How are your finances? If you’re like most people, they could be better. Whether you’re struggling to make ends meet or you’re covering your expenses but feel like you could improve your financial literacy and management, there are hacks that can help you make the most of your money. Here you can find some of the top financial hacks to improve your life.
Have a Plan
A lack of goals can keep you as unfocused in your financial life as in your personal or professional life. It can also keep you locked in a cycle of overspending no matter how much or how little you make since it’s difficult to conceptualize what else you should be doing with the money. Alternately, maybe your only goals are very short-term or very long-term. Ideally, you should have a mix of goals. In the short term, maybe you plan to pay off some credit card debts. You may have a medium-term goal of buying a home and a long-term goal to retire early. Other goals might include paying for your own education or that of your children, taking a trip or remodeling your house. With goals in mind, you’ll have a clearer picture so that you can make your own plans or perhaps meet with a financial planner to help you realize them.
Get Financing for Dental Work
Even with some solid financial goals in place, there may be some additional costs you’re trying to cover. If you’ve got health insurance, it still may not cover dental work, which is necessary but can be expensive, and it’s the kind of thing that only gets costlier if you put it off. However, you can cover it by financing with Cherry. This ensures that you can get treated now, which can be important if you’re currently having a dental issue. It’s easy to apply in just seconds for a payment plan, and your credit won’t be affected by the application. This allows you to pay in installments. You can find the application online or ask your practice to supply you with the unique application link.
The Power of Timing
There are a few ways you can make timing work for you when it comes to finances. First, the fees that usually accompany missed payments can make forgetting about them costly. Setting up automatic payments can help you avoid those fees. Next, figure out how to make timing work for you if impulse buying is a problem. Forbidding yourself to ever buy anything frivolous again probably won’t work, so you need a different strategy. Instead, tell yourself that you need to wait a certain amount of time, such as three days or a week. If you still want the item, then allow yourself to buy it. If you know a sale is coming up, research ahead of time and think about what you need. Plan ahead and disallow any one-click payments that you’ve set up to add some friction into the process.
Consider Cash
It may seem like a radical idea in this world of seamless cashless purchasing, but another way to reign in careless spending is by forcing yourself to stick to cash whenever possible. This works in a few different ways. First, there’s something about the act of handing over money rather than a tap or a swipe that makes spending feel more real. Second, it’s another way to reduce spending online. You may be surprised at how many things you realize you don’t really need if you force yourself to go to a brick-and-mortar location to buy it rather than simply clicking. If the idea of throwing yourself into using cash long-term seems too daunting, consider doing it for just a month as an experiment to break some of your worst spending habits.
Live Below Your Means
This is really the ultimate hack. The suggestions above will help, but another great way to accomplish this is by ignoring all or part of some raises that you get. Of course, you shouldn’t do so to a degree that will harm you financially, and you need to keep up with inflation and the kind of expenses created by a growing family. However, if you can invest a substantial portion of your pay increases rather than simply increasing your spending to match it, you’ll quickly build financial security.
