Just finished your studies and entered the professional world with your first job? This transition from a college student to a grown-up who earns his/her livelihood can be very tough especially when it comes to personal financing and saving. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a freelancer or full-time employee, we got you covered.
Imagine a situation where you end up spending your monthly salary by the 15th of that month. Yeah, not a very ideal situation to imagine. But the reality is that this happens to many of us. Many of us don’t have much money left by the mid of a month.
When we get our salary, we get all jumpy and in our excitement, we end up buying all those things that we couldn’t buy before due to lack of money. But ideally, we should be more responsible with our hard-earned money. What will happen if we won’t buy all the things we want instantly? What will happen if we won’t end up spending all our money without proper planning? The world won’t come crashing down, right?
Hence, it’s better to plan well before spending all the money in the first half of a month and be left with nothing for the remaining half. You wouldn’t want to get in a situation where you have to survive on bread and soup for the other half of a month, would you?
By talking about 4 quick tips on personal financing, this article aims to save you from any such situation.
1. Allocate the funds into different categories by making a budget
“Make a budget so that you know where your money is going.” This is something we all have heard from our parents. Some of us must have seen our parents make a monthly budget and spend accordingly. Let me tell you the benefits of making a budget. First of all, a budget helps us prioritize our needs.
Prioritizing the things on our list helps us realize what the most important ones are. We can then allocate a chunk of our salary to them. For instance, consider this scenario. I desperately want to purchase a car but can’t afford one right now. What am I supposed to do in this situation? The answer is quite simple.
All I have to do is plan a monthly budget that allows me to keep aside a certain portion of my salary as savings that I can use in the future to buy a car. A budget gives us clarity of thought regarding our immediate priorities and future goal. Setting these financial goals not only helps us finance ourselves better but also motivates us to work harder and fulfill them.
Apart from this, preparing a budget and following it strictly gives us control over our lives. We stand prepared for any sudden financial drainage that might come our way like any medical emergency. This control also gives us a sense of financial stability and independence.
2. Invest
It is no secret that good investment is a crucial step towards good future returns. It requires long term planning in the present for a better future. It is only reasonable that we plan our future too. You don’t want to live like a king only during your working life and get broke once you retire, do you? Hence the investment. Another advantage of a good investment, such as life insurance, is that it also saves your taxes.
If you wish to invest in the share market, you can easily do so via apps such as Olymp Trade, Binomo, IQ option, etc. These applications even give a demo to explain the entire process of investing in them. This cuts back the need of surfing the internet for hours to know about the process.
3. Spend wisely
You read it right. Now, you might be thinking “Hey, I spend wisely, I am no fool’. The thing, my dear readers, is that sometimes we all tend to spend unnecessarily without even realizing it. For example, we sometimes make big purchases without comparing the price on different shopping platforms. It’s wise to compare the prices even if it’s merely a packet of cookies that we are buying.
Often, stores sell products for a price higher than shopping sites. Let’s say, for instance, that you need to buy a set of headphones that are available for CA$ 500 online but the MRP for the same in a store is CA$ 560. In this case, without a doubt, purchasing it online would be a wise option as it will allow you to save CA$ 60. But to know this, you first need to compare the price of an item on different platforms.
Now, would you like to save some more money while purchasing online? In case your answer is yes, we got you covered. Today let us introduce you to the Honey App. This sweet little browser extension searches for coupons in the database when you shop online so that you can get a discount while making a purchase. You won’t have to surf the internet to find discount coupons that are still valid as this extension will do that for you. Wait, did we forget to mention that there’s the icing on the cake? Yeah, looks like we did. The icing is that it’s completely free! You won’t have to spend even a penny to get those discount coupons.
Even if you’re shopping from a store, asking for a discount never hurts and no, it won’t make you look cheap either. It’s your hard-earned money and you have every right to be concerned about it.
4. Manage your debt
This is a make or break game. Unpaid loans and debts can get you in deep trouble. The thing with loans is that the interest is harder to pay than the principal amount. These interests keep piling up if we don’t pay them on time and you might eventually find yourself in a situation where the interest is more than the principal amount itself. To avoid this unfortunate situation, first of all, you have to keep a track of the interest and the due date of your installments.
Making a financial calendar comes in handy in times like these. This calendar will inform you when you have to pay your taxes and bills. Most importantly, it will give you a reminder regarding the dates of installments of your loan. Try to pay for the loan that has the biggest installments first. This is the loan that is responsible for your financial drainage and getting rid of it at the earliest is the wisest choice.
Other smaller loans, if any, won’t burn a hole in your pocket like the bigger ones so they can wait for some time. But make sure you pay them at the first opportunity you get so that you don’t become a defaulter.
These above-mentioned tips will not only help you in becoming financially independent but will also help save more for a better future. Make a budget, invest carefully, spend wisely, and manage your debts. This is all the work you need to do in the present to make your future better. People who are not wise about their money often tend to go broke and you wouldn’t want to be one of them, would you?
“Do yourself a favour and be a sensible saver.”
