Automatically have your dividends reinvest

Dividends are a portion of a company’s earnings that they payout to their shareholders. For every share of stock you own you get a certain amount paid in cash. Instead of letting those dividends accrue in your cash section of your investing account, being desecrated by inflation, put them back to work immediately by finding the option to automatically reinvest any dividends you receive.

Look for low fees or no fees when choosing a mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF)

Fund fees are the sneaky eaters of your wealth growth. They are usually disguised because your money may be growing regardless because of capital gains, but it may not be growing as much as it could. Check the fees of your funds and see if there are comparable funds with lower fees.

Pursue a salary raise over one-time bonuses or overtime

Sometimes a smaller salary raise can be more beneficial than a seemingly large one-time bonus. This is because a salary raise can compound on itself. If you get a $1,000 raise and your company offers 401k matching of 6%, that means the raise is more like $1,060 because your 401k matching is likely only for your base salary. Also, your next raise will likely be based off your current salary, so if the company was planning on giving you a 5% raise, now that raise is $50 more and every raise after that is going to be bigger than if you had chosen a bonus or overtime over a salary increase.

Switch to a high yield savings account (HYSA) for your emergency savings

According to Investopedia.com, “the interest rates on high-yield savings accounts can be 20 to 25 times higher than what traditional savings accounts offer.” It’s easy to open one and transfer your emergency savings or other savings accounts into it to reap the higher return rate.

Another benefit of using an HYSA is your savings won’t be right in front of you, begging to be spent, every time you open your bank account.

Lower your recurring expenses

It can be a hassle but lowering your recurring expenses is the gift that keeps on giving. I lowered my phone bill four years ago by switching to one of those low-cost carriers. That one decision has saved me over $2,880 and each month that amount increases. Can you reduce any of your recurring expenses? Some ideas are car insurance, renter’s insurance, phone, internet, etc.