Did you know this is National Financial Wellness Month? No? Well, me neither. However, on that note after finding out about this month's theme, I was inspired to write 8 ways to raise your financial awareness (and financial stability) in 5 minutes.
Each of these suggestions take about 5 minutes (or less), and are great way to increase your overall financial health!
7. Download an App to track spending. One of my credit cards does this automatically for me, which is nice (or discouraging at times!) Remember how you wrote down your debts? Well you want to look at where your money is going right now as a way to become more financially aware of your money. Here is a link to a few that Forbes suggests. Mint is the one we used when we first got married about 5 years ago.
8. Start and Emergency Fund. If you haven't already started an emergency fund, I challenge you to do so now. I suggest $1,000 as a goal to start with. This fund is for emergencies only (see post here and here) and can help you from plunging into debt (or deeper in debt) in the case of a true emergency.
At the end of the month, take a look at your spending and compare it to your debts. Are you surprised by where your money went? Are there ways your can see to decrease your spending and increase what you are paying towards your debts? Take just a few minutes to review and reflect on what your goals are and what sacrifices you can make now to obtain those goals! If you goal is to go to Hawaii in 2 years, where can you cut back your spending to save for your trip? If your goal is to become debt-free in 5 years, what could you do now to start accomplishing that goal?
Each of these suggestions take about 5 minutes (or less), and are great way to increase your overall financial health!
1. Check Your Credit Report. I cannot say enough how important this is to do each year. It helps to makes sure that everything is on the up-and-up. It allows you to catch mistakes financial institutions make, and keeps you aware of what your financial wellness looks like. You can read how to do that here.
2. Check Your Spouse's Credit Report (with your spouse present). Your spouse's credit report is just as important as yours, because if you have married and sharing your finances, each will have equal weight when you need it. And if your spouse's indentity is stolen, it will likely affect your score too since you have joint finances.
2. Check Your Spouse's Credit Report (with your spouse present). Your spouse's credit report is just as important as yours, because if you have married and sharing your finances, each will have equal weight when you need it. And if your spouse's indentity is stolen, it will likely affect your score too since you have joint finances.
3. Write down your debts. It does take a couple minutes, but I challenge you to look up the actual balance of debts. Don't just guess. If you have student loans, look up each loan. If you have a car loan, a mortgage, or credit card debt, look up each and write it down. Why? Because becoming more financially aware means knowing what you owe. Yes, it may be discouraging, but its a small start to better financial wellness.
4. Bring your lunch/coffee to work. Not eating (or drinking) out is a simple way to seriously decrease your expenses. Make your coffee at home, bring your lunch to work...and you can save easily $50 a week which is $2,600 a year! Think if your boss came in and said "Okay, I'm going to give you a $3,600 raise, but you have to bring your lunch and coffee from home this year" would you do it? (my math is based on after-tax raise FYI) I totally would!
5. Write down your 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 year goals. Your goals could be anything from taking a trip to Hawaii, to having a kid, to finishing a master's program or retire. Whatever your goals are write them down. I encourage you to do this with your spouse! (one of our goals is to be able to help with Lorelia's college if she chooses to go!)
5. Write down your 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 year goals. Your goals could be anything from taking a trip to Hawaii, to having a kid, to finishing a master's program or retire. Whatever your goals are write them down. I encourage you to do this with your spouse! (one of our goals is to be able to help with Lorelia's college if she chooses to go!)
6. Increase your contributions to your 401(k) or IRA by 1%. Here is the beauty of retirement. Increasing your contributions by 1% will likely go completely unnoticed by you, but over time can have a major effect on your ability and happiness in retirement. Compounding interest is your best friend, and time is on your side for you Millennials...but only if you take advantage of it NOW. You probably won't even notice your take-home pay decreasing by 1%. Try it...increase your contributions by just 1%, then leave it. Then next year do the same. A general rule of thumb is you should be contributing 15% (including any contributions your employer makes) of your income towards retirement.
7. Download an App to track spending. One of my credit cards does this automatically for me, which is nice (or discouraging at times!) Remember how you wrote down your debts? Well you want to look at where your money is going right now as a way to become more financially aware of your money. Here is a link to a few that Forbes suggests. Mint is the one we used when we first got married about 5 years ago.
8. Start and Emergency Fund. If you haven't already started an emergency fund, I challenge you to do so now. I suggest $1,000 as a goal to start with. This fund is for emergencies only (see post here and here) and can help you from plunging into debt (or deeper in debt) in the case of a true emergency.
At the end of the month, take a look at your spending and compare it to your debts. Are you surprised by where your money went? Are there ways your can see to decrease your spending and increase what you are paying towards your debts? Take just a few minutes to review and reflect on what your goals are and what sacrifices you can make now to obtain those goals! If you goal is to go to Hawaii in 2 years, where can you cut back your spending to save for your trip? If your goal is to become debt-free in 5 years, what could you do now to start accomplishing that goal?
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