5 Tips to Help Increase Your Net Worth
Financial assets and liabilities are examined to determine your net worth. Financial assets include home equity, liquid savings, brokerage accounts, property, and tangible assets. Your net worth is lowered by missed payments on mortgages and auto loans and growing unsecured debt, such as credit cards, personal loans, and medical bills. Net worth is also affected by geography. Here are a some of Core Capital Group’s tips to help you start improving your net worth.
- Buy a House – Your net worth naturally gets a significant boost when you own a house, as long as you make your payments on time. As your home gets more equity, your net worth increases.
- Stop Being Afraid of Banks – Keeping money in your sock drawer or freezer is not doing you any good. Do you have any idea how much money you are missing out on by doing this? It needs to be in high interest savings accounts or CDs.
- Hire a Financial Planner – If fear is holding you back from making investments then hire a professional to help you build your investment portfolio.
- Set Goals – If you are nowhere near being ready to invest in CDs or real estate yet, you can still get in the habit of saving. Decide exactly how much you are going to save from every check. This could be a total dollar amount or percentage. Create a goal that when your savings reaches a certain dollar amount you are going to invest it. When you get to that point set new goals.
- Pay Bills Promptly – Paying bills on time is crucial. First, you don’t want to be paying unnecessary late charges simply because you forgot to make a payment. If you go through all your bills to find the amount each one charges for a late fee you will likely do everything you can to never be late again. Even cable companies are often around $8, or more, for a late fee. Plus, utility companies, credit cards, and auto lenders report late payments to the credit bureau. Most wait until you’re 30 days late to post, but why chance it? The last thing you need is a blemish on your credit simply because you forgot to pay online before the required date. Set up alerts on your phone to tell you five days before a bill is due so you still have time to take care of it before it’s late. If you prefer doing things the old-fashioned way, you can always go buy a calendar to write on.
It is never too early or too late to make positive changes that will improve your net worth. Small changes may not seem like much now, but a year from now you will be looking back, grateful that you took that first step towards securing your financial future.