A lot of people around the world constantly worry about money. The truth is that money is one of the major reasons why people lose sleep. Other reasons include work, relationships, and much more.

If you want to sleep better at night and work toward your personal definition of financial bliss, there are a couple of things you can follow.

So, how can a person achieve financial bliss in 5 years? Is it possible? The answer is yes.

Everything starts out with a plan. You also need to have a desire for something more in your life. Aside from that, you’ll require a bit of persistence and commitment along the way.

What Are Financial Goals?

For those who don’t know, financial goals are spending targets, investments, or savings you wish to achieve over a period. Typically, the stage of life you are in determines what kind of goals you want to achieve.

For instance, if you are still in college, it might be a simple short-term goal such as saving for a car or saving for custom LED lights (elstarled.com).

Meanwhile, an individual with a growing family will have a long-term goal of purchasing a house. Other well-known financial goals for this stage of life include saving for retirement and saving for the college education of their kid.

Completely Get Rid of Your Debt

One of the biggest benefits of this goal is that any person can do this. It does not matter what your wealth level or income is.

Furthermore, it is almost a requirement that you get rid of your debt if you want to get the most out of your finances.

A couple of people around the world debate about debt. Some people say it’s bad, while other people say it is good.

Well, you should keep in mind that all debt is bad debt at some point in your life. That is why you need to get rid of debt. This includes your home’s mortgage.

While the purpose of your debt might be noble at first, it can be a huge drag on your income as time passes by.

There are a lot of reasons why you should get rid of your debt. This includes:

• It will free your mind of the stress and worry that comes with it.
• It will make it easier for you to quit a job you do not like.
• It will get rid of the asterisk from your finances.
• It will leave you with more money for investing and savings.
• You will have complete control over your income.

Save an Emergency Fund

This should be one of your main priorities. The minimum standard for an emergency fund is 3 months of liquidity. It’s better to have 6 months or more.

This is a moderate amount to help you manage an unexpected expense. However, how much you save greatly varies on your expenses, income, whether or not you own a house, and much more.

Keep in mind that emergency funds are vital in a fragile job market. You can usually use emergency funds to pay your mortgage, hospital bills, surprise car repair, and a range of other unexpected problems.

Knowing DIY tips on how to save for an emergency fund can be extremely helpful.

Improve Your Income by Developing Skills

This does not mean you should go back to college for an extra degree. It may mean you should take on extra responsibility or training at your current job.

It may also mean finding a mentor that can offer feedback and tips. It may mean taking a class at the public library, networking in your profession, attending workshops and conferences, working a part-time job, and anything that can get you more knowledge and contacts.

Small steps can result in large payoffs down the line.

Start a Business

It can be difficult to start a business. However, it can be extremely fulfilling as well. Every person out there wants to be a boss.

If you start a business, you’ll have to create a business plan, prepare the capital, and stick to a monthly budget within your means.

Keep in mind that starting a business is meant to make more money, not spend your own.

Live on Less Than You Earn

A lot of people probably suggest this tip. However, it’s well worth repeating it here because it is one of the most important things you can do to achieve financial bliss.

If you live on less than you earn, you’ll always have a lot of money. It does not matter what you do. You should live on less than you earn.

If you do, you will have a lot of money for paying off debt, investments, and savings.

Stop Your Addiction

This might not be a financial goal. However, it’s an obstacle that will stand in the way of all your financial goals. It does not matter what they are.

Keep in mind that addiction to anything can be a parasite to your finances.

If you think that you might have an addiction to things, make it your financial goal to stop that addiction.

Your life will be a lot better if you end your addiction.

When you’re planning to get rid of your items, don’t forget to always bring hand sanitizer with you.

Conclusion

Reaching a point of financial bliss has nothing to do with magic or luck. It is just a matter of setting excellent financial goals and achieving them.

It does not matter if you do it slowly. The important thing is that you’ve got financial goals.

Once you establish these goals in your life and make them part of your habits, achieving financial bliss can be extremely easy. You won’t even notice that you’re doing it already.

The post How to Set Yourself Towards Financial Bliss – 2023 Guide appeared first on Along the Boards.

If you’ve fallen behind on your goals and want to get back on track come December, you’re not alone. Prioritize your financial self-care by implementing these four tips. Your 2023 self you will be forever grateful.

1. Find Out Where You Stand

No matter your preferred payment method, you’ve got to step back and track your balances and obligations. Users of online financial aggregators can easily get an at-a-glance view of their accounts. Others will need to log on to their profiles individually and create a spreadsheet to take stock.

When you export your transaction histories, many providers will suggest spending categories for you, such as restaurants, gas, and groceries. Review the suggested labels and try to keep things simple. The more categories you have, the harder it will be to analyze your spending. Retain all transaction dates to make it easy to identify spending spikes due to holidays, vacations, or other life events.

Make sure you’re not just reviewing your spending, but also your savings. According to Chime, things like your debit card can actually be a tool in your savings toolbox. Many debit cards give the option to automatically round-up purchases and then put the round-up into your savings account. By taking advantage of anything you can do to help make savings easier, you’ll be able to watch it grow quickly and easily.

In addition to your spending and savings accounts, take note of any loan balances and investment or retirement accounts. This will give you a full view of your financial outlook. Don’t forget about any work-provided investment or pension accounts. If you’ll have access to them in the future, they’re part of your financial picture.

2. Review Your Spending Habits

The most active part of your financial life is your daily spending. Subject to seasonal and emotional impact, your spending habits will determine where your money is going. Pull all of your transactions for the past year, then categorize and analyze them. This task may be painful, but it’s a worthwhile exercise. You may be surprised to learn that you’re spending more than you realized.

If you made a budget for 2023, see how your spending compares to what you had allotted for each category. Did food prices increase? Were you so burned out on cooking that you ordered delivery three times a week instead of the budgeted two? Don’t beat yourself up; just track what actually happened. You can always course-correct.

As you review your transactions, ask yourself why you bought those items and whether they met your needs. Were you tempted by social media to buy the newest beauty tools? Did you get inspired to tackle home improvements since you were home so often? Take notes as you conduct this exercise — you’ll need them for your next task.

3. Prioritize Essentials and Things That Bring You Joy

We can all agree that spending our hard-earned money on student loan payments and utility bills is less than fun. But what is fun is having clean water and avoiding calls from collection agencies! While you can’t avoid paying for life’s essentials, you can home in on spending opportunities that bring you joy.

The concept of focusing on joy in the home organization was popularized by author and organizer extraordinaire Marie Kondo. Kondo stresses that if something doesn’t bring you joy, get rid of it. The same principle can be applied to your finances.

Consider groceries. Are name brands really important to you? If they aren’t, you can easily do without them and save handsomely by purchasing store brands instead. If connecting with friends is paramount but you don’t enjoy dining out, host them at your place. Comb through your recent receipts, and you’ll start to reveal a lot about yourself. Get creative as you determine how to adjust your spending to align with what makes you happy.

The way we spend often reflects what we value. Where some may value quality, others may prefer convenience. Keep in mind how long it takes you to earn the amount of money you’re about to spend. If you aren’t willing to earn the price of an item, you don’t need it. Once you identify the spending that brings you joy, it’ll make your next step easier.

4. Make and Execute Your Plan

Now that you’ve dialed in your essential and discretionary spending, it’s time to recalibrate your budget and your goals. Determine what your savings targets are and be sure to keep them realistic.

Saving for the future and big purchases is good in theory, but don’t forget — life is short. Budget for spontaneity and fun as well. Have money set aside for tickets to a sought-after concert or your share of a cabin with friends. Planning in advance for the things that make life exciting allows you to focus on the event, not the bill.

Establish your savings and debt repayment goals accordingly. If you’ve got lingering credit card debt or student loans, include them in your plan. Consider whether making extra payments toward those is an option for you. If so, review their interest rates and terms and whether there are any early repayment penalties. Understanding the whole picture is essential.

While paying down your debt in 2023 is a worthy goal, you may not be able to tackle it all by year-end. Remember that you should be proud of the progress, too.

Once you’ve developed your plan, make an appointment with yourself to review where you are each week. If you already check over your calendar on Sunday night, add this review to that existing routine. This will be easier to stick to and can give you a clear financial picture of the week ahead.

Now that you know where you stand, it’s up to you to do the work. Remember, progress requires your dedication. While it can be overwhelming to think of the big goals you want to achieve, take it one day at a time. Habits are made by choosing to improve daily. Commit to yourself and to achieving your updated financial goals, and you’ll be set to succeed in 2023 and beyond.

The post 4 Ways to Finish 2023 Out in a Better Financial Position appeared first on Along the Boards.

Finding financial security doesn’t just happen overnight, no matter what some Hollywood movies might wrongfully make you believe. In fact, achieving real financial security is a process that, for some, may take most of their lives. So, the sooner you start investing in building a comfortable financial plan for the future, the sooner you’ll achieve it.

Feeling financially secure means more than having just the right amount of money to pay for all your expenses monthly and live a decent life. Financial security also means knowing that in case of an emergency, you are prepared and know that you can achieve all your life goals without allowing money problems to stop you.

Ready to find out how to build financial security for the future? Keep reading below!

1. Start with getting better at budgeting

First things first, if you want to get better at managing your money, you need to have a clear idea of where your money goes every month. Plus, if you don’t know where you are now, financially speaking, it’s difficult to have a clear path to follow going forward.

So, the very first step in getting control over your finances is to start tracking your earning and spending. By doing so, you’ll learn your spending habits and find the areas that you need to improve.

How do you create a budget? Well, it’s not that difficult to create and stick to a budget these days, especially since there are plenty of apps for that.
Download a budgeting app and use it to track your financial situation. Add your monthly net income and then separate your expenses into categories such as debt, utility bills, food, clothes, education, etc. Most budgeting apps allow you to split your costs into such categories and determine a certain amount of money you want to pay for each category.

What’s more, most of these apps also offer the ability to sync your bank accounts, allowing you to collect income and consumer spending data right into the app.

Budgeting tip: Have you ever heard of the 50/30/20 budgeting rule? If not, let us tell you what it means: you spend 50% of your income on your needs (living expenses, utility bills, debt, etc.), 30% of your income on your wants (clothes, trips, gadgets), and 20% of your income for savings.

2. Optimize your expenses

Once you have a clear idea of what your monthly budget, income, and expenses look like, it’s time to work on those areas that need improvement.

Are you spending too much money on things that aren’t really that necessary? Or maybe you’re not saving enough? Figure out the exact mistakes you make in your spending habits and fix them so that you don’t waste money on things you could live without. These mistakes might be holding you back from achieving your long-term goal of finding financial stability.

3. Set financial goals

Like it or not, “I want to be rich” isn’t a good enough financial goal. We all want to be rich, but you need to be a bit more specific with what “rich” means to you. What’s more, you need to have a clear idea of what steps you have on the way before you can consider yourself rich. Without defining your financial goals, you won’t know what you want to achieve and what path to follow.

Defining your financial goal is the fun part of achieving financial stability. The work that follows is the difficult part of this process. Yet, this part is particularly important as it will keep you motivated to attain financial security.

So, what do you want to achieve with your finances? Want to pay off debt? Want to be able to afford to buy your own home? Or maybe you want to save a nice amount of money for your retirement? No matter what you want your finances to look like in the future, make sure you have a clear idea of the goals you want to accomplish.

4. View savings deposits as bills

Saving on a regular basis can be really challenging, especially when you’re already struggling with paycheck to paycheck living. However, saving is a major step in building a secure financial future for yourself.

Your savings account can be your safety net in case something happens, and you need a huge amount of money overnight. What’s more, your savings can also help you grab an opportunity when it arises because you’ll afford it. Say, for example, that you stumble upon a great property deal. If you have enough money in your savings account, you can grab that opportunity immediately.

So, taking saving money really seriously. So seriously that you see monthly savings deposits as bills that you must pay every month.

5. Plan for the unplanned

Another important step in building a secure financial future for you and your family is to plan for the unplanned. As the experts from SmarterLoans explain, “Unfortunately, unplanned things like injuries, accidents, or even death can happen to all of us. And the best way to make sure such events don’t make you go bankrupt is to be financially prepared for them.”

Did you know that, statistically, we’re all one serious injury apart from going bankrupt? Well, that’s true, and if you want to have a secure financial future, you need to be prepared if anything happens. How to be prepared? Get yourself an injury and disability insurance.

What’s more, if you have a spouse and kids, particularly if you are the only breadwinner in the house, you should also get life insurance to financially protect your family in case you die unexpectedly.

Plus, if you own a home, you should also get homeowner’s insurance to protect your asset in case of a fire or a natural disaster that may wreak your property.

6. Increase your net worth

As obvious as it may sound, it’s worth mentioning because even if you may just not realize it right now, you may be able to increase your net income. Earning more money is and will always be the quickest and most straightforward way to achieve financial security.

How do you increase your net worth? There are various ways from getting a side hustle to starting your own business from your hobby, asking for a promotion, or simply changing your job for a better paid one. Another way to increase your net worth is by selling your life insurance for a cash payout through wwwharborlifesettlements.com, which can help support your family and pay for living expenses.

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