5 Tips To Financial Minimalism
/What Is Financial Minimalism?
Published Date: July 2, 2012 ADawnJournal.com
Financial minimalism can translate to different things to different minds – depending on how you interpret it. My own basic interpretation of financial minimalism would be to get rid of financial clutter that you don’t need to make life simpler and stress free financially.
5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Be A Financial Minimalistic
Get Rid of Bank Accounts You Never Use – Most of us keep 3 to 4 bank accounts, but we usually use only one on a day-to-day basis. Identify the bank account you can’t live without and close all other bank accounts. Better yet, if you need to keep a chequing and a savings account, keep it with the same bank and it will be like keeping one bank account without dealing with two banks.
Keep Credit Cards To A Minimum – There is no reason to keep 5 to 10 credit cards you never use. Keep only 2-3 credit cards and maintain these cards at zero balances by paying the amounts you charge in full every month.
Automate All Your Bill Payments – Arrange all your monthly bills such as electricity, water, telephone, Internet, mortgage, etc. to come out of your bank account or credit card automatically every month so you don’t need to spend time paying these bills again. Better yet, if you have a reward credit card, use it to pay your bills and collect reward points.
Keep Investments Minimal – Holding 20 stocks, 15 mutual funds, and numerous other investment products in your portfolio makes life complicated. The time and hassle you will go through to maintain all these investment products are not worth it, and having limitless products will not make you rich. Read reputable financial sites regularly to get ideas on how to make your financial life simpler and a better one.
Get Rid of Debts – Get rid of all your bad debts and keep only good debts. Bad debts are those which are costing money and making no money for you such as credit card debts, car loan debts, vacation loan debts, etc. Good debts are those which are giving you more returns after subtracting interest payments such as investment loans, mortgage, education loans, etc.
These are only some, but not all of the tips that can get you on your way to financial minimalism. There are so many other steps you can take to become a financial minimalist. The art is to find out which steps work for you and apply them one-by-one to live a clutter and stress free rich life.
