You work hard for every dollar you earn, but what are those dollars doing for you? The obvious answers like paying your bills and funding your fun are important and sensical, but what about the money you make, but do not spend? Is it just sitting around in a savings account or is it working for you? If the former is where you are at, there is nothing wrong with that, but just know that with a little savvy, you can use your existing money to create more money. Below are a few suggestions of how you can earn money, with your earned money.
Have a Variety of Savings Plans
Traditional savings accounts are wonderful, but typically the interest that you earn on the money that you keep there is not high enough to make a significant impact. Think about moving your money elsewhere so that money that is just going to be sitting untouched anyways, can multiply at a more favorable rate. Employer sponsored 401k programs is one of the most common ways to boost your savings game. With your employer matching a percentage of your contributions it is certainly worth your efforts to max out how much you can contribute each year.
Outside of a 401k, you can consider investments, money market accounts and even life insurance policies as places to allocate your savings so that it will effortlessly grow. If you are unfamiliar with how you can use a life insurance policy as a type of savings account read about selling to a viatical settlement broker for cash. Putting your money here means you are keeping it away to be used in times of chronic or terminal illness requiring extensive health care costs. By having that money kept safe in your policy, growing over time, you are increasing your bottom line and the overall total that you could ultimately sell for.
Use a Professional
If money is not a hobby or passion of yours, you might not even know where to look or how to start with an aggressive or unique savings strategy. A finance professional can help you put your salary to the best use and set you up on a plan that aligns with your dictated goals in the most efficient way. Consulting a professional is nice because it takes an element of guesswork out of it for you and allows you to keep your plan conversational. As you would with any hired service, shop around before you select an advisor. There is a significant amount of trust that goes into this partnership, and you will want to leave no doubt that the person creating your financial plan is trustworthy and good intended.
Keep Your Eyes Open
One major thing that can kill a savings plan is hidden terms. Even some of your bank accounts might come with terms and fees that are seemingly insignificant to the point that you do not even know they exist. There are ways to fix that though and you might be surprised to see how a series of small changes can be the difference of a lot of money back in your pocket each month. Ask questions and hold yourself accountable to really understanding the answers. Even something as small as a retail store rewards card could have fine print attached that does not satisfy your goals.
