12 Ways to Save and Invest Money beginning Today

Written by Jimmie Burroughs

“When God takes control of your thoughts, you’re able to start devising a wise plan for moving yourself out of debt. Figure out what you’re actually trying to accomplish and then set a goal. The goal must be written down, measurable, attainable, and include an endpoint. All of these steps are crucial. Otherwise, it’s just a good idea and will never beimplemented.” ? Marcus Hall.

The price of goods and services have continued to rise with salaries lagging behind. For example, did you know, a two day stay in the hospital could be billed for as much as $60,000 with an additional $2,000 for the cost of medication? If you happen to need an ambulance, ambulance bills can exceed $1,000 and can even reach $2,000. If a helicopter ambulance is required, it could be billed up to $50,000 or more depending on distance. Medical services and medication are responsible for leading the way to almost unbelievable high prices across the board. So, it is more important than ever to begin saving money where ever and whenever you can and investing for your future. According to one survey, this survey, “64% of Americans could potentially retire broke because they lag behind on saving.” 78% of Americans are presently living from pay check to pay check, according to Forbes. With a little knowhow and some determination, anyone can turn their finances around to the positive with money left over to invest. However, in order to do so, you will need to be willing to make changes in your spending habits. The changes are not that difficult; it only takes some learning and a little willpower. Read the 12 tips below and see for yourself how simple it can be to change your financial future for the good.

1. Give some money away

The first financial responsibility is to God: The believer is to give back to the Lord a portion of what the Lord has prospered him, and God will return it manifold. – “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it],” Malachi 3:10.  Giving does not end here; there are many charitable organizations that need our help. One that I recommend is “Compassion International,” but there are many more. Do some homework and pick out one that sponsors a good cause with most of their income going toward it. Many of the most prosperous people in America have included giving away money as one of the key steps to prosperity.

2. Keep some money for yourself

The second financial responsibility is to self: The wise person pays oneself before anything else is paid. – “[There is] treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up,” Proverbs 21:20. You are the one who labors all week long. Don’t you deserve to be the one who gets paid first after your responsibility to the Lord? Since when are we to put the landlord or the electric company first. This is the only way saving becomes a priority. This is a sound financial habit that can make you financially independent in the future.” Proverbs 21:20 says “…a foolish man spendeth it up.” That is the reason some can’t pay themselves first. The average credit card debt in America is around $16,000 and that is plus several thousand more in incidental debts besides the mortgage. Being debt bound cripples the ability to pay oneself for their hard work. Therefore, before you can even begin to pay yourself or save, you are going to have devise a crucial plan for getting out of debt. I don’t intend to go into details on how to do that, but there are several good suggested plans out there.If you are indeed a wise person, you may be able to devise your own, but whatever it takes, it needs to be done first thing.

3. Observe the 30-day rule

It is ever so easy to buy on the impulse. Grocery store owners know this is a human tendency. So, they arrange their store so that you will almost trip over items you won’t ordinarily buy to entice you to make that extra purchase. It is especially important to avoid impulse buying if you are planning to make a large purchase. It is ever so more the wisest never to rush into it, but take time to pray and to think about it. “The 30-day rule” is a reasonable amount of time to wait. If you adopt this rule, you may be surprised how many items you decide you can do without. Here is the fact, impulse buying never includes wisdom, the 30-day rule does.

4. Guard how you spend large amounts of money

My grandkids get more toys for Christmas than I had all my growing up years. The early years of my life was during the second world war. No metal toys were available and neither did my parents have the extra money to buy them if they were. So, the few toys I did have were made of wood. Looking back, my childhood was some of the happiest years of my life. My playmates and I had few toys, but we had plenty of fun with the ones we had, also digging in dirt making roads and little ponds and swinging on a swing made of an old automobile tire filled the cause. We spent our days outside running and playing games. Don’t feel like you have to buy your kids the latest expensive gadgets for them to be happy, especially those video games that keep them inside and isolated all day.

It is not only the high-cost items for children that need some attention. Adults also tend to buy high-cost items that add little or nothing to life. The difference in those who have learned how to spend and how to save is, the unlearned tend to buy junk that winds up in a garage sale, whereas, the more learned tend to buy assets that grow in value.

5. Learn to Use a Credit Card to Save Money

I realize that this is not for everyone. If you can’t discipline yourself to pay your credit card off every month, a credit card will only plunge you deeper into debt. However, if you can discipline yourself, then you can earn points on what you spend that can amount to hundreds of dollars over time. It is also a record of how you are spending your hard-earned cash, that you can review each month and make changes in how you spend as needed. Be sure to search for the credit card that pays the most points.

6. Plan and Fix your Meals at Home

Here are some good examples on how it pays to eat your meals at home: If you eat breakfast out as a couple, it will cost you from $26.00 and up including tip. You can fix a delicious breakfast at home, including a bowl of fresh fruit, for around $5.00 for a couple. A hamburger meal with fries and a drink can cost as much as $20.00 or more for a couple, depending on where you eat. The same can be prepared at home for a fraction of the cost. Restaurant food tends to be less healthy than what you prepare yourself because it is loaded with sodium. Planning your own meals gives you the opportunity to plan healthy. Of course, eating out occasionally can be good.

Eating at home does requires buying more groceries. You can save money here by Shopping at a discount grocery store like ALDI or Save a Lot. The only downturn is, you may have to shop at Kroger or Publix in addition to pick up some items that you like that aren’t carried at a discount store. Another way to save is to buy in bulk at stores like Costco or Sam’s Club. Only buy at a Mini Mart when it is absolutely necessary. I mentioned impulse buying earlier. There is not a more likely place to be tempted to buy on impulse than the grocery store. If you make a list on the other hand, and stick with it, you will never waste money on items you don’t need.

7. Conserve energy

When I was growing up, my dad was great on conserving energy. He made sure no lights remained on in a room not being used. That has stuck with me today. You may think that is too little to bother with. Not so, saving begins with pennies; pennies mount up to dollars. Conserving energy in every available way in your home can amount to hundreds of dollars saved each year. Switching to LED bulbs is one way of conserving. In some cases, solar panels may be worth the investment.

8. Check your finances regularly

Don’t expect finances to always be static. You must take the responsibility to check often to make sure your financial goals are being met. Things change, so you need to account for those changes. Investments need constant attention and nurturing. Checking also for the peace of mind that you are on track with your goals and keeping on top with your spending and saving.

9. Set real and tangible goals

First of all, be sure to write you goals down for future reference. Setting goals require the confidence that you are able to accomplish them. If you set goals that are unrealistic, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. So, start by setting some goals you know are within your reach and then work toward them. A reasonable goal is to give away 10% of your earnings and to pay yourself 10% for the purpose of saving for retirement; if that proves to be too much for the present, scale it back, but continue to work towards 10% or more. Here is a money saving goal: Set a goal for driving your present car for 3 or more years after it is paid off and investing the extra money. I know this is easy to accomplish since I’ve been driving my Jeep Wrangler for nearly 15 years, and I bought it used. It is 20 years old this year. Buying used is another wise goal, which can save you $1,000s. There is no limit on reasonable, attainable goals; you just have to determine to set them and then work toward reaching them. Avoid the habit of increasing your living standard every time you get a raise or come into so extra money; invest it instead.

10. Set up a means of saving and investing

Today, your savings in a bank savings account actually loses money based on inflation. So, it is best to invest where you can receive a good return. I recommend Tony Robins book “Unshakable,” for beginners, on investing. It lays out a good plan for investing, which will bring returns several percentage points higher than a bank. You can find it used on eBay for 3 or 4 dollars.

For years now, the stock market has been turning out millionaires and not always from huge investments but from small ones as little as a thousand dollars (By the way, there are over 1,900 new millionaires created in America every day 365 days a year). At the same time, millions are struggling to make ends meet and some investors make less than 2% a year on their stock investments, although, still higher than a bank savings account. What is the secret to great investment opportunities? Answer, it is being able to recognize a trend. A good knowledge on how to identify market trends will help you as an investor to recognize a good buying or selling opportunity, which can result in immense gains for your portfolio. I won’t go into that here, but there is plenty of information available on how to recognize trends.

Netflix is an example of a trend: “If you had bought $1,000 worth of Netflix stock back in 2002, you would have obtained roughly 66 shares at the time of Netflix’s IPO. After Netflix’s stock splits, you would own 924 shares. And at the stock’s current price of $519 per share, those shares would be worth more than $470,000,” -The Motley Fool. I was not a television movie fan back in 2002. If I was, and had been renting movies and sometimes paying a late fee, I think I would have recognized Netflix as a growing trend, since it offered movies right to the comfort of your home with no worries of late charges.

To recognize trends, you have to be alert, searching for them and recognizing them when you see them. For example, Amazon was a rising trend 23 years ago, which turned out to be one of the most impressive stocks in history. Amazon’s Initial offering (IPO) was $18, which has returned over 165,000% (adjusted for subsequent stock splits). If on the other hand, you had invested $1,000 invested at the time of IPO, and had held your investment, it would be worth $1.65 million today. Understandably finding a stock like Amazon is far and in between, but it does happen to those who know what to look for and are discerning.

In order to invest in the stock market, you will need a brokerage account. Today, there are brokage companies that do not charge for their services. I like Robinhood, but there are several others. You can buy just one stock at a time if you prefer and sell it when you prefer; some sell for only a few dollars as did Netflix when it first went public. I acquired “Zoom” stock at $174 per share and it went to over $500 per share in a few weeks. It has fallen since, which is a normal correction, but is now on its way up again. I acquired “Plug” last April, an energy stock making hydrogen fuel cell systems, for $4 per share and it is now over $66 per share and continues to rise. Stocks can be risky; so, you need some knowledge on how to pick them.

There are advisory services available; I have tried some but do not recommend them.   They promise a lot but deliver little unless you upgrade to their premium account, which can go for as much as $2,000 a year. You pay around $49 to get into one at the entry level only to learn that you have become their paying prospect for upgrading to a more expensive account. I prefer to increase my knowledge on investing and to do my own research on the web. I know that safety is a real concern when investing; so, a safe way to start is with index funds, a form of mutual funds, which can pay a very good return.

For years I invested in regular mutual funds, which are also safer but the downside is, they charge a maintenance fee. Tony Robins gives a lot of tips on investing in his book “Unshakable;” the S&P 500 is among his top recommendations, at least for the beginner. One of the most popular equity indices is the S&P 500 index. The annual average returns according to the S&P 500 historical data in the last 93 years (1926-2019) it has generated around 11%-12%. If you had invested just $100 in the S&P 500 index at the beginning of 1970, it would have grown to nearly $15,400 by the end of 2019 (inclusive of dividends). What if you had been able to invest $1,000 a year, only $83.40 each month, during that time? You would be a millionaire at retirement. The S&P 500 grew 18% in 2020. Like all investments, the S&P 500 has its down years, in which you could lose money, but investing in it is to be with a long-term mindset. Understandable, if you are older, as I am, you should be looking for stocks that have a fast growth potential. You may be wondering if now is a good time to invest in the stock market? There are mixed reviews on the 2021 stock market, but more than a few experts are predicting a tremendous year for investors.

11. Never play the lottery

Some waste hundreds of dollars betting on the lottery that could go towards retirement. The reason they never win is, the odds are totally against them. “The odds of winning the $970 million prize that was up for grabs in the recent Mega Millions drawing was one in 302,575,350.” You may say, “well someone always wins.” Yes, but it is surely not likely to be you! I have trouble choosing the right thing sometimes when the odds are one out of two. Test yourself. Fold ten identical pieces of paper, writing winner only on one. Drop them in a container and see how many times you draw before you get to the one marked winner, and that is only one out of ten. You may get the winner first but it is unlikely.

12. Quit expensive habits that are not good for your health

A person in their twenties, who smokes tobacco products, could save a fairly good retirement by quitting and investing the same amount in a good investment. For example, if you stop smoking by age 21, considering you smoke up to a pack and a half a day, and start saving and investing the amount you spent for cigarettes, let’s say your savings are $244.51 a month for the convenience of arriving at a number, that would, with a decent investment, amount to $683,100 by the age of 65, which would give you an income of $27,322 a year and about 10 years longer to live to enjoy it. The 10 extra years are far more important than the money. If I had died 10 years ago, I would have missed some of the best years of my life. By the way, these figures are from the investment firm Brewin Dolphin.

Finally, would you be interested in making the best investment of your life that can make your future truly something to look forward to? If so, invest in a relationship with God and receive eternal life as a gift. If you are ready,  just click here for a step by step guide based on the Bible as to how.