You probably know that you need to save and invest more in order to get ahead. The problem with actually doing this is often that you just don’t have enough money. Your expenses are too high and income is too low.
Fortunately, there are some easy ways to improve your cash flow to meet your financial goals. Here are five simple tips to increase cash flow.
What is Cash Flow?
Cash flow is the difference between the money that comes in to your bank account and the money that leaves every month.
Cash flow is calculated as your income minus your expenses. Positive cash flow means that you are making more money than you are spending. Negative cash flow means you are actually losing money each month.
By having a strong positive cash flow each pay period, you’ll be able to save and invest more money. Ultimately, this will let you increase your net worth quicker.
Here are some easy ways to get started increasing your cash flow.
1. Get Rid of Expensive Insurance Policies
Overly expensive insurance policies can be one of the reasons for having a poor cash flow. Insurance is important and serves its purpose to protect you and your family. However, some insurance is much more expensive than others.
Take a hard look at your insurance policies to make sure you need all of them. Car insurance is required, along with home insurance, but make sure you aren’t double paying.
If you are paying for road-side assistance through AAA, you may not actually need it if it is covered through your auto insurance. Cut out any duplicate or unnecessary insurance that is not helping you.
Also, make sure you are not overpaying for insurance. Shop around and get several quotes every year to make sure you have a competitive rate. You can often save hundreds of dollars by switching to a new insurance provider.
2. Minimize Your Tax Burden
Tax is also a very important aspect of everyone’s cash flow. As we all know, higher the income, higher the tax outgo. However, decent tax planning can minimize the tax outgo. Tax planning is not all about Section 80C.
There are several sections in the income tax act which help reduce the income tax payable. You need to do some research on this and plan your investments well in advance rather than rushing in the last minute.
Avoiding higher taxes is possible with a little planning and knowledge. For example, holding your investments for at least 1 year will let them qualify for long-term capital gains taxes. This is a much lower rate that the normal capital gains rate if you held them less than a year.
3. Find Online Discounts and Coupons
There are plenty of options for those who want to save money. Just compare well before making any purchase. There are several portals which help you compare prices of products across various categories.
Take advantage of online coupons that reduce your costs. Do a quick search before major purchases to see if the vendor offers a coupon. A lot of websites offers coupons which can be utilized to book travel tickets, pay mobile bills, or buy clothes.
4. Create a Second Source of Income
This is a famous saying from the great investor Warren Buffet. He always insists on creating a second source of income. This will mean that you can invest more to reach your goals.
You can look into various options such as part time online jobs, teaching in free time, etc. You can also invest in dividend yielding stocks so as to receive regular income.
The goal is to increase your income as much as possible to increase your cash flow. If you have a full-time job, consider if a second part-time job may help you reach your goals.
Creating a passive income stream is a great way to make money while you sleep. Here are some of the best ways to easily create passive income.
5. Pay Off High Interest Loans
Loans are a tool for making large purchases but high interest can cripple your cash flow. These days, loans come in attractive packages. Banks offer personal loans, credit card loans, gold loans and what not.
Personal loans and credit card loans come at huge interest rates which can kill your financial life sooner than later. It’s advisable not to opt for such loans.
However, if you have already opted for such loans, make sure you clear them off as quickly as possible. Start with your highest interest rates and focus on paying off that debt. As you pay off your loans, you will free up money that can go towards your next loan.
Eventually, paying off your debt will provide extra cash flow that you can use for other things. For example, let’s say you have a student loan at 6% interest. If you are paying $500 per month to your loan, you’ll be able to put that same money towards saving once it is paid off.
6. Cut Out Unnecessary Expenses
One of the most important aspects of improving your cash flow is to reduce your expenses as much as possible. Start by building a budget and understanding everything that you spend money on.
Go through all of your expenses and see where you can cut back. Perhaps you can reduce the number of times you eat out per month. Or, you give up one of your streaming services that you don’t use. Cust out anything that you don’t absolutely need to be spending money on.
7. Ask For a Raise
Better cash flow can be achieved by increasing your income. Ask your current employer for a raise and prove why they should give you more money. Show your value to the company and sell yourself as to why you should make more.
If you can get a raise or promotion at your current job, you’ll be able to make more money per year with minimal effort. Higher income will help you have a stronger cash flow provided you don’t have any lifestyle creep.
As a last resort, you could look for a new job that pays higher than what you are currently making.
Summary
Increasing your cash flow is one of the best ways to build wealth quickly. The more that you can maximize your money, the more that you can save. This leads to being able to invest more to passively grow your wealth.
Improving cash flow can be done with a few simple strategies. Start by reducing your expenses as much as possible, including insurance, utilities, and taxes. On the flip side, increase your income by building a second income stream or by making more money.
Over time, increasing your cash flow will make it much easier for you to reach your goals of achieving financial freedom.
