It seems that the only thing millennials struggle with, in this day and age, is how to manage their money. But a quick Google search will give you the best tips on how to do it.
And if you’re reading this article, then that is exactly how you’ve come across our page. In this article, we will be telling you all about our 10 tips to better manage your money.
Make sure to read to the end as our tips aren’t exclusive only to millennials.
Make a Budget
One of the easiest ways to manage your money is to simply create a budget. Before you go ahead and do that, let us explain why you should.
A budget is a great long-term money-managing strategy that gives you excellent oversight of your finances. It tells you exactly how much money you have and it helps you create a system that tells you exactly where you spend the money.
For example, if part of your finances is reserved for your mortgage, your car, and for a retirement fund, then you’ll know exactly how much money you have left to spend on other things.
This way, you will have a clear picture of your financial situation. What’s more important, you might stop spending money on needless things and items.
Keep Track Of Your Expenses
Let’s not kid ourselves. Very few people on this earth know exactly how much money they spend and on what. If you’d ask a family member or a friend the exact amount of expenses they generate on a monthly basis, they will have no clue how to answer.
But this inconvenient problem can be easily avoided if you simply open up an Excel spreadsheet and start accounting for all of your monthly expenses for an entire month. You need to keep track of how much cash you spend, as well as credit.
This way, you will have a clear picture of the total amount of expenses.
Subsidize From Your Income
Once you know exactly how much money you spend on expenses, put the number next to your salary and see what comes on top. If the expenses are on top, then you’re in debt. If the salary amount comes on top, then you’re saving money.
But this all means nothing if you don’t…
Save What’s Left
A great money-managing strategy is to save up what’s left at the end of the month and put it in the bank in a retirement fund. This way you’re making sure that no money goes to waste, and that you don’t spend the excess money on pointless things.
The most important thing is to pay your monthly expenses, allocate money for food, clothing, etc, and save what’s left for future days.
Put An End To Your Debt
There isn’t a word out there that is seen as the ultimate evil as the word “debt”. And let’s face it, nothing good comes out of being in debt. The ultimate goal is to live your life debt-free, you know be living the dream.
Unfortunately, nearly 90% of Americans live in debt.
Whenever someone Googles “Tips to better manage your money”, what they’re actually trying to do is get out of debt. That’s why your ultimate end goal is to consolidate debt as much as you can.
Always pay it upfront as you don’t want to mess with high-interest rates. Never take payday loans, quick loans, and every other type of “loan” as these have very high-interest rates.
Cut Back on Needless Costs
A reoccurring theme in this article is that you should cut back on needless costs whenever you can. In the most extreme cases, you should avoid buying any sort of stuff that doesn’t constitute a necessity.
Do you love drinking very expensive coffee? Well, instead of spending hundreds of dollars every month on Starbucks, you can pay for other things.
Apart from very expensive coffee, we also spend hundreds of dollars annually on subscription services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and tons of others.
The easiest way to manage your money is to cut back on these.
Avoid Creating New Expenses
Do you love a new car? Well, unfortunately, a new car is not an option until you pay off your existing one. It’s easy to think of the ways we can create new expenses that would further hinder our finances.
But a great way to manage our money is to simply stop creating new expenses. Even if you have an okay credit score, it would be very dumb to commit to new expenses whilst struggling for money.
You wouldn’t be reading this article if your finances were in top-notch condition. But since they aren’t, you should wait before buying that new car.
Pay The Right Prices
We said in a previous point that you shouldn’t pay for coffee as the costs accumulate over time. But this isn’t necessarily true. Instead of buying from Starbucks, why not go to a cheaper coffee shop that offers just as good coffee?
An easy way to better manage your money while still enjoying some luxuries in life is to compare prices when purchasing goods. If you’re experiencing money problems, then make sure to always pay for the lowest prices while also paying for quality goods and services.
Limit Your Credit Card Purchase
A credit card is the worst thing that can happen to a person that has no control over their spending habits. The great, and equally bad, thing about credit cards is that you can go over the limit and spend more money.
The great thing is that this is excellent when in need of an emergency payment. The bad thing is that you can abuse this rule and always spend more money than what you have.
A great way to better manage your money is to simply limit your credit card purchasing habits.
Practice Makes Perfect
And for the final tip of our money-managing article, we suggest you start slow and gradually increase through time. No one has perfect money-managing habits, and everything takes time. Soon you’ll notice a change in your behavior, a welcoming change.
Finishing Thoughts
If you’re in dire finances and are in need of ways to solve your money issues, then these 10 tips will come useful. The best way to solve whatever financial issue you might have is to better manage your finances.
