13 pieces of money advice you can’t afford to ignore
There’s so much financial advice out there that it’s near impossible to follow all of it.
But missing the most important — and often most basic — words of wisdom could end up costing you big time.
To help out, we combed through our archives to round up the best money advice from financial planners, bestselling authors, and the second-richest man on earth, that will help you save and earn the most money.
Below, check out the 13 pieces of money advice you simply can’t afford to ignore:
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1. Pay yourself first
“People still don’t grasp the fact that they need to save a dime out of every dollar,” author and self-made millionaire David Bach told Business Insider in a Facebook Live interview. He said the average American who’s saving money is saving just 15 minutes a day of their income, when they should be saving an hour.
Bach noted troubling research from the Federal Reserve that revealed nearly half of Americans wouldn’t have enough money on hand to cover a $400 emergency. Yet, he continued, millions of those people will buy a coffee at Starbucks today and expect to buy the new $800 iPhone next year. Americans have money, he says, but we aren’t saving it.
So get on the “pay-yourself-first plan,” as Bach calls it, and automatically save an hour a day of your income. “When that money is moved before you can touch it, that’s how real wealth is built,” he said.
2. Beware of lifestyle creep
There’s a lot of pressure in your 20s and 30s to keep up with your friends. Maybe they’re buying a nicer car or a house, but if you’re not in the financial position to keep up, don’t try.
“I always refer to it as ‘lifestyle creep’ because one of the big things that people can do — that’s an advantage to them — is keep their fixed expenses somewhat stable and reasonable for what they make,” Katie Brewer, a Dallas-based certified financial planner who founded Your Richest Life, told Business Insider.
Planning for your recurring costs — like mortgage, rent, a car payment, and insurance — ensures that expenses won’t creep up on you and derail your financial future. Of course, Brewer said, if you’re making good money you should have the freedom to spend it how you wish, as long as your lifestyle doesn’t overtake your income.
In short: Live below your means.
3. Take advantage of an employer-sponsored 401(k)
Putting money into a retirement plan as early as you can, no matter the amount, is a smart and easy way to pay yourself first.
If your company offers a 401(k) plan, take advantage of it. In some cases, employers will offer a contribution match. “That means the company contributes a set amount — say, 50 cents for a dollar — for every dollar you contribute up to a specified percentage of your salary,” Beth Kobliner writes in her book “Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties.”
“That’s free money, equivalent to a 50% or 100% return. There’s nowhere you can beat this!” she writes.
Plus, 401(k)s allow you to contribute your pre-tax money, meaning the more you contribute now, the greater the growth (thanks, compound interest) and the more money you’ll have down the road, though you will be taxed when you withdraw the money for retirement. For 2017, the maximum contribution to a 401(k) is $18,000.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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