If you're worried about money, you aren't alone. A recent study by Mind Over Money in collaboration with Capital One found that 77 percent of Americans feel anxious about their financial situation. With inflation and the rising cost of living, you may be part of that group. Here are a few tips to make your paycheck work harder for you.
Review Your Spending
It may seem obvious, but reviewing your spending habits is an easy and effective way to understand where your money is going. Write down every purchase you make and every bill you pay each month. Until you see the final number you may not realize just how much of your hard-earned money is going out the door. Once you have the complete picture, consider where you might be able to cut back. If you’re eating out twice a week, can you cut back to once? Small changes like this can help keep money in your bank account — money you can use in more beneficial ways.
Create a Budget
A recent study from Ramsey Solutions found that half of Americans wouldn’t be able to cover their expenses for 90 days if they lost their income. To stay out of that group, it’s important to build an emergency fund, and creating a budget is a good place to start. A budget lets you to see where your money is coming from. Then once you have a good idea of how much money you have, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about where to put it — like savings, investments, growing a business, or making a major purchase.
Pay Off Your Debt
Even though it might be difficult, paying off your debt will eventually free up funds that you didn’t have before. According to USA Today, the average American woman has about $85,000 in debt, and the average American man has about $104,000 in debt. Remember, it’s not just the money you borrowed or purchases you made that’s adding up — it’s also the interest. Be aware of the interest rates attached to your credit cards. If it’s high, contact your provider and ask for a lower rate, or consider transferring your balance to a no- or low-interest rate card. While the total sum might seem daunting, make it a priority to pay down that debt.
Invest
Investing is a great way to make your salary work harder for you. There are a number of different ways to invest — from stocks and bonds to real estate. If you’re unsure where to start, investment advisors can help guide you and create plans and portfolios that work for you. If that’s not something you’re ready for, do your own research. There are numerous financial resources you can tap to help you learn about investing. Don’t let not having significant funds to invest stop you. Even a small investment can generate funds you wouldn't have otherwise.
Automate Your Finances
The last thing you need is getting hit with late fees. Paying a late fee is essentially burning money. To avoid incurring these charges, consider automating your recurring payments to ensure those bills are paid on time. That way, you can put more of your money to better use.
In today’s economy, it’s important to understand how you manage your money. Making small changes can lead to having more funds at your disposal. Take the time to track your incoming and outgoing funds to make sure your salary is working harder for you.
ON TOPIC
In partnership with the Wells Fargo Foundation, AISES developed Native Financial Cents: Supporting Financial Capability for Native Americans Curriculum (NFC) to engage Native communities in advancing financial education for youth and young adults.
Financial education is a critical component of workforce development, ensuring individuals persist and thrive in their professional endeavors while successfully managing personal finances. Financial skill development helps students and early career professionals to advance more quickly both personally and professionally. Additionally, this financial knowledge will extend beyond personal finances to positively impact workplaces and communities.
The goal of the Native Financial Cents curriculum is to increase the financial knowledge, capacity, and confidence of Native learners within their communities, educational institutions, and throughout Indian Country through development and access to culturally contextualized curriculum and training opportunities. The long-term impact of this project is to increase the financial capability of Native youth and professionals.
The NFC curriculum incorporates Native customs, traditions, and culture so that content will be more relevant, easily understood, and applied by Native learners. The curriculum focuses on the importance of the participant’s connection to their culture and the important role of community educators as part of that connection. The curriculum addresses commonalities among Native nations, borrowing examples from individual groups when necessary, and also provides an opportunity for narrative content to be customized to reservation and urban Native communities.
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