10 great ways to make your money work for you Working 9 to 7 everyday these days is not enough to bear the financial responsibilities most people have. So what if something goes wrong; God forbid, and you can’t work for a year( for some reason or the other), what then? Did you know you could make money while you’re sleeping, doing nothing at all? While you work, you can also have some of your money working, too, generating more cash for you. Here’s a look at ten ways to invest — see which ones make the most sense for you.
- Bonds
Since bank accounts tend to be insured, the interest rates they offer, paltry though they may be at times, are close to sure things. If you’re willing to take on a little more risk, though, you can do better. Consider, for example, bonds.
Long-term government bonds often offer steeper rates than bank accounts, and are backed by the federal government. Bonds sold by the federal government’s Treasury Department are called Treasurys. Note that investors don’t necessarily buy a bond when it’s first issued and then hold it to maturity, which can be several years or decades. Instead, bonds are often traded between investors, with their prices rising and falling in reaction to prevailing interest rates. When rates fall, people tend to bid up bond prices. After all, if banks are offering 2%, a 5% bond will be appealing. When interest rates rise, newer bonds with higher interest rates will be more appealing than older bonds with lower rates. If you hold a bond to maturity, you’ll generally experience little to no volatility, but if you’re dealing with bond mutual funds or are buying or selling bonds in the secondary market, know that their prices can indeed rise and fall, and meaningfully.
- Budget
The most important way to change the way you handle your money is to budget. When you are budgeting, you are making your money do what you want it to. By assigning each naira to a category, you are controlling where your money goes and what it does. This will help you to begin to reach your financial goals.
Your budget is the best tool you have next to your income to build wealth. Your budget gives you control over your finances and allows you to make financial decisions at the beginning of each month. When you master budgeting , you will be able to reach your financial goals more quickly and avoid debt. A budget is similar to a fitness tracker, and it helps you monitor your spending and income.
If you want to change your financial picture, your budget is your first step to doing that. Often people will create a budget, but fail to follow through on sticking to it or stop after a month. You need to create your budget each month, track your expenses and make changes as needed, so you are always spending less than you earn. When you make the decisions on how you will spend your money at the beginning of the month, you can decide what priorities are the most important to you and begin to make progress on your goals.
- Open a high-yield savings account
Sean Gould, a wealth strategist with Waddell and Associates and a certified financial planner, explains that before sending your money off to do the heavy lifting, you’ll want to have an emergency savings account of about six months of living expenses stored in cash. A typical savings account offers an interest rate around 0.01%, and a typical checking account is the digital equivalent of putting your money under the mattress. However, high-yield checking and saving offer interest rates that exceed 1% — 100 times what you’d get otherwise.
These accounts are usually available at online banks, which keep costs down by forgoing brick and mortar locations.
- Become a silent partner in a new business
Starting your own business can be a risky move, but if everything goes well, it can certainly pay off. Another way to reap the benefits of a successful new startup without the stress of getting a company off the ground is to become a silent partner who invests capital but doesn’t handle any of the day-to-day operations.
The prospect comes with pros and cons . You won’t have any say in how the company is run or the daily decisions active employees make. But you’ll earn a cut of any profits the business makes without putting in any long hours.
However, you still run the risk of financial loss if the venture tanks.
- Pursue a professional degree or certification
Another way your money can work for you is by increasing your worth on the job market. If you have time and money to invest in furthering your education, you can make yourself more marketable to become a higher earner.
Making yourself more marketable as an employee or professional might be as simple as joining a workshop to improve your public speaking or taking a class to master Microsoft Excel .
If you’re looking to increase your skill set but don’t have the money to help you do it, there are even tons of great free business classes available online .
- Consider Investments
Investing is one method that puts your money to work for you, but market fluctuations and poor performances can baffle even the most qualified advisors. If you want to consider investing as a way to boost your retirement savings, consider working with a financial advisor who can help keep your investments at a risk level appropriate for you.
As a mid-term activity, consider what you know about investing and your risk tolerance. That way, when you meet with a financial advisor, you will be more familiar with terms and your level of comfort with this topic.
- Dividend income
Dividend income is dividends paid to shareholders of stocks in the form of cash in your bank account. Dividend-paying stocks are especially enticing for those wanting to make a living with passive income, as they will get payouts each quarter or so. If you are going to go this route, make sure you educate yourself and pick solid stocks so that you can depend on your dividend income for years to come.
- Write a book
Once the initial work of creating the book is done, and you’ve spent some time developing an effective marketing plan, selling books can be a great way to produce some residual income. Once your book is available on a site like Amazon, you could receive a cheque each month for doing absolutely nothing.
- Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make your money work for you. When people click on the affiliate links on your site, you receive a commission at no additional cost to them when they buy a product or service.
But you’ll first need to open a site. You can get this done by reaching out to dayohub@gmail.com or contact 08105636015.
- Real estate
Real estate is another way that your cash can make more money for you. You can buy a property, and build equity in it over time. It’s surely going to appreciate in value over time.
If you need more information or would like to book a consulting session with us, you can contact any of our business consultant on 08105636015 or 08076359735. Alternatively, you can send a mail to dayohub@gmail.com
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