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In the next 5 minutes, you’ll find out how to make 2024 your best year ever.
And instead of ending the year like this: ‘Aww man! This year’s been a total bummer. I feel like I’m going nowhere!’
You’ll end it like this: ‘Woah! What an incredible year it has been. I zoomed ahead of all my friends’.
The best part is that it only takes these 3 simple money habits to catapult yourself to the top 1% in 2024!
Money Habit #1: Start and Automate Investing
Let’s take a step back. In the last year, have you ever thought about investing?
Maybe you wanted to start investing but were put off by all the fancy words, confused by too many options, and frustrated thinking you don’t have enough money to start.
Or maybe you actually did start investing but lost focus somewhere along the way.
Well in 2024, you can change all that.
99% of people just think about what they should do. If you want to be better than them, you have to actually take action! Start with this simple money habit.
Steps to Follow to Start and Automate Investing
In order to start investing, you’ll first need to open a brokerage account. It’s very easy, and you can do this online in just 5 minutes.
After that, set up automatic transfers every month from your bank account. Don’t think it has to be a large amount – even $50 or $100 is a good start.
Once you have money flowing into the account, what’s left is to actually invest the money. This is where you might get confused based on the conflicting information you hear from different sources.
What Should You Invest In?
A very simple – and effective – choice for almost everyone is index funds.
With index funds, you can invest into a large group of stocks that make up an index, for a fraction of the cost of investing in individual stocks. This gives you instant diversification with very little money.
For example, the S&P 500 tracks 500 of the largest American companies. So if you invest in an S&P 500 based index fund, you are effectively investing in all 500 companies at once.
Such broad based index funds also give you consistently high returns over the long term, which makes them the best choice.
To sum up this money habit, open a brokerage account, set up automatic contributions every month, and invest that money into an index fund. It’s that simple!
Money Habit #2: Build an Emergency Fund
Now by just doing this, you’re already ahead of most people who take no action at all.
But to get to the top 1%, you’ll need to do a little bit more – and that’s where this next money habit will really make a difference.
Importance of Having an Emergency Fund
Imagine you unfortunately lost your job – what do you think would happen? Would you struggle to pay the bills? Would you have to dip into your retirement savings or borrow money from a family member?
Would it be an absolute disaster? 99% of people would likely answer yes to all these questions.
But what if I told you that there was one simple thing you could do in 2024 to get ahead of them – and never have to worry about such an event again?
That’s right, all you have to do is build an emergency fund.
‘What’s that?’ you ask? Well it’s really simple: an emergency fund is just money in a savings account that you can dip into for – you guessed it – an emergency.
Now imagine that by the end of 2024, you have money worth 3 months of expenses stored safely in a savings account.
How would a job loss impact you in this case? It would no doubt still be terrible – but would it be financially disastrous? I don’t think so!
Steps to Follow to Create an Emergency Fund
So in 2024, start setting aside some money every month toward an emergency fund.
You could easily do this in your existing savings account. But if you’re worried you’ll be tempted to spend the money, you can open a new savings account just for the emergency fund.
Continue saving until you’ve built up enough to cover 3 months of expenses. For example, if your expenses are $4,000 per month, you’d need to save $12,000 in your emergency fund.
You can go a step further by saving up 6 months worth of expenses to give you even more peace of mind, but even having cash to cover 3 months of expenses will put you ahead of 99% of people.
Money Habit #3: Stop Carrying a Credit Card Balance
Now, by forming just these 2 money habits, you’re already doing a lot better than the vast majority – but there’s one extremely crucial action you should take in 2024.
This alone can make or break your financial life – and that’s why it’s the most important money habit.
Do you use a credit card? Almost everyone would say yes.
Now ask yourself another question – do you carry a balance on your credit card month to month? Over half of Americans would say yes to this, too.
The Pitfalls of Carrying a Credit Card Balance
Did you know that the interest on credit cards is higher than the returns you can get from any investment? So not paying off your credit card balance in full every month is a sure shot way to ruin your financial future.
I totally understand that sometimes, we get carried away with our spending, and there are times when we are forced to. And it may not always be easy to pay off your existing balance.
However, you need to remember this: to make 2024 your best year ever, you need to at least take the first step toward breaking free from the burden of credit card debt.
Steps to Follow to Pay Off Credit Card Debt
Don’t worry! I’ve put together a simple, step by step guide for you to get rid of all your credit card debt quickly and easily.
To make 2024 your best year ever, check out “7 Simple Ways to Get Out of Credit Card Debt Fast and be Debt Free“.
You can thank me later!
