Tips Before You Invest

Here's what you should know before you begin investing.

Welcome to 2021! Lets start with How to easily hit your 2021 financial goals:

Everyone should want their money to work for them by investing your money for a higher return. You work hard for your money, why not make your money work even harder for you!

Before you begin investing it would be wise to ensure you pay off your debts and have an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.

First you'll need to assess your debt and what you should pay off. The stock market will return an average of 7-12% yearly, maybe more if you select great investments. However if your credit card interest is 12 - 24% you'll want to take care of that first.

Start to Budget & Attack Credit Card Debt

Start by creating a monthly or weekly budget (income vs. expenses) to see where your money is going and to evaluate your debt. Some like to pay off the lowest balances so that they can feel a sense of achievement. I would recommend trying to tackle the lowest balance with the highest interest rate. You can google templates if you are a manual person or there are budgeting apps that you can download.

Your budget will show you areas that you can cut back on here are a few:

• Dining out - we know you like great food but you can cook it at home! Invite friends.

• Subscription Services

• Find free activities - You can visit After 5 Detroit or wherever you live at for events within your area

• Send us more ideas on how you can cut back or comment below!

Tips on Planning Your Yearly Budget

Fortify Your Emergency Savings

According to the Federal Reserve Report On Economic Well Being '4 in 10 adults, if faced with an unexpected expense of $400, would either not be able to cover it or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money. This is an improvement from half of adults in 2013 being ill-prepared for such an expense.'

At the time of this writing there are economic indicators such as slowing manufacturing, slowing jobs report, as well as the inverted treasury yields that show the economy may be slowing or a recession is on the horizon. You'll want to be sure to track your spending and store away anything you can to enhance your Emergency Savings Fund.

Learn More About Why Emergency Savings Is Important

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