“It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you and how many generations you keep it for.” Profound words that sound like the pronouncement of an oracle, right?
Well, when Forbes compiled its list of the best financial quotes ever in 2014, this particular quote by Robert Kiyosaki ranked 47 out of 100. But why so? Is it because of how fashionable it sounds or because of a much deeper reason?
Savings are only the beginning of the path to financial freedom
For years, the people who seemed most financially-savvy lived by the words “a penny saved is a penny earned.” This perspective on financial management emphasized the importance of ensuring expenditure never exhausts earned income.
And while the focus on keeping aside money religiously helped to cater for emergencies and other needs, this strategy lacked one critical factor; growth. A strong savings culture would guarantee a rainy-day stash, but it never resulted in growth of capital.
A financial freedom tool, not a financial freedom goal
It is this vital factor that earned Kiyosaki’s quote the chops to feature on the top 100 financial quotes of all time. Not only does Kiyosaki’s statement highlight the importance of saving; it goes further and emphasizes that money savings should be grown and made to last.
And this is exactly why you need to know what do with your money instead of saving it in a savings account. You should not view savings as a financial freedom goal but rather as a tool to help you achieve financial freedom.
Adopting this perspective will help ensure you move away from “working for money” to “making your money work for you” which, ultimately, is the only way to build lasting wealth and attaining financial freedom.
The following are some of our suggestions on what to do with your savings instead of putting it in a savings account:
Savings tip #1: Before you spend, not after!
We have just advised that keeping your money in a savings account is not the best strategy for achieving financial freedom. However, this does NOT in any way mean that you should stop saving.
Matter of fact you should level up your approach to saving. Instead of saving what you have left after spending, save a percentage of your income before spending it. Consider savings part of your compulsory expenditure and allocate funds for it the same way you set aside money for your groceries.
This paradigm shift will not only help you to develop financial discipline. It will also help you to have a clear plan and timeline for your investment goals. Consequently, you will achieve your financial goals much faster.
Savings tip #2: An investment plan is key
Once you have a comprehensive savings plan you consistently adhere to, you should go ahead and define your investment plan. Defining your investment plan involves identifying areas in which you have a keen interest business wise.
Another key consideration when defining your investment plan is the potential lucrativeness of your desired investment areas. You should carefully study market performances and valuations to understand whether investing in a particular field will help you achieve your financial freedom goals.
Having a clearly-defined investment plan will greatly help you know what to do instead of keeping money in your savings account. This is because you will decide upon and acquire a deep understanding of the exact areas to invest in once your savings reach your targeted amount.
Savings tip #3: Create investing playlists
Selecting profitable investment ventures in which you have a genuine interest and adequate skill goes a long way in ensuring you succeed financially. However, another vital contributor to financial success is diversification, which Alinea is known for.
Diversifying your investments helps you to spread risk across several investments in your portfolio. Resultantly, this well-diversified portfolio will help you to withstand the pressures of market downturns and prevent you from making damaging losses.
This is why investing in playlists (baskets of investments) is a great solution for what to do with your money instead of keeping it in a savings account. Investor-centric investment platforms like Alinea Invest allow you to hold ownership shares in various companies so that you can have a diversified portfolio.
That way if one company’s stock performance falls, you are still able to earn profits on other stocks in companies which are performing better.
Saving tip #4: Invest in the future!
Do you know what else to do with your money instead of keeping it in a savings account? Well, always seek to invest in the future. This is because all investments are made with future gains in mind and so investing in an emerging and potentially lucrative industry can greatly benefit you.
One such investment is crypto. Currently at a total market cap of over $900 billion, cryptocurrencies are on track to becoming a dominant medium of exchange as well as a valuable asset class that will give investors great returns.
Consistent developments to control volatility and make crypto markets more stable will greatly aid in achieving this vision. Therefore, crypto investing is definitely something you should do instead of keeping your money in a savings account.
All you have to do is find a a great crypto trading platform with your best interests in mindlike Alinea Invest. You will not only find better ways of utilizing your savings but you’ll also have a great means of earning yourself passive income besides your main profession.
Saving tip #5: Remember to re-invest!
Please take a moment to indulge in a small telepathic exercise and ask yourself this question; What goes through Warren Buffett’s mind when he gets a handsome return from an investment he did? Does he rush to stash it in his savings account or does he find another venture to put that money back in?
You may not be Buffett’s neighbor, daughter, nephew, or friend. You may not even have any access to him at all. However, we at Alinea Invest are pretty sure you know the answer to that with an uncompromising certainty.
Warren would never take those returns to a savings account! Rather, he would reinvest it along with even more capital! The same should be your approach when looking for what to do with your money instead of keeping it in a savings account.
If you have reaped great rewards from an investment and market projections are positive, you should seek to extract even more gains from that investment.
Therefore, once you successfully invest your money and get it back, reinvest a percentage of it and you will be able to compound your money. And guess what? Your journey to financial freedom will be inexorable!
Make your money work for you!
In conclusion, many people have been unable to build wealth not because they don’t know how to save, but because they don’t know what to do with what they’ve saved. Keeping your money in a savings account is okay for preserving your cash but it does little to help grow it.
It is more important to learn how to put that money to use so it can grow and enable you become financially prosperous. Hence, it is our advice at Alinea Invest that you should learn how to make your money work for you instead of simply hiding it in an account. Bonne chance!