Common Cents: Financial Cheat Codes

The first question you need to ask is, do I need it, or can I get it cheaper? You can easily stay away from restaurants. Just learn how to make it yourself, and save a bundle. Next time you go into a restaurant and order food, take a look at what you received and ask yourself is this ten dollar meal worth an hour of minimum wage pay? It doesn't cross many people's minds that they could get that $10 meal five or more times if you just made it yourself. Take for instance a casual restaurant. You buy two pizzas and all of a sudden you've racked up $25. Why not buy six $4 pizzas from your grocer and do that meal three times over? You will leave way more cash in your pocket over time. Perhaps you buy pop with your meal for $2. You should really consider buying store brand and investing the difference into a soft drink stock. Which pays an annual 3+ percent annually. For $10 000 that you've spent on pop in your lifetime, you would now be receiving over $30 a month. It's not too late to start, but you can blame your financial burden on your bad habits.

Let's do a family scenario. A family of four spends $500 per month at their grocer. Buying treats, snacks, and occasionally eating out. Wouldn't you think it would be much better to sacrifice for a year or two, eating pasta, rice, bread, mac & cheese, frozen fruits, and canned goods for $200 per month? Taking the $7200 and putting it into a dividend stock to receive $21 a month for the rest of their lives.

Coffee is one of the most consumed products in America. Ten cups of coffee per month from a cafe or coffee shop runs on average $20. One cup of Coffee from home costs 50 cents or less. I challenge you to drink your coffee at home, invest your savings in a 2.5% or higher annual return dividend stock. After two years your coffee will essentially be free or very, very cheap.

Perhaps you know nothing about investing and feel overwhelmed. My advice, start now. Schedule a bank appointment to open an investment account. It may be stressful but you won't have to talk to a banker every time you want to invest. Create an online account when you're opening the account. Now what you want to do, is use a search engine. Just try typing top dividend stocks. Cherry pick then search the company + the words "stock symbol" in google search. Log into your online trading account, select buy, then type in the stock symbol and the amount you wish to purchase. It is so simple.

You do not need to spend your full-time income on investing either. Be sure to check out my earlier post where you can do surveys for spare cash (links included). Also get real cash watching ads. I've scoured the internet for over a decade to find them.

Consider the time you spend at work. The time you won't get back. The time where you could have been doing whatever you like. Only if you make your money work for you. Follow these steps, you will get to an early retirement, you will have more money in addition to your work income. Once your passive income exceeds the amount for necessities you have achieved financial freedom. The earlier you start, the more you have to look forward to each paycheck. Do you want to keep checking the clock to see when your day ends? Or are you going to take your finances into your own hands and enjoy your life? Think less is more. Less spending, less consuming, less relying on one income, more time, more freedom, and multiple streams of income.