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Financial Success Tips That Will Benefit Your Family

Tips and Tricks That Have to do with Finances

By Rayanne MorrissPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Managing the finances of a family is much like managing the finances of a company. Revenues must exceed expenses. You must budget for the future, and certain investments should be made that can pay dividends later. Unfortunately, many families have a lot of trouble managing their finances. To help, below are some financial success tips that can benefit your family.

Draft Real Budgets

Many people think they have a budget. However, in actuality, they only have a rough idea of their finances in their mind and have never written an actual budget on paper. 55 percent of Americans don't actually use a budget, and this may be part of the reason why so many of them end up buried in debt. Instead, you should have weekly budgets, monthly budgets and even a broad outline for a yearly budget. If you know what you’ll have to pay several months ahead of time, you’ll have time to prepare so you don’t come up short. You’ll be forced to borrow less, and you'll have more comprehensive knowledge of your family’s financial health. Sticking to the budget may be one of the hardest parts. If you do, though, you’ll be more likely to come out ahead at the end of the year.

Save for Emergency Costs

Many expenses a family will endure over the course of a year are known. Unfortunately, nearly everyone will also encounter expenses that have not been predicted. Think, for example, if your refrigerator suddenly dies. Replacing it will be very expensive. Even a simple repair bill to have it fixed may put your monthly budget out of whack. Overall, the easiest way to avoid this problem is to have a financial cushion set aside specifically for emergency costs. This should be a special savings account only used for this purpose. It should have several thousand dollars that would be able to cover most emergencies a family finds themselves in. You should also make sure to replenish the money in this account after it has been taken out as quickly as is feasible.

Make the Right Long Term Investments

Another mistake many families make is not investing their money. While it’s understandable to be nervous about markets due to present and past economic downturns, you can make a steady return if your money is invested in a balanced portfolio that will certainly far exceed whatever you would make in interest by just putting your money in a bank. One of the best investments you can make is into real estate. According to many excellent Kay Properties reviews, the company is a good partner to use if you are looking to invest in a DST. DST stands for Delaware Statutory Trust. This is an investment vehicle that can allow you to defer the capital gains tax when a rental property is sold and added into a real estate investment portfolio.

Plan for Your Children’s Education

One of the largest expenses a family is likely to tackle at some point is the college education of their children. While there is some debate recently regarding the actual benefits of college, in today’s world, a college education will likely net a person a better career in nearly any field. What there is no debate about, however, is the rising cost of tuition. It has gone up and up, and will likely not be coming back down anytime soon. As such, you should start saving for your children’s college education almost as soon as you start having discussions about having children with your spouse. The earlier the better.

Develop a Financial Plan for Retirement

You should also be looking well past even your children’s college education. Being financially responsible also means having a plan for retirement. That way, you’ll be able to enjoy your final years in the kind of comfort you deserve. Discuss with a financial adviser about your options for setting up an investment vehicle to fund your retirement. Options include 401k plans, IRAs, Roth IRAs and many more. Determine which retirement plan would be best for the future of you and your spouse.

Conclusion

Thankfully, it’s never too late to get your financial house in order. If your family has problems with finances and making ends meet from month to month, try to start doing a better job planning for both your financial present and future. Even things as simple as making a monthly budget can make a huge difference in the long run.

personal finance
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