Financial Responsibility Is Self-Care. 5 Ways to Treat Yourself (and Your Wallet) This Week
In times like these, we could all use a little self-care. Things like getting a massage, maintaining good sleeping habits, eating a vegetable or two, curling up with a good book and sticking with a somewhat regular workout could do us all some good.
Ah, but what about financial self-care? We’re always being reminded to take care of our mental, emotional and physical health. But what about your financial health?
We all need that too, because we’re all financially stressed. For example, a survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education found that a whopping nine in 10 Americans say the COVID-19 crisis is causing stress on their personal finances.
Financial self-care is about lowering your financial stress level by jettisoning bad habits and taking control of your money.
With that in mind, we’ve got six strategies for setting yourself up for financial success:
1. Treat Yourself — and Earn Money Back
Start getting money back whenever you buy groceries. A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and hundreds of other items.
Here’s how it works: After you’ve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. You can use receipts from grocery stores, convenience stores, drugstores, liquor stores and more.
For your efforts, you’ll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart. You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here. Over a million people already have, so they must be onto something.
2. Set Goals with the Budget for People Who Hate Budgets
Part of financial self-care is building new and better habits — like sticking to a budget. Don’t want to budget? Try the budget for people who hate budgets.
The 50/30/20 method for budgeting is one of the simplest ways to get your spending in check. No 100-line spreadsheets or major lifestyle changes required.
Here’s how it works: Take your total after-tax income each month, and divide it in half. That’s your essentials budget (50%). Take the rest, and divide it into personal spending (30%) and financial goals (20%).
Let’s break it down: That’s 50% for things like utilities, groceries, medications, minimum debt payments and other essential spending. Then there’s 30% for fun: Thai takeout, your Netflix subscription, dressing up a skeleton on your lawn for Halloween.
That leaves 20% for your financial goals, like additional debt-reduction payments (anything above the minimum monthly payment) along with retirement savings and investments.
3. Knock $610/Year From Your Car Insurance in Minutes
Speaking of making new habits, when’s the last time you checked car insurance prices?
You should shop your options every six months or so — it could save you some serious money. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.
Use a website called EverQuote to see all your options at once.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.
4. Reduce Your Fear of the Future — by Investing for the Future
Stop worrying about the future so much and do something about it. You’ll feel better.
If you feel like you don’t have enough money to start investing, you’re not alone. But guess what? You really don’t need that much — and you can even get free stocks (worth $5 to $200!) if you know where to look.
Whether you’ve got $5, $100 or $800 to spare, you can start investing with Robinhood.
Yeah, you’ve probably heard of Robinhood. Both investing beginners and pros love it because it doesn’t charge commission fees, and you can buy and sell stocks for free — no limits. Plus, it’s super easy to use.
What’s best? When you download the app and fund your account (it takes no more than a few minutes), Robinhood drops a share of free stock into your account. It’s random, though, so that stock could be worth anywhere from $5 to $200 — a nice boost to help you build your investments.
5. Leave Your Family up to $1.5M
Here’s another source of worry in the COVID-19 era: Have you thought about how your family would manage without your income after you’re gone? Chances are your checking account balance won’t last forever.
If you want to leave your family up to $1.5 million, use something called term life insurance.
We suggest a company like Bestow. Maybe you’ve considered this before, but thought it was only for rich or older people. But we’re hearing that people are getting it for as little as $10 a month.*
You can take advantage of Bestow until you’re 54 years old, but the sooner you take care of this, the cheaper it could be.
You don’t even need to leave your house to get a free quote from Bestow — it takes minutes. Instead of leaving your family with what’s in your checking account and a bucket of worries, they’ll be able to afford the life you’ve always wanted for them.
To sum it all up: We’re big believers in self-care, and it’s always a good idea to look after your mental, emotional and physical health.
Just don’t neglect your financial well-being, too.
Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He’s a big believer in self-care.
*Bestow: Policies are issued by Bestow Life Insurance Company, Dallas, TX on policy form series BLI-ITPOL. Bestow Life Insurance products may not be available in all states. Policy limitations or restrictions may apply. Not available in New York. Our application asks lifestyle and health questions to determine eligibility in order to avoid requiring a medical exam. Prices start at $10/month based on an 18-year-old male rated Preferred Plus NT for a $100k policy for a 10-year term. Rates will vary based on underwriting review.
