If you’re a working adult, you are well-aware that earning money is not easy. Only you know how much blood, sweat, and tears you have to pour to get that hard-earned salary of yours.
Financial struggles, on the other hand, can be quick to come by, especially if you don’t know how to handle your finances well. You’ve probably experienced this at least once in your life—your firm resolve gradually crumbling as the words “SALE” and “Buy 1, Take 1” flash before your eyes as you stroll the mall regardless if it’s payday or not.
Likewise, it’s easy to splurge on activities other than shopping, as a romantic date night could easily cost you a fortune. Before you know it, a month’s worth of hard work in the form of your paycheck can be gone in only a matter of days.
It’s not a sin to treat yourself once in a while, but you should know your limits when it comes to spending, as living paycheck to paycheck is not a lifestyle you want to have. After all, you want to have reserve savings you could quickly tap in case of emergency.
Know how to handle your finances better with these money tips from billionaires around the world.
Start Saving Now
It’s never too early to start saving. Procrastinate with your finances, and you might suffer dire consequences later. The sooner you start, the bigger your savings will be in the future.
It doesn’t matter if you’re earning five or seven figures a month, what’s important is that you allot a portion of your salary to your savings.
Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican businessman who was once ranked as the richest person in the world, lived by this advice. At the age of 12, he bought shares at a Mexican bank while he earned 200 pesos a week. The rest of his journey to his massive wealth is history.
Save before You Spend
When your paycheck comes, do you tend to save before you spend? If it’s the other way around, this might be the reason you’re struggling with money matters.
Before you even start buying the things you promised you’d reward yourself with, deposit a portion of your paycheck to your bank account. For starters, you could allocate 10% of your total salary for your savings. The rest could be used to cover your bills and other miscellaneous expenses.
This way, you’d be more confident that you have something saved up in contrast to saving whatever is left of your paycheck after you’re done with your expenses. You’ll also be more obliged to stick strictly to your budget.
Pursue Your Passion
If you still haven’t found your true passion, now is a good time to start searching for one. If you think you already found it, pursue it. Do what you love.
It’s a long-running cliché, but once you find a job that you truly love, work wouldn’t feel like a burden. As the millionaire Christopher Paul Gardner words were, “Find something you love to do so much, you can’t wait for the sun to rise to do it all over again.”
Achieving your goals wouldn’t be so difficult, no matter the challenges you may encounter along the way once you’ve set your mind on getting what you really want.
Keep It Simple
You’ve probably heard it before: don’t try so hard to look rich only to end up broke. You may think that just because billionaires could practically swim in cash, they splurge on luxurious items all the time. A lot of them can afford this privilege, but you might be surprised to know that some of them don’t.
American business magnate, Warren Buffet, can afford to purchase a huge mansion that’s worth a million dollars, but he still prefers to live in his five-bedroom house. Strip your lifestyle off the luxuries, live within your means, and keep it as simple as you can.
Maintain a Good Credit Score
Unless you’re planning to start a small business or it’s an emergency, don’t borrow money. No matter how appealing the loan terms can be, always borrowing money from banks or loan sharks will only hurt your finances in the long run.
If you own a credit card, limit your spending to things you only need. Keep in mind that whenever you use it, you’re borrowing money you still haven’t earned. You don’t want to end up deeply indebted by being careless with your expenses.
Maintain a good credit score so that when the need to borrow money arises, lending companies won’t give you the cold shoulder.
Invest Your Money
Putting your savings into an investment is one of the greatest financial decisions you can commit, and billionaires should be an enough proof of this.
Billionaires don’t simply become billionaires overnight—they work hard, they stick to their budget, but most of all, they invest. They know it’s the best way to grow their money over time. It’s also one of the primary reasons they are financially stable and can retire comfortably any time they want.
Like most of us, billionaires were once ordinary people who had to start from scratch. Not all of them were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Most of them only had strong principles and good work ethics to guide them in making wise financial decisions that eventually led to their current wealth standing.
With these tips in mind, we hope to see you doing better with your finances!
About the Author
Carol Soriano is a consultant for PawnHero.ph, the very first online pawnshop in the Philippines. A writer at heart and a social media enthusiast, she finds personal finance, investment and money matters interesting topics to write about.
