34. Finances 101: 10 Perspectives - From my point of view. 8. Five Perspectives: Financial Goals. Go
Last week, I wrote about my first financial goal, i.e. preparing for the future.
Once that's done, my next financial goal is called Enlarging your capacity.
In simple words, increase your income (in this case salary) and reduce your expenses
Increasing Salary
One of the main ways of doing this is to work hard and smart in your place of employment, get good increments, promotions as often as you can and as big bonuses as you deserve.
One other way can be working to increase your personal value and marketability such that you are sought after by other employers whom may be willing to offer you a premium in income to perform a larger role with more scope and responsibilities at their organisation. This is one way where your income may grow exponentially as you move from one role to another by switching organisations.
Just some tips on increasing your personal value and ensuring people in your industry or related industries know about it.
Do good work.
Do more good work.
Build relationships at work and make friends.
Make good friends.
Attend industry events and make friends there as well.
Identify a strength you have related to your industry. Grow that strength. Invest in that strength. Find and use every opportunity you have to showcase your usage of that strength.
Write about your experience and expertise. Some people write articles in news papers, in magazines or on industry websites. Others write on their own blogs or submit articles to online media.
Talk about your expertise, whether it is at your place of work, or outside. Some people get speaking opportunities at Radio Stations, while others create their own opportunities by putting themselves on video via You Tube, or creating their own podcasts.
There are so many more ways to do this, but these are some of my ideas. Do you have more ideas? Let me know here…
Reducing expenses
There are a myriad of ways you can take to reduce your monthly expenses by taking great care in spending on your needs and wants.
These are just some suggestions that can save you time and money:
1. Don’t spend more than you can pay for in a month. That means, if you use credit cards, pay off everything the moment your statement comes in. This way you save in finance charges and interest charges
2. Use internet banking when paying bills, all kinds of bills. You save time from having to go different places and looking for parking, and you save money from having to pay for parking etc.
3. Do shopping online when applicable (same as number 2 above). There are a lot of promotions that are given only for online purchasing.
4. Manage your taxes. Look at every area you can get relief or rebates and find ways to spend in those areas and claim them annually.
5. Subscribe to various websites / apps that give comparisons for different products to give you the best rates, be it financial products like personal loans, credit cards, housing loans, or money changers rates, or best Unit Trusts in the market.
6. You can also subscribe to apps / websites that keep you informed of promotions and best buys so that you can schedule your purchases, only spending when you get the best offers and savings
7. In days past, the mantra is always to buy instead of rent, then you get to own the item. Nowadays, rental / not buying new may be the way to go for some items that may be only used very infrequently, which may depreciate over time, or which will have better iterations of it over time. Some things which people do now:
Use ride hailing services like Grab instead of getting a whole new vehicle;
Pay subscription services like using software Microsoft Office 365 rather than purchase full volumes of certain versions;
Using bicycle renting services like O-Bike instead of buying their own bicycles for transportation;
There are also so many more ways to reduce costs, these are just some examples. Do you have more ideas? Let me know here….
Until next week, happy earning and saving!
