As the Fourth of July is dawning on our calendars, why not start working on how to be independent from loans, mortgages, and suffocating budget constraints?
To help you loosen the financial bonds, here are a few tips from Zillow to consider.
1. Save money automatically.
"Research shows that the less effort it takes to save, the more likely you are to contribute to savings," Zillow reported. This idea is becoming more of a universal truth. To ease your saving process, and to make it less painful, go ahead and automate your finances.
Directly wiring your money from your paycheck to your savings or retirement account not only lessens the effort you have to put in on saving, it also develops into a habit. Allotting money for savings above all others lets you adjust to your remaining budget, not the other way around. After all, when you're done doing your groceries, shopping, paying the bills, it becomes harder to store money for savings.
2. Learn to budget.
Budget, budget, budget. No matter how much you earn, if you still spend more, you will still end up chained to debts.
In order to avoid this, the best and easiest way is still to sit down, get a pen and a piece of paper and write down all of your expenditures and manage them according to your earnings. If you have no time to write, you can always use various apps for your Apple or Android gadget.
3. Round up your mortgage payments.
When it comes to making your mortgage payment faster, keep in mind that every dollar counts. This is why rounding up your payments can go a long way.
To further help you understand, here is Zillow's take: "For example, say you have a monthly mortgage payment of $954.83. If you round up your payments to $1,000 by putting in an extra $45.17, you'll pay off your debt two years and five months early. For further inspiration, run your own numbers using a mortgage calculator."
4. Eyes on the prize; focus on the future.
The last thing to remember is that saving up for a financially independent future requires a lot of forward thinking. Unfortunately, "many Americans think only about the here and now."
Research suggests that the more you think and plan about your future, the more you are inclined to save money. After all, being able to pay your bills is not enough; having to retire with your dream home or with a hammock on the beach is an entirely different story.
