How to Take Personal Finance Seriously

Most of us like to think about life without money woes. One of the greatest gifts you can ever receive from being financially comfortable is more time to spend doing the things you enjoy.

What do I mean by this? How many of you worry about having enough cash to pay bills and spend way too much time juggling payments every month? You go through each bill with a fine comb, trying to figure out what has to be paid and what can wait.

There are several practices you can start today to get yourself on track to living this kind of lifestyle.

Frugality

The best way to save money is to not spend it.

“I really want that new car!”

But do you need it? If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the last thing you should be doing is blowing $500 a month on a car payment, right?

Think about your spending before you actually do it. Living a simple, frugal life is the best place to start. Once you’ve cut back on unnecessary spending, you’ll move on to the next step.

Increasing Income

I know, I know. Always easier said than done, right?

But you don’t have to get a second job. Why not start your own side-gig doing something you enjoy?

You can also have a yard sale, sell off junk on eBay or Craigslist, or sell your house. If you don’t need a huge home, why have it? If your kids are gone, why not downsize to something more practical?

While some of the above methods are extreme, you can find a lot of information on the web about side-hustles and bringing in another source of income with just 10-15 hours a week. I’m not telling you to go get a job in fast food. However, waiting tables can be a profitable side-hustle.

Other people start new businesses with low startup costs and equally low barriers to entry.

Investing

This is where the hands-off approach to personal finance can really shine. Once you save money and increase income, you’ll notice that you have no fear of setting your bills to “auto-pay”, which is a great feeling.

But the work isn’t complete until you can take this extra money and put it to work so you don’t have to. If you don’t know much about investing, do what I do and use a robo-advisor. This is a great way to have a brokerage account that’s not related to your 401k or IRA.

You can set up a recurring investment and just check it on an app on your phone on occasion to see how your accounts are doing. You pick your risk level, invest, and that’s that. They even rebalance automatically.

There are some great robo-advisors out there. You should research companies like Acorns, Betterment, and Ellevest to find the option that’s right for you.

Conclusion

It’s easy to have money problems. Unfortunately, we live in a society where people are afraid to talk about them. With just a few simple, albeit not easy, steps, you can have the life you want.

It is possible for people to take back control of their finances and their lives.

Save money, make more, and invest the difference and your future will be bright. Good luck out there.