A Few Steps You Can Take To Improve Your Financial Future Today

Often when you look up financial advice articles they are filled with negative reinforcement—what you’re doing wrong, what you’re missing out on, guilt tripping you for spending money (avocado toast jokes come to mind), the list goes on.

I have an issue with this type of framing because it perpetuates shame culture when it comes to personal finance. We are taught hardly anything about personal finance and investing in our education system, we all make mistakes (especially when we are young), and then we are shamed for not knowing what we didn’t know. It’s especially disturbing because I feel the shame stigma prevents people from seeking help they really need regarding their finances.

This issue ultimately harms many ordinary people, but I understand why folks don’t want to talk finance or work with advisors. Money is already a very intimate subject; add in the shame factor and many people have a hard time trusting anyone or being open about needing help.

Here at the WealthTenders we are all about positivity! We want to break the stigmas around personal finance. With that being said, here are some easy steps you can take to improve your financial picture right now!

• Create, revamp, review your budget! This might be taboo for me to say, but I have not always done a great job of maintaining a disciplined budget. I’m not saying you should become a complete penny-pincher—life is meant to be enjoyed. There’s always a balance of having fun now and preparing for the future. However, I would be willing to bet most folks reading this could probably scrape up some extra dollars should they really review and tighten up their spending. Which is okay, we are all human! My personal spending banes were random subscriptions and eating out too much.

• Pay off any high-interest debt you have. I would personally define high-interest as anything exceeding 7%~. The reasoning is simple—your investments probably won’t be able to outpace the interest costs you are incurring.

• Create financial goals for yourself with REALISTIC numbers. Goal setting can be a double-edged sword, so make sure your goals make sense for you in regards to your budget/income! You don’t want goals to be discouraging for you because they’re unrealistic and you fall short.

• Take the extra pennies and invest them! Why is this important? Check out our article on the power of compounding. Think an extra 50 bucks a month doesn’t make a difference? Think again. This is beneficial in other ways, too. Once you’re in the habit of putting away your extra dollars it becomes addictive as you watch it grow. You’ll also find yourself consistently setting aside more money as your income grows, or when you receive windfalls. You’re building great habits that should pay off tremendously over time.

• Review your workplace retirement plan’s investments and contribution type choices. If I had a nickel for every time in my career I came across someone who needed to revamp their retirement plan investments (younger folks in super conservative portfolios, near-retirement folks in super aggressive portfolios, people who should be doing Roth 401(k) instead of traditional, etc.)….. I would probably only have about 20 bucks. Jokes aside, I have run into these situations enough to know that most people would benefit from reviewing their plan. Make sure you are aware of all of your options so you can optimize your retirement savings.

• See whether a Roth IRA is a good option for you. Roth IRAs are tremendous retirement savings vehicles for many people—check out our article to get more info regarding eligibility and the benefits of opening one.

• Monitor/review your credit score. There are plenty of free services out there that can give you insight on your credit score and what you need to work on to improve your credit if need be. There are also rehabilitation services that can help you with consolidating debt and paying it off, which will help fast-track improving your credit score. In the spirit of transparency, I was able to rehab a completely wrecked credit score (student loans I couldn’t pay) over the course of about 3 years. Getting started is the most important step. Maintaining good credit requires attention as well. Having good credit is extremely important to accomplishing financial goals, and can save you a ton of money in extra interest costs you never have to pay!

• Set aside free time to educate yourself and network to prepare for the investments you’d like to make. For instance, if you’re looking to get into real estate there is a plethora of information out there to help prepare you for making a foray into that field.

Not all of these steps apply to everyone, but it’s likely that almost everyone could benefit from doing at least one of them!

So what if you need help with these items? What if they seem overwhelming? Don’t have the time or energy to worry about this? I think you know where this is going: we recommend seeing and working with a financial advisor! I’ve written extensively about how to find a good advisor here and the value an advisor should bring to the table here. There are many dedicated professionals out there who would love to help, ourselves included! Our inbox is open with any questions.