5 Surprising Financial Tools to Help Your Saving Efforts
Sunday, February 9, 2020, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
Most people do not have sufficient savings to either cover emergencies or live through retirement.
It is always best to get into good saving habits so you will be in a stable financial position.
Fortunately, there are some surprising financial tools available that can help your savings efforts.
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Debt Management Tools
Being in debt can seriously hamper your savings efforts, with interest costs adding up quickly over time. There are a number of debt management tools that can help you determine the best order in which to pay off your debts, come up with a debt payment plan and manage multiple balances. These tools include the app Debt Manager, Debt Payoff Planner and Unbury.Me.
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Budgeting Features and Apps
Apps like Mint (owned by reputable financial company Intuit), You Need a Budget and PocketGuard all allow you to easily create and monitor a budget. Digit is another useful app that analyzes your income and expenses to create a tailored savings plan based on what you can afford. Most major banks and credit unions offer tools to create a budget directly, and you can always go the old-fashioned route with a spreadsheet.
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Employer-Provided Plans
Many people don’t take advantage of employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s. This is a mistake, as employers often match any contributions you make to these accounts, meaning you are basically turning down free money. These savings plans are key to providing the money you need to live in retirement, which is certainly worth building up over the years.
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Automatic Deposits
Almost all banks offer automatic deposits where a portion of every paycheck is automatically added to a designated savings account. Set this up so this money will always go into savings and you won’t be tempted to spend it. Account holders can also become more disciplined about using traditional deposits to grow their savings as well.
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Micro-Investing
Micro-investing apps like Acorns allow you to put your spare change towards investing. This provides an opportunity to invest for people who don’t have much spare money to invest in more traditional ways. A little can grow into a lot over time as you continuously invest more and those investments grow in value. There are also opportunities to invest small amounts in real estate as well.
There are now more tools than ever to help you save more money and achieve better financial stability. Anyone should consider taking advantage of them. Try different approaches and see what works best for you.
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