Often the greatest motivator to money management is to have a dream or a goal that requires you to manage your money carefully to achieve.
Something as simple as a lifelong desire to travel can spur you into saving your money. But often it is the unexpected ‘curveballs’ such as illness or the desire to be better qualified in order to get a better job that teach us better money management habits – the hard way.
It is easy to put off the task of saving until next month.
To avoid forever putting off starting that savings account or beginning your investment portfolio, commit yourself to setting aside a certain amount of money each month.
Decide upon a figure and arrange an automatic transfer of this amount to a separate savings or investment account. Remember the old adage, the elephant? A little saved each month adds up with time so start today.
If you don’t have an emergency fund, set one up and make sure you have at least 3 to 6 months worth of income saved up because unlike with taking on debt, I’ve never heard anyone say that they’ve regretted saving money!
Invest wisely.
Instead of saving your money in an account for a prolonged period, you can use it to invest, so that you get paid back with an extra amount.
If you find no improvement in your financial status even after implementing different management tips for a long time, then you can seek advice from financial wizards.
Above all, keep it real!
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”