A lot of things take time. All good things, compounded, will produce more than quick wins, but that demotivates people.
Therefore, let’s look at some quick wins that will help you. Hopefully these quick wins, or potential quick wins, will motivate you to get more long-term wins as well:
- 1. Spending habits
- Download a spending app or write down every single expense. If you are like most people, you will be overspending. Simply spending 5% less will probably be much easier than you think. What is the best way to do that? Actually, I think spending with cash and not credit card or application is one of the best ways. People spend less as they feel they are really spending the money when they hand out a physical object.
- 2. Investment fees.
- Fees matter. Are you currently paying 1% for your investments with your advisor and there is an advisor out there who will do it for 0.75%, and the quality is the same? Is there a way you can get your fund fees down? Spending 30 minutes filling out an application could save you thousands, tens of thousands or even millions. It really depends on the size of your account. If your account is even worth $100,000, reducing the fees by 0.5% per year will save you just $500 in year one. But compounded, over 40 years, that will be huge. On a $1M account, you could eventually save $500,000 or even $1M over a lifetime by just spending 30-60 minutes on a new application form. This is especially a good option for people who have old school savings plans with companies such as AIA, AXA, Generali and other big insurance companies. As a generalization these plans are expensive and better alternatives exist.
- 3. Investing more.
Do you have a lump sum in your account? There is no need to have more than 3-6 months savings in the bank. If you have a lump sum in your bank account now, and you have been too afraid to invest it, just invest it. As we have spoken about before, DIY investors fail due to either fear, greed and egoism or other issues surrounding human nature. Markets have always risen
- long-term historically. Don’t worry about the short-term as nobody can predict that.
