Theres one question I hear as a personal finance writer more than any other.
But thats also really, really hard to do.
Thats because understanding personal finance is an uphill battle for many Americans.
While wages have hardly budged in decades, shareholders and CEOs have never been richer.
So what can the average person actually do?
Youre going to have a few setbacks, and thats ok.
Knowledge is power.
Especially automate your retirement savings.
Reward yourself.
Nor should youlife is short, enjoy it.
Congressional Republicans are making noises about cutting Social Security.
This is all as much a part of your finances as how you spend and secure your paycheck.
Educate yourself and speak up.
Call your members of Congress and let them know what you think.
Taylor Tepper, financial planning analyst atBankrate
You want to make as few decisions as possible.
You know you need an emergency fund, so automate.
Train yourself not to adapt.
But life doesnt really work like that.
You find yourself constantly adapting your spending and lifestyle to your income.
You get a raise, so you buy a bigger house.
This can cause a lot of problems if youre not careful.
Among those with credit card debt, the richest owe the most.
So be careful with your spending even if youre suddenly making more than you thought you would.
You also will be unhappy if you chase temporary pleasure with dollars.
have a go at live just below your means, than above.
The smartest thing I ever did, financially, was decide to save a percentage of each paycheck.
Thats a nice feeling.
I fall into that category.
Automate as many methods for saving and tracking your money as it’s possible for you to.
Once youve done that, arm yourself with more great tools.
Previous apps Ive tried were inaccurate or arduous, but this one is well-designed.
It comes with an option to set up an automatic deposit into a savings account if youd like.
I also use Acorns, an app that invests your spare change into exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
If your investment is under $5,000, it costs $1 per month.
If its more than $5,000, it costs 0.25% of your investment.
There are even more automated savings and investment tools I havent tried.
Betterment and Personal Capital are two highly-rated online robo advisors.
Digit is an app that automatically saves money from your checking account, but doesnt invest it.
It costs $2.99 per month, after a 100-day trial period.
Test a few apps out and see what works for you.
Every little bit counts, if only to get into the right habits.
I put myself in the right place geographically.
Im a Chicagoan through and through.
Id been reared to believe awful things about New Yorkers.
But this is where magazines and book publishing were happening, so I held my nose and moved.
I did side hustles.
Books, freelance writing, speeches, whatever work I could get my hands on.
So, so lucky.
I couldnt have controlled any of that.
and moved to a city (2.)
where my odds were higher of meeting people who could help me earn more (3.).
Update 12/13/17: This post has been updated with Maria LaMagna and Ron Liebers advice.
