If you follow my IG stories you know that I often talk about investing, wealth building and money saving. These are fundamentals that are near and dear to my heart. Because growing up, I didn’t learn about money early on. It wasn’t until later on in life that I learned the ins and outs of money. And now as a mom—- I vowed to leave a financial legacy behind for my son. So today I leave you with 5 easy money saving tips to implement on your wealth building journey.

• Cash Back – when the cash back concept was first introduced, I was first a skeptic. The concept of getting paid to shop seemed a bit unbelievable to me. So I signed up for Ebates, a cash back site that pay shoppers when they shop affiliate stores like Amazon and Macy’s directly from the site. As we continue to see a surge in online shopping, signing up for cash back services like Ebates is a great way to maximize cash flow.
• Interest-Bearing Accounts – with an interest-bearing account, the bank pays you interest on the money you save in your account. Say goodbye to regular non-interest-bearing accounts. You should be getting paid to save. Some banks and credit unions offer as much as 2.5% APY on savings, checking and deposit accounts. When I started my  journey into the world of financial investing—at first, I played it safe with certificate of deposits. It was a great way for me to understand the concept of compound interest before transitioning into more aggressive investing and saving strategies.
  
• Free Investing Apps – The traditional way of stock trading and investing are long gone with emerging technologies and investing apps like Acorns and Robinhood on the market. Acorns is a new investment app that lets you automatically invest spare change from debit and credit card purchases. Robinhood on the other hand lets you trade stocks and cryptocurrency without a trade commission fee and minimum account requirement. This is a huge benefit from the traditional brokers like Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and others. While I do trade with traditional brokerage firms, I do have an account with Robinhood. And I love it. With most firms charging around $8 per trade, you can easily see how trade fees can add up. Also, Fidelity requires $2,500 to open an investment account. Without this requirement, anyone can open an investment account with Robinhood for free. This is game changing. Practically making it super easy for anyone to invest in today’s market.
• Assets vs Liabilities – Talk about game changing. My transition from a reckless spender to fiscal disciplinarian began when I developed a greater understanding of assets and liabilities. A few years back I read the book–Rich Dad, Poor Dad and my life changed forever. The book was a great introduction to understanding money and mindset, important principles that I needed. I shifted my focus and mindset to building assets (investing) from consuming (liabilities). This is when my financial health took a turn for the better.
•  Spare Some Change – Financial institutions make it easier now more than ever for you to save. With change transfer programs, banks and credit unions will automatically round your change for purchases to the nearest dollar, with the rounded amount being transferred to an investment or savings account. For example: you purchased a coffee for $3.50, the bank rounded your purchase to $4 with $.50 being transferred to your savings account. I love this banking option. I’ve saved thousands since implementing it.

I hope you find these tips both helpful and practical. Until next time….be bold, be fabulous. be you!