Looking for money management tips to improve your financial positions and to avoid money issues ? If you miss a single payment, it could take seven years to have that black mark removed from your credit report. In the meantime, you could be paying more in interest than you have to for every loan, including your mortgage. According to the credit bureau Equifax, a single missed payment can result in as much as a 90-110 point decrease on a FICO credit score of 780. Even if you’re responsible about paying bills, an identity thief could ruin your good credit behind your back. Advises Toomey, “Check your credit report often to correct any mistakes and to look for fraud.” Check your credit score and read your credit report for free within minutes.
Use Money and Budgeting Apps to Stay Organized: As a finance beginner and even expert, you should use some sort of money or budget app. These can organize everything into one big picture for you. Apps like Personal Capital, Mint, You Need A Budget, etc. can keep you focused on financial goals and monitor your spending. Invest In Yourself Before Anything Else: Before you get crazy with investing any of your money, invest in yourself. Whether that is your financial education, taking classes, buying courses or books, starting a side hustle to make extra cash, etc. The best asset you have is yourself. Read more details at Money Management.
If you’re contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, all the better. Employment benefits like a 401(k) plan, flexible spending accounts, medical and dental insurance, etc., are worth big bucks. Make sure you’re maximizing yours and taking advantage of the ones that can save you money by reducing taxes or out-of-pocket expenses. Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it’s by adding these coverages to car loans, buying whole-life insurance policies when term-life makes more sense, or buying life insurance when you have no dependents. On the other hand, it’s important that you have enough insurance to protect your dependents and your income in the case of death or disability.
Start Investing: Investing is one of the best ways to increase your net worth, but a lot of people stay away from it because they’re scared of losing money. So instead of investing, they keep their money in a savings account. That’s great, and you should have some money in a savings account for emergencies, but the truth is: Money in a savings account loses value over time. See, the average savings account has a very tiny 0.06% APY (annual percentage yield), while inflation is around 1.7%. That means that each year, the money you have in a savings account is going to have less and less buying power. So, what can you invest in to stay ahead of inflation? Here are some options: Real estate, Peer-to-peer lending, Exchange traded funds (ETFs), Stocks. Visit: aspiretomoney.com.