Simple Tips for Saving and Growing Your Wealth

Create a budget. This is the first key to increasing your wealth. If you don’t know where your money is going, you can’t find areas where you can cut back and save. There are several online tools, as well as software programs that allow you to catalog your spending. Additionally, many banks offer budgeting and analysis to help you get a handle on your spending.

Open a savings account with automatic contributions. Even if it’s just $25 per month, get in the habit of putting money away. Try to keep enough money to live and pay all your bills for at least 2 months in a high-interest savings account. This will keep you afloat when a rainy day hits and prevent you from having to turn to expensive short-term personal and payday loans.

Pay off expensive loans. If you have some money in the bank, but have loans or credit card debt with high interest rates, use some of that money to pay down those loans to decrease your interest rate charges. Use a loan calculator to determine how much you could actually save in the long run.

Refinance loans. Interest rates are very low, take a look at your loans that you have now, your mortgage, your auto loan, your home equity loan and even your credit cards and student loans. Find out how much interested you are paying and talk to local banks and lenders to see if they can give you a better interest rate and a lower monthly payment.

Save your change. Every time you pay for your morning coffee, save the change that you get back. It’s amazing how quickly those pennies add up. Try saving all your change for a month and then deposit it into your savings account.

Don’t lend the government your money. Use your income tax deductions. If you’re getting a tax refund every year, you’re loaning the government your money tax free. You wouldn’t be able to get a tax-free loan, so don’t give one. Instead, increase your deductions on your W-2.