While looking for the best ira providers will help secure your financial future, in order to really free up extra money so you can max out your retirement fund, reducing spending and expenses is really the best way to ensure that you have more money coming in than going out. In order to really stay on top of your finances you can give yourself a cushion by a few months’ worth of expenses, pay off debt, in addition to funding your retirement account, making it more important to avoid wasting money any further.
Going Out to Eat
While I’m certainly not much of a cook, it’s much easier to grab carryout or go to your favorite restaurant, but that quickly adds up. Sure, it’s nice to have someone cook, serve, and cleanup after you, but that comes at a price. If you can avoid going out to eat as much and opt for going grocery shopping instead, you can see hundreds of dollars stay in your account that otherwise wouldn’t. Basic meal prep from breakfast on the go, packing your lunch for work, dinner at home, not to mention even having your coffee finished brewing as you’re about to leave for work, you’ll notice an immediate financial impact.
Paying Credit Card Interest
Although credit cards may have had a bad reputation in the past, now they can be a great financial tool by building your credit and protecting your bank account from fraudulent charges instead of using a debit card, but if you can’t use responsibly there are financial risks to consider. By not paying the full statement balance off by the due date, interest will kick in and depending on the card and balance, the minimum payment will do little to bring down the balance.
Missing Out on Free Money
Continuing with credit cards, if used correctly, can actually provide rewards just by making the purchases that you were going to make anyways, can earn points or cashback, which can add up to hundreds of dollars a year that you otherwise would not have if using another credit card or debit card. Even larger, your work could be offering company-matching retirement contributions that, if you’re not contributing the max of what they’re offering, could be missing out on thousands of dollars a year, but think long-term, as how much money that could be worth decades from now when you’re finally ready to retire.
Not Looking for the Best Deals
Although I feel bad for retail stores on the decline, online shopping really is great in the fact, in order to find the best deal, you can flip between websites in the matter of seconds, all of which will likely offer free shipping, so you can save your money, and time, by shopping at home. As easy as online shopping is though, can also make it that much easier to buy impulse purchases that you don’t need in the first place, as there are never closing hours, making you think about purchases before you make them.