Posted By 
By Sia Hasan
Special to the Financial Independence Hub
The financial steps you take now can have a major impact on your life. Believe it or not, there are changes you can make right now if you would like to save yourself a lot of money.
Below are five tips you can follow if you would like to handle your finances in the best way possible.
1.) Save for Retirement
First, it’s never too early to start saving for retirement. For example, if you don’t already have one, you can open up a self directed IRA (or its Canadian equivalent, the RRSP.) Contributing money to your retirement account now can help you ensure that you save up enough money for when you are no longer able to work. If you start now, you can help ensure that you earn more in interest as well.
2.) Focus on Maintenance
Maintenance of your home, car and other things you own can be expensive. However, not maintaining your home or vehicle can actually be a lot more expensive in the long run. Therefore, even though it can be tough, it’s important to make maintenance a top priority. This can help you ensure that things last longer and can help you avoid more expensive repairs later on down the road.
3.) Take care of your Health
Along with focusing on taking good care of your car, your house and your other belongings, it is also important to take good care of yourself. Not only can taking care of your health help with your overall happiness and well-being, but it can save you a lot of money as well. Therefore, it’s important to avoid smoking or drinking too much alcohol, and it’s also critical to see your doctor and your dentist on a regular basis.
4.) Create a Budget
If you don’t already have a budget, there’s a good chance you are spending more than you realize on a lot of things, including non-essentials. So it’s important to create a budget if you don’t already have one. Look over your spending habits for a month or two; then you can identify what you are spending your money on. This can show you where you should make changes and can give you a starting point for your budget. Once you start budgeting things, you can control how much you are spending and can greatly increase the amount that you are able to save.
5.) Maintain a good Credit Score
Many people don’t realize just how much of a negative impact a bad credit score can have on their lives. Having bad credit can make even the simplest of things a lot more difficult and can cost you a whole lot of money. For example, if you have bad credit, you will probably find yourself paying much higher interest rates on things like car loans. This can significantly drive up the cost of your vehicle or anything else you purchase. Focusing on paying your bills on time can help you avoid paying late fees and can help you maintain a good credit score, which can help you qualify for lower interest rates and make your life easier in a lot of other ways as well.
As you can see, there are things that you can do right now that can help you save yourself money in the long run. Focusing on personal finance can be challenging, but this doesn’t mean it’s not important. If you follow these tips, you can help ensure that you get in the best possible financial situation.
Sia Hasan is a tech entrepreneur by day, and a freelance writer by night. Her passion lies in business technology, efficient and sleek programming, and customer relationship management. When she doesn’t have her nose pressed against her computer screen, you can find her spending time with the loves of her life, her two dogs, Pixel and Vector.
