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You don’t need to make big lifestyle changes to succeed financially. Making these three moves will have a big impact without requiring any drastic action.
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Improving your financial situation can sometimes seem like an impossible task. But, the reality is, you don’t need to give up everything you love or make drastic lifestyle changes to end up with more money in your checking account.
In fact, just three small changes could make a huge positive difference in your net worth — and your attitude toward money over time. Here’s what they are.
1. Automate your savings
One of the simplest ways you can profoundly change your financial life is to set up automatic transfers of money into a savings account and a brokerage account. Once you do this, if you leave your transfers alone and allow them to continue without your intervention, you will build wealth effortlessly.
It doesn’t take a ton of money to make a big impact, either. If you can transfer just $300 a month for 30 years and you earn a 10% average annual return, you’d end up with close to $600,000. That’s only about $10 a day — less than the price of a lunch out at work.
The best way to automate your savings is to figure out how much you need to save to hit a certain goal, like amassing a particular retirement nest egg or putting aside a certain amount each month for a home down payment. Then, have this amount taken directly out of your bank account right after your paycheck hits before the cash gets spent on anything else.
If you do this, you should both simplify your money management process and end up a whole lot wealthier.
2. Track your spending
It’s easy to mindlessly put purchases on your credit cards without really stopping to think about where the money is going. That’s why keeping track of your spending can lead to powerful change.
If you simply take the time to write down what you’re spending money on (or to record it in an app), this will do two things for you. First, you’ll be more conscious of where your money is going so you’re less likely to waste it. And second, you’ll be able to identify problem areas where you’re overspending and make a change.
Tracking your spending will help you ensure your money is best aligned with your values. This way, you’ll easily be able to compare what you’re actually doing with your dollars versus what you want to do with them, based on your goals and financial priorities.
3. Pay attention to your investment fees
Investment fees can have a huge impact on how much money you end up with, and if you aren’t paying attention to what you’re being charged (check your brokerage account), you should start. Making a point of looking at expense ratios of your investments, as well as commissions and other costs, can help you to avoid unnecessarily reducing your returns.
Changing to less expensive investments could be one of the most important choices you make because of the profound impact the change will have over time. Say, for example, you have $30,000 invested and earn a 10% average annual return. If you paid a 2.5% fee, at the end of 20 years, you’d have $127,436. But if you paid a 1% fee instead, you’d have $168,134. That’s a huge difference.
These changes don’t require a lot of effort, but they can alter the course of your financial life for the better. Give them a try.
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