Want to make more money in 2019? You'll need a strategy.
Of course, it's easy to say you'll need to save and invest more than you did last year. Yet most people don't have a plan to do just that.
Here are five key things you should do, courtesy of Robert Grosshandler, CEO and co-founder of iConsumer, a shopping and saving site:
1) Set out part of your budget for investments and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
If you don’t take risks, you’ll never learn anything new. That goes double for investing. Where you are in life helps to dictate how much you can afford to lose.
If you’re nearing retirement, and you need the money to retire on, risky investments aren’t for you. But if you’re in your thirties, you have lots of time to recover from making an investment that doesn’t work out. If you losing your investment means you can’t pay your landlord, that’s too much. If losing your investment means you don’t go on another fancy vacation, that’s probably okay.
2). Make the commitment to find communities of like-minded people to share tips and tricks with one another and seek out financial educational tools so you can learn what others are doing.
It’s always cheaper to learn from somebody else’s mistakes. The “wisdom of the crowd” is a real thing. You probably won’t get rich hanging with the crowd (it takes being a contrarian to really strike gold), but you can nicely feather your nest.
There are communities like Motley Fool, Shareholder Academy, and reddit, where folks get together to share experiences. Consider alternate investment possibilities such as crowdfunded opportunities and start small
3). Think about what would happen if the recession occurred and you lost your job. Always try to have enough savings!
The memories of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 have begun to fade. A whole generation of folks didn’t live through it themselves, they only have their parents’ experiences to learn from. Recessions happen. We’re due. Putting money aside for a rainy day is hard, but smart.
At the very least, fund as much as you can in your company or self-directed retirement plans. If you have a matching contribution, take it! And don't forget to have an emergency savings fund. That's job #1.
