debt and giving you some security.

Start investing as well as saving. Investments might sound like it’s something that only rich fat cats should concern themselves with. The truth is that investing is open to people no matter how much they’re able to put towards it. If you’re worried about the idea of investments being a gamble, then you can look at cheap bonds you can buy and trade freely with others. Regardless of what kinds of investments you go for, they often have a lot more to offer than just saving.

So long as you stay diligent and stick to your plans, you’ll find that path to a money-smart way of living a lot easier and a lot shorter. No matter how much you make right now, you can always put at least a little extra towards the tips above.

Photo by Lucky Business | Shutterstock

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