New Year New Investments: Learn How to Make Money Work For You If you’re planning on spending your money more wisely and building your net worth in 2018, then you’ll need to know the best ways to invest. Now, before you do any investing to build wealth, it’s important to pay off any debt, otherwise […]
New Year New Investments: Learn How to Make Money Work For You
If you’re planning on spending your money more wisely and building your net worth in 2018, then you’ll need to know the best ways to invest. Now, before you do any investing to build wealth, it’s important to pay off any debt, otherwise you’ll lose more in interest than you would gain from your investments. If you’ve gone to any title loan locations to take out regular or 2nd lien title loans, or if you’re carrying a balance on your credit cards, work on paying those off first.
Once you’re free of short-term and revolving debt, here are the best ways you can get the most from your money in the new year.
Stocks – Just Be Careful Which You Choose
The stock market has been on the rise since the end of the Recession, which has its pros and cons. The good news is that it’s easier to get a return on your investment, but the bad news is that it’s tougher to find those hidden gems that will score you bigtime profits.
Still, there are plenty of good, stable stocks to buy in 2018. Facebook is expected to have another strong year, especially considering its giant user base of 2-billion people. Alibaba Group Holding has seen revenues grow by 50 percent or more for several years, and with the rise in Amazon sellers sourcing their products from Alibaba, that isn’t likely to change any time soon.
Choosing the Right Investment Service
Even if you pick popular stocks that don’t require you to do tons of research, it’s still a serious time commitment to manage your portfolio. You can make it much easier on yourself by opting for an automated investment service that manages your money for you.
Micro-investing apps, such as Acorns, have become very popular. Although these have their benefits, it’s also common for their fees to take a considerable chunk out of your return. You’re better off using a company like Betterment, which provides advice and has diversified portfolios to choose from for a much smaller fee. If you get the standard digital Betterment account, there’s no minimum balance required, and the annual fee is a mere 0.25 percent.
Bringing Your Business Ideas to Life
You can build long-term wealth by diligently saving a portion of your paychecks and putting it into the right investments, but your income will always have a limit when you’re working for someone else. When you have your own business, there’s no limit to how much you can make, and it all depends on your skill as a business owner.
The internet has also provided more opportunities than ever to launch a business. Just consider the different ways you could set up an e-commerce shop:
- Manufacture and sell your own products.
- Hire a manufacturer to create products that you sell.
- Buy products wholesale and sell them individually.
- Use dropshipping to sell another company’s products and have it fulfill your orders.
Although you don’t need to invest big money into a business to see it become successful, you have much better odds of success when you’re able to put more money into your business. If you’ve had some good business ideas over the years, it may be time to try bringing one of them to fruition.
Collecting Credit Card Bonuses
There’s plenty of opportunities for free money and rewards out there – you just need to know where to get them. Credit cards are among the best options for this.
Card issuers are always looking to attract new customers for their best cards, and for that reason, many of them offer great signup bonuses. Here’s how it works:
- You sign up for the credit card.
- Meet certain minimum spending requirements within a designated time frame. For example, a card’s bonus may require you to spend $3,000 with the card in the first three months that you have it.
- After you hit that minimum, you’ll receive a bonus.
With a cashback card, you’ll earn a cashback bonus, such as $300 back as a statement credit. With a rewards card, you’ll earn travel rewards in the form of either points or miles. For example, you could earn 50,000 bonus miles by using an airline credit card, and then put those miles towards free flights or flight upgrades.
If you’re good with credit cards and you can manage your spending well, collecting bonuses is a great way to earn money or rewards back on your normal spending.
With a little planning and knowledge of where to put your money, you can make this year a lucrative one for yourself. There are plenty of ways to build your money, and the ones you choose all depend on your current financial situation and your appetite for risk. Look over the methods listed above to see which ones are right for you. By the end of the year, you could find yourself in a much better place financially.
