How To Manage Your Money More Wisely In 5 Steps

Want to get on top of your finances? Now’s the time to start making smart decisions about your money. Whether you’re fresh out of college or just starting to take your moolah more seriously, here are 5 tips from 5 top personal finance books on boosting your bankroll.

These 5 tips come from the Blinkist app. The app condenses big ideas from best-selling nonfiction books and puts them into a format that you can read or listen to in 15 minutes or fewer.

These money-saving tips are just 5 of the tens of thousands of smart concepts you could be discovering each day with the Blinkist app.

1. Ask yourself why money matters, then make a plan to get it

from The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money by Carl Richards

Why do you want to have more money? Everyone’s response is different, but once you answer that question you’ll have an easier time upping your income. Define exactly why you want to be more wealthy, then develop goals that align with your answer.

Create a basic balance sheet to track your spending, saving, and investment habits, then tweak your behavior to make your objectives more obtainable. Develop a financial plan specific to your situation, and set flexible, realistic goals you can aim for.

2. Shop around for a better…everything

from Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner

Don’t wait until retirement to start pinching your pennies. Make life easier on future you by choosing the most appropriate banks, insurance companies, and other service providers for your unique situation. Why continue to pay a $3 surcharge every time you withdraw cash from that nearby ATM, when you can simply open an account with that bank and save hundreds of dollars each year?

Examine your expenses to find areas of excess spending, then refinance loans, renegotiate rates, and do whatever you can to lower or eliminate long-term fees.

3. Invest early, often, and all over

from Millennial Money: How Young Investors Can Build a Fortune by Patrick O’Shaughnessy

Money sitting in your savings account isn’t doing much good in terms of purchasing power. So if you’re not already investing, start now even if it’s only a modest amount. Spread your funds around to include investments all over the world.

Not only will this tactic limit your exposure to a corporate or economic collapse, but it increases your odds of actualizing wealth. Buy cheap stock, but search for true bargains. Seek inexpensive shares that have experienced significant price increases in recent months, and you’ll be more likely to see sizable returns in the future.

4. If you’ve got debt, start rolling a snowball

from The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Finance Fitness by Dave Ramsey

Got debt? If so, you’re far from alone. One winning strategy to escape from underneath what you owe is to embrace the debt-snowball method. This involves listing your debts in order of amount owed, then systematically paying down your smallest debt first while making minimum payments on all other accounts.

This approach might not seem as intuitive as paying down high-rate debts first, but the satisfaction you’ll get from paying off smaller balances will provide you with the momentum you need to escape debt for good.

5. Invest in yourself (and your network)

from Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money – That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Perhaps the single most important step in increasing your net worth is investing in your most valuable asset—yourself. Your financial knowledge and experience will do more to determine your relationship with money than any other single factor.

Read books on investing and take a class at a community college. Spend time networking with experts active in your preferred area, and you could form long-lasting connections that propel you toward financial freedom.

Now that you know the basics of managing your money, take your education to the next level by reading (or listening to) the key ideas from these books and the dozens of other titles available on the Blinkist app.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin

There’s never been a better time to put your money to work for you and the Blinkist app makes it easier than ever to start investing intelligently.