It’s a pretty obvious fact that most of the world does not know how to handle their money. The one percent in the world has more money than the other 99 percent combined. How exactly this happens is a conversation for another time, but often the reason the one percenters have so much of the wealth of the world is because they know where to spend it to make it count.
Of course you have wealthy individuals who inherit and don’t spend their money wisely, and you also have people who climb their way to the top and have rags to riches stories. The latter are usually the ones who instilled habits young in their age that cultivated their lives of success. If you’re looking for ways to increase the money in your bank account short term, there are many avenues you can take to make that happen. If you’re looking to make a difference in the long term, however, here are 3 money related habits that will make a difference:
Live Below Your Income
Maybe you’ve heard this, maybe you haven’t. If you want to live a life with more money or if you just want to have a chunk saved up for a rainy day, you need to start living below your income. It can be hard to do this when all the flashy material items in the world call your name, but if you train yourself to resist the urge to spend where you don’t have to, you’ll be surprised as to how much money starts stacking up in your bank account. One day when a great investment opportunity comes you’ll be able to reach right into your bank account and be your own bank; but only if you start living below your income now.
Cut Credit Cards If You’re Bad at Management
There are different schools of thought when it comes to credit cards. They aren’t bad. They’re only trouble if you get yourself locked into ones that have extremely high interest rates or if you are terrible at paying them off. If you are the kind of person who spends and spends when you know you have a credit card to put it on, it’s best for you to not have them. This will save you from going into debt. If you’re good at managing your credit cards and you pay off your bills as soon as they come, they can be very beneficial. Just know what category you fall into.
Limit Eating Out
If you’re like a majority of people, you probably spend a lot of money eating out. There is no doubt that eating out is expensive. The average person spent almost $30 per restaurant meal in 2010. Scary to think about what it might be come 2017.
Add alcohol to the equation and things just got a whole lot pricier. If you like to eat out or party on the weekends, you could be spending at least $50 on alcohol alone. That’s a conservative estimate. If you want to have habits that will help you in the long run, limit eating out now. There’s no reason you can’t pack that PB&J. It will save you $10. Per meal. At least.