4 top tips for being clever with your money

Throughout your life one of the most important things is money. Money can open the doors to many opportunities and affect the way you live your life. This is why it’s important to be clever with it to bring stability to your life and help your family and friends.

To assist you with being clever with money we have put together four top tips below:

Reduce your debts

By reducing your debt you will not only be reducing the amount of stress that you bring on yourself, but it will also reduce the amount of interest that you are paying. The sooner you put a plan together the quicker you can pay off the money you have borrowed. In order to pay off your debt, calculate the total and work out a sensible figure that you can pay each month to pay it off within a realistic time period. Once your debts are paid off, you can look to invest your money to bring a greater return. You may also consider opening an offshore bank account and place a portion of your savings there.

Save and invest your money

In order to make a greater return with your money, it is important that you save your money in a high-interest bank account (or the highest that you can find) or look to invest your money in stocks or shares, using some online trading platforms. Before deciding which option to do, it’s important you do your research and educate yourself on what will benefit you the most. Keep in mind that we are all in different financial positions, so what benefits one person may not be right for you. There are many online courses that you can look into that will help with saving or investing your money.

Create an emergency fund

Unfortunately, accidents can happen or unexpected costs that you may not have expected can occur. When they do the funds required to fix your problem could be large. If you are unprepared for this, this could put financial pressure on you that you didn’t think you would have. This could result in you going into debt to solve the problems. These issues could be repairing damage to your home, maybe your car gets damaged and you need to repair it, or your washing machine fails and you need a new one. Most of the time these things happen without you thinking they will, resulting in an emergency fund being useful to solve the problem.

Learn to budget

Do you know how much money leaves your bank account each month? What is the breakdown of your spending? By budgeting, you will not only find yourself being more clever with your money, but you will also have more clarity on your spending habits. There are many apps that you can use that will help you budget and report on your spending habits. Maybe your monthly spend on eating out is a lot and you didn’t realise, or you are overspending on your weekly food shop. By being aware of these things you can make a more informed decision, helping you be clever with your money.

There are many ways in which you can be clever with your money, the above four are just a touch on the subject. What tips do you have to be more clever with your money? Do you try to follow any of the above four tips? Let us know in the comment box below.