Grow Your Savings and Build Income Simultaneously

Knowing how to increase your savings by building income makes a difference. We all know the formula for increasing your net worth: Make more money and spend less of it. As simple as this seems, many people struggle to save successfully.

Fortunately, you can make extra money without finding a higher-paying job or working extra hours. In fact, you can also save money in more ways than just maintaining a strict budget and limiting what you spend on luxuries.

Sound too good to be true? Keep reading to learn “secret” ways to make money and strategic ways to save it.

Increase Your Credit Score

Having a high credit score doesn’t just increase your chances of a loan and housing application approval – it can save you money too. The better your credit score, the better interest rates you receive. The less money you pay in interest, the more you can save.

Your high credit score can also act as a bargaining chip to get lower rates for your car insurance and mortgage, which can save you money every single month. Additionally, high credit ratings can help you avoid security deposits on costs such as phone contracts and utilities. While you can get deposits back, it’s better to have your money liquid and always available to you so you can invest it and put it to work for you.

To improve your credit score, make sure to pay your bills on time, avoid closing unused credit card accounts, and don’t apply for several new credit accounts within a short period. Your credit utilization ratio significantly impacts credit score calculations, so try to keep your balances on credit cards as low as you can.

Gain a Competitive Edge Through Online Courses

You’ll never regret investing in yourself through learning new skills (and improving the ones you have). While the cost of high-quality classes can add up, you can often find free alternatives. A few of the premium options include:

• Ahrefs Academy Blogging for Business

• Class Central offers over 400 classes

• edX provides access to over 2,500 courses

• Lauren Gunderson’s Playwriting Class

• Moz Academy SEO Classes

These classes won’t all remain free forever, so act now if you’ve meant to take these courses. The more skills you develop, the more money-making opportunities you open for yourself.

Negotiate Work Benefits

While some companies stubbornly avoid offering wage increases, many of them are instead willing to improve your benefits package, which can save you a significant amount of money in the long run. For example, you can try to get permission to work remotely. Even if they only approve remote working for a couple of days per week, depending on the length of your commute, you can avoid various transportation costs or prevent unnecessary wear and tear on your car.

Working remotely also saves you time since you don’t have to commute (and some days not spend as much time getting ready). If you so choose, you can use some of this saved time to work on a side project to bring in extra funds. You can also save time and money by negotiating to maximize certain perks, like increasing your paid time off; receiving wellness benefits (such as a free gym membership); and even getting the company covers ongoing education costs (which can get you a pay bump upon completion); and. These benefits can save you money on expenses you would have otherwise had to cover yourself.

How to Avoid Common Bank Fees

Banks are notorious for charging fees. Avoiding these costs will keep more money in your bank account. In particular, ATM charges tend to cause anger and frustration for customers. Thankfully, several banks now offer to reimburse your ATM fees. A few banks and credit unions that offer ATM fee reimbursement include:

• Alliant

• Ally

• Capital One

• Charles Schwab

• First Republic

• State Farm

For another simple way to avoid bank fees, simply turn off overdraft (and the charges that come with it). If your account goes negative, many bank accounts will still allow those charges to go through and have you pay a fee for having dipped below zero. If you turn this feature off, the bank automatically denies any transaction that would cause your account to overdraft, thereby avoiding the fee.

Fight Unfair Fees

There is a high chance that at least one company you pay is charging you a hidden fee that you aren’t required to pay. These types of unfair fees add up. To avoid these unnecessary charges, you first need to spot them. Requesting itemized bills can help you find them. Look out for any fees marked “miscellaneous” or any services you didn’t sign up to receive. If your bill ever increases suddenly, take the time to determine whether you need to pay that new rate as well.

Sometimes you can get rid of these fees with some good old-fashioned phone calls and luck in talking to someone with the power to adjust your bill. Other times, you may need to take legal action. Some companies, such as AT&T, have rules that you can only sue them in small claims courts. Of course, it costs a lot of time, money, and energy to pursue this type of legal action. Alternatively, you can seek outside arbitration to help you.

Trick Yourself into Saving Money

Saving money isn’t always easy. You try to save money with a subscription trial just to end up paying a hefty fee when you forget to cancel. At the end of your month, there may seem to be no extra money to put into a savings account. Saving requires mental toughness, but you can make it easier by tricking yourself into saving money.

Those subscriptions you forget to cancel? Try using a prepaid credit card so companies can’t charge your regular card when the subscription ends, and you can stop paying as planned. Trouble setting aside money? Most employers will allow you to split your paycheck into two accounts. Rather than having all your income deposited into a checking account and hoping you’ll transfer some to savings later, set it up so that five or ten percent automatically lands in your savings on payday.

You can also use apps that round up and invest your spare change, such as Acorns. You simply connect a credit or debit card to your Acorns account, and the app will automatically round your purchases up to the nearest dollar and invest that money in a diversified portfolio with low-cost index ETFs. This micro-investing can add up over time.

The mobile banking app Chime has a similar feature. However, instead of investing your money in ETFs, Chime places the rounded-up money into a high-yield savings account that pays a competitive 1.60% APY. The app Qoins aims to help users pay off debt. It takes the rounded-up money set aside and pays it towards your debt account(s). Whether you choose to use the extra money towards investing, savings, or debt, you end up better off financially.

Final Thoughts

While obtaining a high-paying job should remain your top method for making money, don’t shy away from side projects and investments. On the other side of the coin, you need to live below your means and save enough of what you earn to increase your wealth.

Billionaire Warren Buffet lives a reportedly moderate lifestyle and still lives in the home he bought for $31,500 in 1958. Little expenses can add up, so reduce your costs by halting unused subscriptions, increasing your credit score, and avoiding unfair fees. Just make sure to set your saved money aside to accumulate.