I know your type. You always say you’re going to start investing for your future once you have just a little extra money in your account. The problem is time keeps passing by and that extra money always seems to end up somewhere else!
Well my friend, the longer you wait the longer it will take you to reach your savings goals. So stop procrastinating and start thinking of ways you can squeeze a few dollars out of your budget so you can begin investing and let your money work for you.
Here are a few suggestions on you can find money to invest:
Cut your spending.
We all have a little fat in our budgets that we can cut out without even noticing. Can you eat out less often? Switch to a less expensive calling plan? Cut out the expensive cable movie package? I bet there are plenty of ways you can save money if you took a closer look at your spending.
Sell unwanted possessions.
If you’re like most people you have so much “stuff” that you don’t know what to do with it all. Well the time has come for a major clean up. Start going through your clutter and sell whatever you no longer need or want. Ebay and Craigslist are great options for unloading unwanted stuff online. Or if you have enough items to make it worthwhile you can hold a garage sale and get rid of everything all at once. One advantage that garage sales have over ebay is that you don’t need to worry about packing and shipping everything.
Invest your tax return.
If you’re used to getting a fat tax refund check from the government each year, don’t give in to the temptation to spend it on a vacation getaway or a flat screen tv. Open up an investment account instead and let that money start growing.
Get a part time job.
I know you probably don’t want to hear it but getting a part time job is one of the most effective ways to find money for investing. Think about it. If you can just work a few nights a week or one weekend you can easily bring in $100 a week after taxes. At the end of the year you’ll have over $5,000 to invest! Of course you don’t need to wait until you have that much saved up. You can deposit each week and take advantage of dollar cost averaging.
There you go…that’s four ideas to help you find money to invest. What are you waiting for?
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This article was written by Mike Collins. Check out Mike’s blog at http://SavingMoneyToday.net to learn more about getting out of debt and achieving financial freedom so you can have more time for the important things in life.
Getting a part time job is something that I think all investors and people should consider in this climate. The worst case senario is that you can eliminate some of the extra debt that you have in your life. It would be much easier to invest if you don’t own anyone anything…not to mention that you can start to actually build up an emergency fund which is soooo necessary.
Hey that’s me!!!! I really will start investing sometime soon…. Honest! On a serious note I need to oay down all my debt first but after that I am going to be all about Investing.
That is a very smart decision to take care of your debts first….and I would add that you need to build a solid emergency fund as well. Things go wrong and if all your money is tied up investing, then how do you get out of the bind?
Answer, having an emergency fund! (Think I know what my next topic will be.)
Take the 1% challenge. Increase your contribution to your 401k by 1% every year until you are maxing it out. You will not notice the 10-15.00 that you lose on every check and you will your retirement plan will be growing in leaps and bounds.
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Great idea, Adam.
Great advice! The hardest step is the first step. Everyone can just start small and build from there. I really like Adam’s 1% challenge above. I don’t think I can pick up a part time job, I just don’t have the energy to do it. On the other hand, I am working on my blog so maybe someday that will help. cheers!
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I know what you mean by the part time job. I just seems like cheating on the dream. But hey, you never know what a person is going through so they have to do what is right for them.
The 1% is a killer idea and he is right, you won’t miss the money.
i worked a ft job and a pt job then i found out that i cld start a small business and make more money on my own thanks to gboogie.net that help me build my business credit. and made it much easier to get funding instead of borrowing from a 401k or relatives. there’s nothing wrong with working a pt job to help fund your idea but opening up your own business gives you more satifaction. i also report to business credit.
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When I started building my NYC real estate investing business, I really didn’t know where to get the money. It wasn’t as easy as the infomercials said. So I think this is a great new way to look at it. You definitely need to keep income coming in from somewhere while you are building your real estate investing business.
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