Financial Resolution 6: Make Money Doing What You Love
Most people can name at least one thing they are truly passionate about. One of the ways to enjoy your work is to only do the things you enjoy. Find a way to turn your passions and hobbies into profit. The world is full of amazing jobs such as full-time ice cream tasters and video game testers!
Financial Resolution 7: Collect Your Change
Any time you make purchases with cash, only spend whole dollar amounts. If you go to the grocery store and your ticket comes to $67.39, pay $70 in cash and pocket the change. The first thing you should do when you go home is throw the money in a large container (empty water jugs are perfect.) If you adhere to this policy and don’t spend any of the change, you are likely to save several thousand dollars over the course of a year. Use the money to pay down
debt, buy
stocks and
bonds, or go on vacation.
Financial Resolution 8: Give Money
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: one of the most effective ways to realize the value of money is to give it. The next time you get your paycheck, take 5% of your salary in cash (the greenbacks in your pocket will make it seem far more real than if you simply wrote a check or used a debit card). Walk into a
Starbucks and anonymously pay for the other customers in line. If you pass a child in Wal-Mart staring at a new video game, take out your wallet and buy it for them. In both cases, the recipients are sure to remember your kindness for years to come. It is a powerful and effective way to change other people’s lives for the better while giving you a better sense of freedom financially. Suddenly, you realize just how much promise $20 contains.
Financial Resolution 9: Begin Using Personal Finance Software
Knowledge is power. If I asked ten people on the street how much they spent last year on books or movie tickets, nine of them probably couldn’t answer. With a few keystrokes, however, someone using personal finance software such as
Microsoft Money or
Quicken can find out. Personally, I print a report at the end of every December and spend an evening studying and going over my income and expenditures for the year. I’m often surprised at the amount I spend on small items such as ATM bank fees and cappuccino.
Financial Resolution 10: Read a Financial Book Each Month
If you want to learn to cook, you read cookbooks. If you want to learn to fix an engine, you ask someone to show you. The printed word is amazing in that it allows you to communicate directly with the most brilliant financial minds of the past century. By picking up a copy of
The Intelligent Investor,
One Up on Wall Street, or
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, you can be taught how to value investments, set up your portfolio, and spot the characteristics of a classic growth stock directly from the men who did it most successfully. Through the written word, their death, retirement, or physical location is rendered meaningless; their ideas, philosophies, and techniques live on. It’s as if you are inviting Benjamin Graham or Philip Fisher into your home, any time you choose, at a moment’s notice, simply by picking up a copy of their work and turning the page. Consistently applying yourself to learn as much as you can about the financial markets, the nature of money and investments in general is absolutely essential to
creating long-term wealth.
