Since COVID-19 hit, 63% of Americans have been living paycheck to paycheck. It’s hard to bounce back from the emergencies life throws at us, but there are tips you can try to recover.
If you’re tired of living paycheck to paycheck, now is the time to get serious about financial freedom. Read our guide to learn what you can change today.
1. Create an Emergency Fund
To reach your goal of achieving financial freedom, you should have an emergency fund in place that can last at least six months. Gaining financial freedom won’t happen if you don’t have a plan for overcoming setbacks.
Car break downs, leaking pipes, and other emergencies come at us when we least expect it. These issues can cause financial problems that may have you scrambling for money if you don’t have an emergency fund.
2. Pay Off Debt
Our best personal finance tip is to start aggressively paying off your debt. Nonmortgage debt you may have includes credit cards, installment loans, medical debt, auto loans, personal loans, etc.
It is important to have an emergency fund in place, even if it is a starter one, while you are paying off debt. This fund will help you avoid going into more debt because you’ll have a way to pay for any emergencies.
The sooner you can pay off your debt, the more financially free you’ll be!
3. Invest!
After paying off your debts, you can begin to invest and save for retirement. A good place to start is with your employer if they offer you a retirement plan. If you are not offered a plan, you can seek one out for yourself or invest in stocks.
For budgeting tips, you should be saving 15% of your income (if possible) to fund your retirement.
4. Pay Your Mortgage Off
After paying off your nonmortgage debt, it’s time to pay off your mortgage. Paying your mortgage off early will give you a great sense of financial freedom.
One of the best personal finance tips we can give if you want to pay your mortgage off early is to review your budget. Check for areas where you can reduce expenses and pay off more of your mortgage instead.
You should continuously review your budget to find areas where you can reduce expenses. This doesn’t have to be a one-time thing.
5. Save Save Save!
If you’ve never been the best at saving money, now is a good time to start. After paying off your nonmortgage and mortgage debts, you should be saving more money for retirement.
As you save, you can build your wealth by investing. Sports betting is one way to build wealth, learn how at bovada.blog.
Even if retirement is a long way away for you, becoming financially stable will allow you to stop working on your terms.
Giant Steps Towards Financial Freedom
Are you ready to stop living paycheck to paycheck and take a giant step towards financial freedom? When you implement the tips in this guide into your everyday life, you can do just that!
Start an emergency fund, pay off your debts, and save money to retire when you want to. For more great financial tips, check out the other posts on our blog.
