By Doug Mocik, Priority Payments Local
If you’re like the majority of Millennials, you have serious student loan debt that is keeping you from reaching your financial goals.
You may even be living at home with your parents or sharing a place with a roommate our two. As Millennials, we do what we have to in order to survive and hopefully, eventually reach our financial goals.
Just like you I have dreams. Within the next five years I’d like to purchase a home and get married, for example. Through putting together a plan, each month I’ve been able to set aside more money than I had hoped in order to reach these goals. Here’s what I learned through this ongoing process.
- Create a budget and stick to it.
Mint is one of the most helpful budgeting tools. It offers an app that you connect your bank accounts to and track spending on. There are different categories you set for each budget and you can set up alerts to get notifications when you’re about to reach each allotted amount per month.
When budgeting, be sure you are strategic with how much you set aside for savings. You should be setting aside money for the short term and long term (including an emergency fund).
- Only buy what you need.
It can be tempting to splurge a little too much on objects and events. At one point, I would swipe my credit card here and swipe it there without thinking much about it. Now in my mid-20s, my priorities have shifted and putting money toward my future has become more important than buying the latest tech gadget or dining at an expensive restaurant multiple times a week. Before I buy anything, I take a minute to ask myself:
- Do I really need this?
- How is this going to benefit me?
- Is it going to be worth it to make this purchase now rather than put this money toward my big savings goals?
- How much joy does the thought of owning this bring me?
- Pay off credit cards right away.
When using credit cards, only swipe an amount you can pay off by the time you get your credit card statement. If you’re going to pay interest on credit cards, you may as well just throw cash out the window; it’s a waste and won’t help you reach your financial goals any faster.
- Take on a side job to bring in extra money.
Make extra money while you’re young and have a lot of energy! The job market has gotten better and a lot of companies are hiring. Some side jobs have flexible hours. At Priority Payments for example, we are hiring outside sales agents. Our agents make their own hours and can work as much or as little as they’d like. We have some agents who do so well as outside sales agents that the position has become the only job they have. Agents make a monthly commission on the accounts they bring in and get that commission for the life of the relationship with the merchant. If you’d like more information, please contact me at d.mocik@pplocal.com or 732-372-0470.
- Look for deals.
While I love Whole Foods, it does not make sense for me to shop there when ShopRite has great food and oftentimes great deals. Check out the weekly circulars and plan ahead. For example, you can always use toilet paper – buy it when it’s on sale. When the Can Can sale comes around, stock up! Purchase what you use often when the prices are right and keep enough on hand so you don’t have to end up paying full price.
Doug Mocik is a business development executive for our payment technology partner, Priority Payments Local. In addition, he is a member of our Young Professionals Committee. The Red Bank, New Jersey based company is providing our members with an average of 25 to 50 percent savings on their payment processing. Get details about this partnership.
We invite you to our upcoming events:
Thursday, April 13, 8:30 am through 11:30 am. Our partner and COO Angelo Mendola will be speaking at the NJBIA in a business bootcamp on how to utilize business intelligence to improve efficiency and increase revenue.
Friday, April 21, 8:30am through 1:30 pm. Angelo will serve as one of the experts in a panel discussion on cyber security in Woodbridge. Join us for a lesson on the impact of cyberattacks at the annual Cyber Security Summit.
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Another tactic to increase your savings account is to automate your finances, including both saving and bill-paying. It is an easy set and forget strategy that will help you reach your savings goals without actually having to make any active decisions along the way. Moreover, its flexible so you have an option to reduce or increase the amount you want to transfer.