Accumulating wealth is an almost universal goal. After all, most Americans want to retire at some point, which requires a significant amount of savings. Growing a sizable nest egg is desirable for other reasons, too: Perhaps you dream of taking a trip around the world, taking a more satisfying, yet lower paying, job or starting your own business. All those objectives can be supported with a hefty pile of cash.
Stockpiling reserves isn’t easy, though, and getting started is often half the battle. That’s why we turned to a handful of experienced financial experts to share their strategies for developing a personal wealth plan. They pointed out that it often all starts with shifting your attitude.
In addition to confronting harmful belief systems, financial experts recommend taking time to map out your route to savings.
A retirement preparedness study by Financial Finesse based on the financial wellness assessments of 12,715 people found that 61 percent of respondents didn’t even know if they were on track or not for retirement savings.
Taking the relatively simple step of crunching some numbers with an online calculator to show just how much you will have saved for retirement if you increase your savings by 1 or 2 percent a year can serve as a powerful motivator, Davidson says. “It’s very empowering and inspiring,” she says, adding that knowledge allows people to make better decisions about their savings rate.
Once you decide to start putting more money into savings find ways to make it fun in order to increase the chances of sticking with it. For some people, that might mean embracing couponing at the grocery store or perhaps completing financial wellness assessments to get feedback on how they’re moving closer to savings goals.
