10 Money Moves You Can Make Today

Here are ten simple moves you can make to better your money today! #thewealthmap #money #finance

When it comes to getting your financials in order, it's not always easy deciding where to begin. You can ask around to friends and family, but the truth is most aren't quite sure themselves.

There are a number of tools out there to get your money in order, but here are ten critical moves you can make in a matter of a few hours.

Grab a warm cup of coffee and let's get started...

1. Set Multiple Small, Attainable Goals

Human psychology wanders aimlessly without defined goals, but the key here is to make them small and attainable.

With every small victory you will gain confidence, and the train will go from a slow roll to a rolling thunder.

Maybe you want to kill-off one of your student loans, or maybe you want to save $1,000.

Whatever your goals are it will be important to write them down, tell someone you trust (or go big and post on Facebook) in order to hold yourself accountable, and finally to monitor them every week.

2. Grab Your Company's 401(k) Match

This could end up being the biggest move you make this year.

If you work for a large corporation that offers a 401(k) plan, make sure you are contributing enough to your retirement plan to earn the match. It's free money, people!

Some 401(k) plans will automatically assign you to a 3% allotment, but won't offer the match until you contribute 5-6%.

The money in your 401(k) will be tax-deferred, which means it will be taken out of your paycheck before taxes.

This has an added benefit of lowering your taxable income, or in other words how your tax liability is calculated at the end of the year. The lower your number due to tax-deferred savings - the better!

Just don't forget that Uncle Sam will come looking for that money at retirement, and you'll be taxed at a later date.

**Bonus** Consider marking a percentage of your 401(k) investments as Roth. This is money that is invested after taxes, which means that when you take it out at retirement it is all yours.

3. Download Your Bank's Mobile App

A healthy financial plan requires frequent check-ins.

I evaluate every paycheck, every deduction, and every credit card statement. It used to be laborious with a laptop or desktop computer, but with my phone I can check everything over in a matter of seconds.

Discover, Chase, Capital One and Bank of America have some of the best mobile banking apps out there.

The phone in your pocket has more capabilities and power than the computers that took U.S. astronauts to the moon. What's your excuse?

4. Automate Transactions Into Your Savings

You are less likely to do something that creates work for you week after week, so use your bank's automation services to your advantage.

Do you get a direct deposit? Determine how much you can save each paycheck and set the money up to be transferred on or a few days after your payday.

If you are able to set aside even $50 a paycheck, you'll have $1,200 by the end of the year. And you only had to set up one automatic transaction!

5. Set Up Two Savings Accounts, One That's Hard to Touch

In step #4 we were trying to make you life easier by automating your savings. Now, in step #5, we're trying to make it harder to access that money by putting it in an "offshore account."

Here are the accounts I'm suggesting:

• 1 personal checking at your chosen bank

• 1 personal savings at your chosen bank

• 1 high interest savings account that earns at least 1.5% APR with another institution

Traditional savings accounts earn squat - I literally earned a penny last month - meanwhile a high interest savings account can be a great place to start putting some real hay in the barn.

Set up regular transactions to the high interest account and try not to touch the money.

My philosophy is as follows: You'll be less likely to access an account and deduct funds if it requires another log in, separate from your traditional bank.

Just make sure the online savings account you choose is FDIC insured.

Before you know it you will have enough in the account to be considered an emergency account. On top of that you'll be earning a much better interest rate.

Voila!

6. Consolidate Credit Card Debts Onto a 0% APR Card

Stop paying interest on credit card debt NOW!

Do a quick Google search on "0 percent balance transfer cards" and look for quality offers. I have seen some as lengthy as 21 months.

If you have $10,000 in credit card debt, you'll be able to spread that payment over 21 months and pay $476 per month.

Beware that you'll pay roughly 5% on your transfer. So take your total balance and multiply it by 0.05 to see what you'll pay. Chances are it will be much less than if you were paying 20%+ interest penalties for revolving debts on your current card.

It can be hard to catch up on these payments, so see if you can buy yourself some time at 0% interest.

7. Get a Raise; Learn a Valuable Skill; Shop Your Resume

My father once said he was never given a raise unless he asked.

His employers were happy to keep him hard at work while earning the same rate of pay; however, the benefits landscape for employees has changed in a way that benefits employees.

Here's the thing - you'll never make a lot of money by putting off your Starbuck's purchases. You'll have a lot more money in your budget when you get a raise, become more valuable to your employer, or increase your salary by moving to another company that values your skillset.

8. Sign Up for a Roth IRA and Contribute Bi-Weekly

I am in love with the Roth IRA, simply because it will diversify your retirement plan and provide tax free money.

In a bind, the Roth can act as an emergency account which grows at market rates. You won't be penalized for taking your money out as long as you deduct the funds after five years of investing, and only take what you have invested - not the returns.

Just remember that you're borrowing from your future self, so only use this as a last resort.

If you contribute to your Roth on a bi-weekly basis you will buy funds and purchase the average of the entire stock market over your investing timeline. This is an advantage to you. As long as you don't touch your money during market swings, you could be looking at anywhere from 5-9% of return that is, once again, tax free!

9. Add a Little Extra $ to a Few or Every Debt Payment

It's amazing what a little extra can do to cut your payment term.

The idea here revolves around an amortization schedule, or, in other words, the length of time it will take to repay a loan principal.

The goal here is two-fold:

• You'll pay off your debt sooner

• And you'll save money on interest

10. Renegotiate or Shop Insurances

The mindset here is to decrease the amount of money going out on a monthly basis.

In the case of insurances, we often sign up with a particular company because a friend or family member did so - never having gone through the process of getting multiple quotes.

There are plenty of providers out there and they are all vying for business.

Fill out each company's interest form and let them know you are looking for the best deal on similar coverage. It will be a pain to get all of the marketing emails and phone calls, but you can unsubscribe in a matter of a week or two.

Once you put an extra $20 or $50 in your pocket each month, and realize that equates to $240 and $600 respectively over the course of the year, then you'll start looking for other places to negotiate.

---

For more follow @thewealthmap on Instagram and Facebook.

You can message Adam at wealthmapblog@gmail.com.