Your key to financial success… 10 useful tips…

Posted on October 23, 2006
Filed Under Economics/Business education, Investments, Save money and/or time |

Kiplinger.com askÂ a question to its readers:

Do you have trouble making ends meet? Keeping your spending under control? Finding money to save or invest? Often the path to financial success doesn’t come from sheer discipline or money savvy but from tricking yourself into saving more and spending less.

And provides some good tips:

You know, for example, you need to pay off your credit cards, but before you know it you’ve either racked up more debt or run out money that month before you could make an extra payment. You know you need to start saving for your future — but you can barely make ends meet. Sound familiar? Have no fear. No matter how scary your finances, we’ve got ten tricks that’ll bring you some pretty sweet treats.

TRICK #1: Give up your daily latte.

Don’t think you have enough money to invest or make ends meet each month? Nearly everybody has some fat they can trim from their spending. Forgoing your $4 latte every day, for example, would save you about $120 a month. Investing that money every month for ten years into an account earning 10% annually would net you nearly $25,000. Keep it up until retirement, and you’d have more than $765,000 in 40 years.

In his book The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach calls this the “latte factor.” But it really isn’t about coffee at all. Rather, he says, it’s about identifying those small purchases that dribble your money away — whatever they may be — so you can save big over the long term. Use our calculator to see how quickly small investments can add up. Then check out our Ultimate Savings Guide for 89 ideas on how to save money every day.

TRICK #2: Put your credit card on ice — literally.

When you’re trying to pay down your credit card debt, you’ll whittle away at it much faster if you avoid making any more charges in the meantime. To resist the temptation, think “out of sight, out of mind.” Take your credit cards out of your wallet entirely. Stash them in the bottom of your sock drawer, or entrust them to a friend or relative for safekeeping. You could even place them in a bag of water and throw it in the freezer — you’d have to wait for it to melt before you could use it, which would hopefully be long enough for your impulse to pass.

TRICK #3: Use cash for all your expenses.

Looking for a foolproof way to keep your spending under control? Try stashing cash in envelopes according to categories so you can see how much you’re actually spending. For example, use one envelope for groceries, another envelope for gas and transportation, another envelope for eating out or entertainment, etc. Then when you run out of money in each envelope, you simply don’t spend any more until next month. The so-called “envelope system” may sound corny or a little old fashioned, but it could be just the trick to keep you disciplined.

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