You could also find a mentor who can help you build valuable career skills. Mentors are experienced professionals who know a lot about their fields and can help you get a head start in your career through extra training.
Even if you don’t get a proper “job” as your second source of income, you could start up a small side hustle and devote several hours each week to it. Consider your skills and talents. You could start a side hustle doing odd jobs, taking art commissions, or delivering food.
Doctors and surgeons typically have larger salaries. Anesthesiologists can make a whopping $200,000+ per year. Engineers who work with gas and oil companies can make a very good living. In most cases, they make upwards of $135,000 per year. Lawyers top out at just above $130,000 per year, making it a lucrative field if you can put in the time. IT managers and software engineers can make around $125,000 per year. If you’re good at programming and a whiz at computers, consider this very well-compensated field.
On the other hand, you might be able to get an entry-level job and then work your way up the ranks if you work for a company that pays well and typically promotes internally. Stick it out at your current job if you’re comfortable and see the potential for the future, but don’t be afraid to look for something better if you’d rather be doing something else! Stick it out at your current job if you’re comfortable and see the potential for the future, but don’t be afraid to look for something better if you’d rather be doing something else! Think about the best place to live, too. Certain careers are easier to pursue in specific areas. For example, entertainment jobs are usually numerous in cities like New York and Los Angeles.
When determining how much money you want to accumulate, be sure to make an emergency fund one of your goals if you don’t already have one. Emergency funds typically equal 3 to 6 months of living expenses. Should anything happen, like the loss of a job or a medical emergency—they allow you to pay for what you need without experiencing financial turmoil.
Getting rich usually isn’t an immediate process; it’s the result of dedicating saving, budgeting, and investing. The more you save now, the more you’ll have later! Remember: it can be tempting to buy fun things with the leftover money in your paychecks, but being a little more conservative and focusing on savings can help you get rich in the long run.
Try using a budgeting app like Mint or Everydollar to build a budget.
After 3 months or so, you’ll be able to find out where most of your money goes and where you can make it go even further.
Try to use cash (or debit) more than you use a credit card. People who use credit cards for purchases often end up spending more money, and it’s easy to get into debt if you can’t pay off your card every month. If you do keep using a credit card regularly, try to pay off the full balance each month on time to gain interest-free credit and avoid late fees. Consider refinancing your home if you have a large 30-year mortgage, take on a 15-year mortgage instead. That way, you can pay off your debt faster and save money by paying fewer interest fees.
If you’re looking for dramatic ways to reduce your living expenses, consider downgrading your car or house. You might be able to make do with an apartment instead of a house or buy a used car instead of a new one. Avoid going to Starbucks every morning. That $4 you spend on designer coffee every morning comes out to $28 per week or $1,460 over the course of a year! Reduce your utility bills like electricity and gas, and be smart about keeping your home warm and cool.
Say you’re already living in a great apartment in a nice part of town, paying $1,200 each month in rent. Do you really need to upgrade to a $1,600 apartment just because you could potentially afford to? This doesn’t mean you can’t get into a more livable space if your current conditions aren’t working for you. Just be mindful of when you’re spending money because you can and when it’s really necessary.
For example, things like casinos and lottery tickets are statistically unlikely to help you get rich and are more likely to drain your wallet over time. Consider whether something like a first-class plane ticket is worth the extra $1,000 (or more). Sure, it’s comfortable, but you’ll reach your destination just fine in coach—and you can save that extra money. Avoid purchases that depreciate rapidly—like buying a new car worth $50,000 or more. That can be a waste because it won’t be worth half that much in 5 years; a cheaper car can serve you just as well and be more financially efficient.
Roth IRAs are especially valuable. Working individuals can contribute an annual sum of up to $5,500 in their Roth IRA, and their money then gathers compound interest. So, if you wait until retirement age to take money out of your Roth IRA, it won’t be taxed because it was already taxed when you first earned it. Basically, you’ll make a ton of money without having to give any away! Set up a Roth IRA account as soon as possible, even if you can’t contribute much money at first. The earlier you start investing, the more money you’ll have later.
Contribution matching is probably the closest thing you’ll find to “free money” in your life! Be sure to take advantage of it if your employer offers. Don’t rely entirely on Social Security for your retirement. Social Security was never designed to be the only resource for retirees in their later years, so it’s important for you to invest your own money too!
For instance, if you have one million dollars invested and you get a reliable 7% ROI, that’s $70,000 per year, less inflation. If you’re starting with a small amount of money to invest, index funds might be a good option for you, as they have low fees and can give you some relatively safe exposure to the stock market. Don’t be fooled by day traders who promise you quick profits. Buying and selling dozens of stocks every day is essentially gambling. If you make a few bad trades — which is easy to do — you can lose a lot of money.
For example, some people think that an apartment in Manhattan is almost guaranteed to increase in value over any five-year period. Apartments and apartment buildings are valuable real estate because you can rent them out to other people as well. You could also invest in potential development land in a steadily growing area; that kind of real estate is also likely to grow in value over time.
You can take on riskier investments (if you want to) when you’re young and have the time to recoup any money you lose. As you get older, shift to investing in less-risky assets to protect your fortune.
