Improving Your Finances Through Careers and Savings

Money is one of those things that can cause an untold amount of stress or complete relaxation, and finding a way to balance those emotions can be challenging. Here we are going to take a look at some of the ways you can make your concerns about your bank balance a thing of the past. There are several options available to you, whether you’re someone who is trying to get by each month or if you want to take your current funds and increase them. So, let’s take a look at what you might want to do and how to go about it.

Careers

It seems only sensible to start any conversation about finance with a look at careers and how they affect your income. For some readers, this will be a case of acknowledging they have a steady job and moving on to the other sections. However, there will be those of you reading this with the understanding that there is money being left on the table because of your work choices. What we mean is that there are ways to get more out of your career or even make money elsewhere so that you can improve income and increase your bank account.

Education

If you are someone who is looking for alternatives to your current career plan then education should be top of your list. But, it is important to remember that education can mean a lot of things and doesn’t have to refer to going to college and getting a degree. It can mean that and we will look at that option, but don’t be deterred if that isn’t something that doesn’t interest you.

Skills, Qualifications and Support

One of the great things about living in the day and age that we do is the number of options open to you if you are willing to learn new skills and get fresh qualifications. This especially applies to those of you who are happy in your industry but want to have better prospects for the future. By using the likes of LinkedIn Learning and courses from Google you can flesh out your CV with new skills and qualifications and that will demonstrate to your employer that you have initiative as well education that will help the workforce.

Use these opportunities to your benefit as best you can, whether that is you perfecting your ability on Microsoft Office or taking courses in public speaking and leadership. The more you know, the better the prospects for your career.

Degree

As referenced above, there is also the option of getting yourself a degree, possibly for the first time or even a masters in your subject of choice. Once again, you should make the most of online courses that will allow you to enroll and develop your education in your own time. There are many places that will allow you to at-home learning which you can fit around your schedule. Find the degree type that is going to help you transition your career into the industry you want, or to enhance your options in your current workplace. There is money to be made for people with a CV full of education and you should make sure you are the person getting that wage.

Side-Hustle

If you’re in a position where you want to earn money now, not after you’ve developed your education, then there are options open to you in the form of a side-hustle. The idea here is to find the skills you currently possess and figure out how to monetize them. One of the most popular ways of doing that is by engaging with the gig economy or freelance websites.

Places like Fiverr and Upmarket are marketplaces where you can advertise your abilities in fields such as writing, design, communications and many more. The idea is that you promote yourself and attach a price for your work and then people who need to utilize your skills will contact you. This is a fantastic way to make some extra cash and some people have even been able to turn this form of work into their permanent job by building up their reputation.

Another form of gig economy work that might intrigue is the private hire firms like Uber and Lyft. If you own a car and a valid driver’s license, then you can get started with these companies as a driver for the general public. There is, once again, good money to be made in this field and you might end up taking it as a full-time option rather than just as your side-hustle.

Savings

Having discussed careers, it is only logical to then move on to what to do with the wages you are earning. The first thing to consider is building up your savings and securing the finances that you have. There are several ways to do this, and the most popular tend to be by opening up a savings account. Now there a couple of reasons that people tend to open up this kind of accounts, the first being that is a practical place to save money and the second being interest rates. But the average savings account is unlikely to lock your interest rate meaning your savings are at the will of rate fluctuations. For some that isn’t an issue because the kind of accounts that are susceptible to interest rate changes will often allow you to withdraw your savings at any point.

However, for those of you looking to get a consistent rate of interest on your savings, there are options available. Accounts that lock in your interest rate such as certificate of deposit (CD) will give you a steady growth rate, but they will also have your money locked in that account for an agreed upon period of time. Usually the longer you’re willing to leave your savings in a CD account, the better your interest rate will be. To look into this option further, use a CD rate calculator to assess what rates are open to you and the benefits you can get.