How to Hit the Jackpot in the Money Game
You want to know how to make money and live a good life. One good way to achieve this goal is to stop taking money seriously; instead, think of it as a game. To win this game, you need to do the same thing that you would do in any other game — learn the rules, try them out, learn from any mistakes, then make better decisions during the next round of the game.
Anyone can make money, keep it, and live well if they study the rules of the money game. With that in mind, here are some rules worth remembering.
Find Work You Love
The game begins by finding work that you love, getting increasingly better at it, and consistently earning more from it.
Use Credit Cards Responsibly
If you use credit cards responsibly, you will not only save money on interest charges but will also learn to save even more on your purchases in the future because the interest charged will be less every month.
That will help you build up a better credit rating and be able to qualify for more financial aid if you need it. The best thing about using credit cards responsibly is that it doesn’t cost you any extra money because you rarely use your entire credit limit. You must also learn how to save money on credit card interest by paying off your credit cards before the due date.
Some people who don’t pay their credit card debts may find that they lose their privileges when their payments run out and their limit may be applied for a new purchase. Today, credit card companies are much more likely to suspend or cancel your card if you’re not paying off your balance regularly. And there are huge interest charges on some credit cards.
You might be surprised by how much money you could be paying off a large ticket item if you paid off your credit card balance regularly using credit instead of debit or cash. But, of course, you need to track all your spending every month to avoid spending more than you realize on your credit card.
Learn How to Invest
Investing should be easy. But most people waste months trying to find the right money management strategy and end up disappointed. Your best option is to educate yourself on investment strategies and learn how to make money from the financial markets instead of relying on a broker to call the shots.
Be smart about how you invest your money. What should you do when there are so many options out there? Educate yourself. Learn how to identify the best investment advisors for your situation, lay out a simple framework for how their advice should be structured, and much more.
Plan for Retirement
Retirement planning is a complicated subject because there are so many retirement milestones to keep track of along the way. There are also numerous books written on the subject on retirement planning by so many authors with so many varying points of view and frameworks.
It can be very confusing even for experienced advisors who have spent their careers helping clients plan and oversee their retirement incomes.
Simplify Things
You can simplify things by doing two things.
- Set aside some money from every paycheck toward your retirement. Your basic financial needs will be met if you put 10% of your income into a savings account each year from now until you retire.
- Consider basic investment principles. Don’t touch your retirement savings. Put money into an Individual Retirement. Use a self-directed 401(k) when you are trying to save money for your retirement. Your basic financial needs will be met if you follow a few fundamentals about investing for the long term.
To win the money game, find work you love doing, then manage your income by using credit cards responsibly, learn how to invest, and plan for retirement.
