Building wealth is challenging without guidance or a plan. Loan Away created this article to provide both guidance and a personalized plan. Why have we done this? Well, we enjoy giving back to the Greater Toronto Area community. Also, the best way to learn and master anything is by teaching it. Want to learn something? Practice first, then teach someone young, like a younger sibling. Since they are young, you will have to first explain it in its simplest form. If you can, try to teach someone interested in the subject so they ask questions and provide useful feedback. We have gathered great resources to provide you with everything you’ll need to get started. However, this is not a “Read this and became rich”. This is simply our best advice on growing your wealth, not becoming rich. We have discovered that personal debt consolidation for Canadians can help with that. Our goal for this article is to help you increase your net worth. We recommend you calculate your net worth before reading this guide.

 

7 simple money habits that will help you build wealth in 2018

You may already know that toxic behaviors that can derail your finances. But just as important as breaking bad money habits is forming good ones.

Below, CNBC Make It rounds up seven simple money habits you can adopt today that will help make 2018 a more lucrative year.

1. Automate your finances

If your financial plan isn’t on auto-pilot, change that immediately, encourages self-made millionaire David Bach. Automating your finances— sending your money automatically to investment accounts, savings accounts and creditors — allows you to build wealth effortlessly.

It’s “the one step that virtually guarantees that you won’t fail financially,” Bach writes in “The Automatic Millionaire.”

“You’ll never forget a payment again — and you’ll never be tempted to skimp on savings because you won’t even see the money going directly from your paycheck to your savings accounts.”

Here’s what you should be doing now to become a millionaire later

2. Invest your ‘spare change’

Investing is one of the most effective ways to build wealth, and contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a lot of money to get started.

In fact, thanks to micro-investing apps such as Acorns, you can start by simply investing your “spare change.” The app will round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and automatically put any spare change to work.

Other apps also aim to make investing simple and accessible, and automated investing services known as robo-advisors can work for you, no matter how much you have in the bank.

The key takeaway: Start investing sooner rather than later to take full advantage of compound interest. As Bach explains, “the miracle of compounding can transform a relatively small but consistent amount of saving into major wealth.”

3. Come up with specific money goals

“The number one reason most people don’t get what they want is that they don’t know what they want,” self-made millionaire T. Harv Eker writes in his book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.” “Rich people are totally clear that they want wealth.”

To reach that level of clarity, he suggests writing down goals for your annual income and net worth. Like all goal-setting, be realistic, but don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. After all, the wealthiest people aren’t afraid to think big.

How rich people save

4. Save, don’t spend, unexpected cash

Pretend that extra money, such as a bonus, birthday check or any windfall, doesn’t exist.

Get in the habit of putting any surprise cash, even if it’s just that $20 bill you found in your coat pocket, to work. Apply it to student loans, credit card debt, your emergency fund or an investment account. It’ll add up.

Plus, establishing this habit early on will help you avoid lifestyle inflation when you get more surprise cash in the form of a raise.

5. Spend 30 minutes a day reading

Rich people tend to read. They continue to teach and invest in themselves long after formal education is over. “Walk into a wealthy person’s home and one of the first things you’ll see is an extensive library of books they’ve used to educate themselves on how to become more successful,” self-made millionaire Steve Siebold writes in his book “How Rich People Think.”

If it works for the millionaires and billionaires, it could work for you.

Check out CNBC’s round up of some of the best personal finance booksout there, or consider Bill Gates’s favorite books of 2017.

Money classics, summed up in one sentence

6. Set your alarm clock earlier

In addition to reading, wealthy people tend to wake up early. Self-made billionaires Richard Branson and Jack Dorsey start their days at 5:00 a.m., and they’re far from the only successful people to get up before the sun.

In a five-year study of hundreds of self-made millionaires, author Thomas C. Corley found that nearly 50 percent of them woke up at least three hours before their work day actually began.

We can’t guarantee that joining the early bird club will make you rich, but it can’t hurt, and it will almost certainly make you more productive.

7. Surround yourself with successful, high-earners

Who you hang out with matters more than you may think. In fact, your net worth tends to mirror that of your closest friends, Siebold points out.

“Successful people generally agree that consciousness is contagious, and that exposure to people who are more successful has the potential to expand your thinking and catapult your income,” Siebold writes. “We become like the people we associate with, and that’s why winners are attracted to winners.”

thumbnail courtesy of cnbc.com

 

If you follow this guide, your chances of building your wealth have easily increased tenfolds. The advice goes further than increasing your income or investing in cryptocurrencies that you have little to no knowledge of. Each step/tip can be done by the average person. In today’s Canadian economy, you need to stay ahead as much as possible. Simple things like saving each $5 bill you get into a jar or saving any secondary income into saving can go a long way. Most financial experts advice may seem impossible to achieve, but this guide is novice-friendly to all Canadians. What everyone should take away from this article is, there is no perfect time to invest or save money; you need to start now. This allows you money and yourself to grow. While you investments age, you became more financially literate. The only advice not in the article is tracking your finances. This can be done with a mobile app, spreadsheet, or paper and pen. Knowing how much you spend on food, transportation, and other expenses can help you understand where your money going. After doing this, I realized that I spent too much money on food. After three months, I have saved $300. That money is now being invested instead of ruining my healthy diet. These small changes can and will make you wealthier in 2018.