What Is Financial Stability?
Financial stability is the ability to manage one’s finances and avoid financial risk. It is a measure of how well an individual or a family can maintain a standard of living in the face of changing circumstances.
In short, financial stability is safety. Once you have achieved it, you can be certain that you can ride out virtually any financial storm and not have to turn to things like payday loans. That is a confidence and peace of mind that makes achieving it well worth it.
How To Achieve Financial Stability In 2022
Financial stability is a term that we hear often but it is not always clear what it means. It means something different for everybody, with everyone having their own dollar amount for stability. For this article, we will talk about stability in the general term.
The first step towards financial stability is to make sure you are on top of your credit score. If your credit is out of order, that should be your main priority because it affects you in so many ways. Bad credit makes all of your bills cost more and limits your accessibility to money in an emergency.
In addition to good credit, you need to make sure you are not carrying any massive debt and have an emergency fund of at least 6 months worth of living expenses. This makes you financially lean and able to adapt to situations.
Top 5 Ways You Can Achieve Financial Stability
The top 5 ways you can achieve financial stability in the future are:
1. Save Money:
Six months of expenses should be the minimum amount of money that you have in the bank. Set up automatic payments to your savings account so that you have no excuse not to save.
Automate your accounts for a more convenient, efficient banking experience. It’s easy to set up automatic payments using online banking or a bank app. There are also many financial apps out there that can help you manage your savings efficiently. If you have trouble with saving, take advantage of the tech.
2. Invest In Stocks:
Invest your spare money into a specific stock and watch it grow over time.
Investing in stocks is an important part of building a solid financial portfolio. From buying and holding to day trading, there are a number of ways to invest your money. However, it can be difficult to choose the best option without any guidance. If you’re not sure which path is best for you, consider starting with a financial consultant. They can put you on the right track by looking at your ultimate investment goals.
3. Avoid Debt:
Debt is something that you absolutely must rid yourself of. There truly is no good debt.
It can seem overwhelming, but you truly can get rid of debt, it just takes time and a plan. Start by writing out all of your credit cards and the corresponding interest rates. Then, pay off the credit accounts with the highest interest first. Pay the minimums on all but the highest credit account. Once you are done, with that account, move on to the next highest interest and so on and so on.
Before you know it, your debt will be gone.
4. Build An Emergency Fund:
We often get into debt trouble because we are not prepared to handle an emergency. Save up an emergency fund that will make sure you don’t have to live paycheck-to-paycheck or don’t get ruined by a financial emergency.
How can you build an emergency fund for when you need money?
There are several ways to save money in your emergency fund, such as: saving money in a savings account or creating an emergency fund with cashable bonds like certificates of deposits and savings bonds.
5. Start Investing Early:
Investing is so important that it bears repeating. If you start investing early, you will be able to retire at a younger age than you might think. The power of compound interest means that money saved now is much more valuable than money saved on the future.
Investing is one of the most lucrative financial options. If you start investing early, you can plan for retirement, a goal which many people want to achieve but are clueless about accomplishing.
More Ways To Build Your Credit
Credit is one of the biggest roadblocks that people face when trying to become financially stable. People think that it is a complicated thing, but it really is not. Here is what you need to do to master credit ratings, which are really just mathematical formulas.
Pay Bills On Time
A single 30 day late payment can affect you for years. With this category making up about a third of your credit score, you can see how this is a big deal. Make sure that you are paying your bills on time by taking advantage of auto bill payments and bill reminders.
Use Less Credit
You want to have credit cards, but you really don’t want to use them much. Ideally you should be using less than 30 percent of your available credit. Less than 10 percent is even better. That means that if you have 8000 dollars in available credit, you should be using less than 2400 dollars.
Keep Your Oldest Accounts
Credit age is another important factor, so hang on to those old credit accounts. The last thing that you would want to do is pay off an old card and then close it. It seems like a smart thing to do but it would lower your average age of credit and reduce available credit.