Smart Things To Do With Your Money

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I recently had surgery on my shoulder and have been out of commission for the last week or so. Can’t trust my blogging on pain killers, so I decided to take a break to let the healing begin. But, I’m back and have tons to share with the world.

While sitting at home healing, I ran across an old article in Money magazine that got me thinking about what I would label as good uses of your money. The current economy has most people thinking of ways to be smart with their money and not wasteful. Being smart with your money does not mean not spending any of it…it means making the right decisions that will pay off for you financially, for your career or for your future. None of these ideas will make you rich, but they may be able to provide lower risk and a higher probability of success. That’s what I call smart. Most of these ideas are related to your money and your family. It’s by no means the only thing to do with your money, but it’s a start.

5 Things To Do With Your Money:

1. Automate – Your financial life, that is. Don’t rely on your emotions or your memory to put aside money each month towards your investments. Things get put off  or moved down the list when you make them a manual action. Contact your bank or your broker to have monthly investments routed from your account each month…automatically. Make investing an afterthought by taking the thought out of it. Do the same thing for all of your monthly bills. It will make life easier, I promise. And, you will never pay late fees again or waste time each month managing the bills and investing. This leaves you more time to do the things that generate profit or income.

2. Every Penny Counts - Get a jar, a bucket, a big cup, whatever…and  make a pact with your family to put all stray coins there. Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, all of it goes in the jar. Do this for six months and then bring it to a bank that has a coin sorter. Now, for the boring part , don’t spend it. Yes, I said don’t spend it. Open a savings account and put the money there. Let it earn interest as you determine what you will want it to pay for in the future. It’s easy to save hundreds of dollars each year (if not more) effortlessly. This money can eventually pay for a big family vacation, a college education, paying down high-interest debt, etc… The possibilities are endless and the process is fun for the whole family. Kids really get in to this and it’s a great outing when you go to the bank to find out how much the family saved TOGETHER.

3. Invest in College - I can’t stress enough the importance of sending your kids to college. In today’s world, the competition is fierce and the jobs are limited. Save the money, borrow the money, whatever it takes  – make sure they go to college. College graduates make 80% more than non-graduates over their lifetime. This adds up to a cool million over their lifetime. Now, that’s a good use of your money.

4. Know your credit score - This is a really important number to know. It can prevent or facilitate the purchase of necessary things in life. Having a bad credit score can haunt you for years and years. Get a reporting agency to give you the credit report for all three bureaus. It will cost you some money, but you will have the number and be able to fix any problem issues before it’s too late. And, many times, mistakes are made and your credit report has someone else’s problems on it. This can take years to fix if you don’t take action quickly. So, please spend the $50 and get a good idea of where things stand in your credit world.

5. Push the limits – Max out your 401(k). Yes, the market is rocky, but it’s still a good place to put your money to invest in your future. Determine your riskyness through your age and the closeness to retirement. Keep things a little more conservative if you can’t afford to have too much fluctuation. Either way, many companies provide 401(k) matching programs, which is free money to you. Take advantage of it and max out your contributions. Putting a few dollars in each month can turn in to thousands of dollars when it comes time to retire. It’s worth pinching the pennies now to have security later in life.

That’s about it for me for this week. I’m finally back at my Houston Courier Service this week and am very busy trying to catch up. I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July holiday. Let me know if you have any other great ideas for your money.

Until Next Time,

Eric

Tags: 401k, Business, college, education, Family, Money, Savings

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