Women continue to shine and break the proverbial glass ceiling in different walks of life. Be it in business, sport,s or being a homemaker, women have excelled and made history.
So, why stay behind in financial matters? Take charge of your financial issues and reap long-term benefits.
Here are a few financial tips to get you started,
1. Come up with a financial plan:
Putting away money to be saved is great, but you should have a financial plan in place. Your financial plan should include all your goals like when will you be debt-free (if applicable), your goals like buying a car or a house, investment goals, and even taxes.
Think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to retire early? Want to go on an epic vacation? Do want a certain amount put away by a certain time?Include all these details in your financial plan.
A friendly reminder, stay realistic. Don’t include too many goals or too big ones, that will just make you feel overwhelmed, especially if your income sources don’t match your wishes yet.
2. Balance the budget:
Budgeting is painful. Budgeting often has a negative connotation to it, it means that you have to give up the things you love.
But I say, look at it as decluttering. Take a look at your expenses, and audit your monthly bills. Cut off your spending on things that you really don’t need. This doesn’t mean that you have to give up on things you really love. For eg: to balance your budget, it might be a better option to cut the cable than to give up the weekly yoga class.
Prioritize and choose the things most important to you and declutter the ones that you don’t need but are sucking all your money.
Friendly reminder, start slow. Create the budget on an excel sheet, and start cutting off things one by one. Don’t do a purge, it will make you frustrated and you will fall back on your old spending ways.
3. Don’t be hesitant to look for deals:
Asking for deals can feel embarrassing, right? But if you save money, then who cares? Ask for deals where you can, look for discount codes, and buy high-quality clothes in sales or on consignment stores. You will still have high-quality stuff but at a fraction of the price. Remember, all the money not spent is the money saved.
4. Start investing:
Start small. You don’t need to understand how to calculate bond yields or how to trade to be a good investor. Just figure out if what you want to achieve with what type of account and how much risk are you in a position to take.
If you want to hire a broker to invest for you, do that or find a platform where you get some education, support, and conversation. Trust me, everybody needs to learn constantly in the financial world. Nobody knows everything.
5. Be aware and write it down:
Lastly, saving money comes to how aware you are of your spending habits. Write down every little expenditure you made. There’s no better mirror for your spending habits than you writing it down yourself. You can use pen & paper or an app or even an excel sheet to maintain your log of expenditures but do it very consistently.
To conclude, financial management takes a lot of discipline so learn to say “no” to yourself. There’s nobody else checking your behavior other than you. Practice saying no to yourself, it doesn’t need to be a big no. Just stopping yourself from putting an extra packet of cookies in your cart is also saving you money.
Keep exercising that no muscle and you’ll be on your way to the financial independence you never imagined.