Originally published on logicalscience.com
Another year has come and gone, which means New Year resolutions, vision boards, and new goals are back in style. Some common areas people tend to focus on improving in their annual strive to be better include physical health, mental mindsets, and personal finance.
Bryn Carden, a Texas Christian University undergrad who founded Styles for Smiles and co-founded BF Hats, understands how vital getting a grip on personal finances can be to move forward in life with education, career, and life goals. There are many ways to boost financial success, including acquiring sagacious spending habits or earning and saving more. As individuals look to Google Search to be enlightened with the best personal finance tips and tricks to take those first steps towards ameliorating financial health, Bryn Carden offers her top five personal finance life hacks for 2022:
Life Hack #1: Rethink Money
It is time to rethink the approach for those struggling with meeting money goals. The majority of the time, money problems start with a mental mindset. Instead of seeing money as fuel to bad habits, label every dollar with a purpose. Assigning a job to every dollar reprograms the brain to prioritize spending, track where funds go, and make wiser purchases.
Life Hack #2: Invest in Necessity
Want to make a smart investment? Invest in necessity. That means only buying things considered a need, not a want. Two simple steps towards conquering this money move are to stop buying your personality and rewards. A person’s personality should not and is not purchased. That means adapting to the reality that anything from shoes to clothes to gizmos and gadgets is not a part of what makes you “you,” nor do things or expenses truly reflect or define who you are. Media and marketing teams do an excellent job of making the consumer think otherwise, but savvy spenders do not fall for that false persona. Cutting the comfort of rewarding yourself through spending money on things or food is a big one, too. Food is a necessity, and saving will come easier if that line is not blurred with reward.
Life Hack #3: Start a Financial Portfolio
It’s time to make money work for itself. Rather than buying a new and pricey thing that is unnecessary, put that money towards building a financial portfolio and watch the money grow. Opening an investment account boosts long-term wealth accumulation and expands investments through the use of compound interest. This type of account will not make money grow fast on the tree, but it will serve as a back alley to produce funds passively.
Life Hack #4: Avoid Instant Gratification
Those who want to save more for the new year should stop the money-pit cycle instant gratification creates. Rather than wanting something and then running to the store to get it the same day, slow down and shop around to help reach saving goals. A great way to approach this hack is to compare prices, choose the best deal, and put the extra bucks saved into savings.
Life Hack #5: Don’t Spend More Than Earned
A fast bad habit that people can fall victim to in a world that relies so heavily on consumers is spending when money is not in the bank. It is easy to swipe a credit card that does not have to be paid back until later, but essentially, that action is spending money that is not there yet. Take the “yet” out of spending tendencies and only spend fun money after covering necessities and setting savings aside.
About Bryn Carden
Bryn Carden is a versatile young entrepreneur with a deep sense of compassion and the desire to help make the world a better place. In 2017, she founded Styles for Smiles - a company selling bracelets to support the Smile Train Organization. The proceeds from selling Bryn's designs have already helped fund cleft palate repairs for 16 children in developing countries.
BF Hats, another design brand Bryn is engaged in, donates a portion from every purchase to Ronald McDonald House of Dallas - combining Bryn's passion for style and philanthropy.