How to Avoid Potential Money Wastes

While sure, it’s important to know the sep ira rules when it comes to setting yourself up for financial success but if you aren’t maxing out your retirement account, then there is plenty of room for improvement with the rest of your finances.  By avoiding some of the biggest money wastes, you can free up extra money in order to build an emergency fund, pay off debt, and fund your retirement account.  The earlier you start, the more it will pay off in the end when you really need it.

Not Tracking Spending

You may know how much are in your paychecks every other week or so, but do you know how much is going out each month?  If you take a look at last month’s debit or credit card statement you can go line by line for every purchase in order to track what was necessary, and what probably could have been avoided.  If you just pay the bill every month without looking at the charges, not only could you be setting yourself for potential fraudulent charges, but you just continue to swipe your card without trying to curb spending.

Avoiding a Budget

For those that have built up a nest egg, it is not always easy, but with patience and discipline, not to mention tweaking along the way, setting a budget up is a good way to allocate funds on what you should be spending each month instead of what you are currently spending.  When it comes to funds for entertainment, setting a limit, especially in cash, is a great way to allow yourself a certain amount and when it runs out, that’s it until next paycheck.  At least physically seeing the money leave your hands and go into the cash register could at least give second thought to impulse purchases.

Going out to Eat

Of course, it’s nice to have someone else cook for you, especially if you don’t enjoy cooking yourself, or are missing that skillset, going out to eat, along with being served, makes going out to eat pretty appealing, although the prices can add up pretty quickly.  Whether it’s grabbing coffee every morning, going to the cafeteria at work, or picking up carryout for dinner on the way home, could add up to hundreds of dollars a month extra when if you would go grocery shopping and prepare meals at home, your food bill could be considerably less.

Leaving Free Money on the Table

Plenty of money leaves your bank account every month so why not try and capture any free money that you can.  By using the right credit card that offer rewards on purchases, you can earn points or cashback that otherwise would be missing out on if you used your debit card or another credit card.  On a much higher scale, check at work to see if there are any company-matching retirement fund contributions that you could be missing out on, that could add up to tens of thousands you’re losing out on in the decades to come that could have been growing in your account.