Do These 11 Things Now to Set Your Finances up for the Next 20 Years

It’s so hard to plan ahead. It’s even harder to plan way, way ahead — like 20 years into the future. I mean, some of us have trouble planning more than a week in advance. I know I do.

Financially speaking, we should all be planning for the future — at least a little bit. The question is, how can you set yourself up for success in the future? What can you do with your money right now that you’ll be happy about in 20 years?

We’ve got some ideas. They’re mostly about improving your financial habits — with a little technological help.

Save Without Thinking About It

Automate, automate, automate. Harness technology, and make it do the work for you so that in 20 years, you’ll be prepared for the next step, whether that’s buying a new home, traveling the world or retiring.

Set things up so a certain amount of your money gets automatically funneled into savings, investment and retirement accounts. That way, you can build wealth without thinking about it.

1. Let This App Save for You (and Get $5 Free!)

It helps if you can save money without really noticing it.

Digit makes that possible. Link the app to your checking account, and it will determine small (and safe!) amounts of money to withdraw into a separate, FDIC-insured savings account.

Bonus: Penny Hoarders get an extra $5 just for signing up. Additionally, savers will receive a 1% bonus every three months. Digit is free to use for the first 30 days, then it’s $2.99 per month afterward.

Pro tip: In the long run, you’ll need a smart place to store your savings. There’s no law that requires you to bank the old-fashioned way — at a brick-and-mortar bank with a crummy interest rate on your savings.

An app called Varo Money offers a savings account where you’ll earn 1.35% annual percentage yield. That’s more than 20 times — repeat, 20 times — the average savings account, based on a 0.06% average reported by CNN Money.

2. Invest Your Spare Change

To automate your investments, consider starting an account with Acorns. Use its “round-up” feature. That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account.

Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.

The idea is you won’t miss the digital pocket change, and the automatic savings stack up faster than you’d think. For example, we reviewed how Penny Hoarder Dana Sitar was able to save at a rate of $420 a year!

The sooner you start investing, the better off you’ll be 20 years from now.

The app is $1 a month, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.

Think About Retirement… Now

If you have a 401(k) plan through your employer, you should be contributing money to it with every paycheck. If you don’t have one, consider opening an IRA, an individual retirement account. It’s a retirement savings plan you can put money into without going through an employer.

Like with investing, the sooner you start saving for retirement, the better off you’ll be in 20 years.

3. Get a Free Look at the Health of Your 401(k)

If you’re like most people, you have no idea whether you’re on pace for retirement or just sputtering along. Chances are your 401(k) could be doing a lot better.

Take control with help from Blooom, an investment advisory firm that can optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you.

It just takes a few minutes to get a free 401(k) analysis that will show you whether your investments are allocated properly and whether you’re losing money paying hidden investment fees. It’ll even tell you just how much more money your account could earn by the time you want to retire.

After that, if you sign up, it costs $10 per month to have Blooom monitor and maximize your 401(k). Bonus: Penny Hoarders get the first month free with the code PNNYHRD.

Manage Your Credit and Debts

In the long run, you’ll be in good shape if you maintain good credit and deal with your debts. If you’re smart and strategic about this now, it’ll pay dividends over the next couple of decades.

4. Get Your Credit Under Control

Keeping tabs on your credit score and your credit reports can help guide you to a financially healthier life — especially if you use a free credit-monitoring service like Credit Sesame. It gives you personalized suggestions for improving your credit.

The better your credit, the better off you’ll be when you’re getting a home or car loan. Credit Sesame can estimate how big a mortgage you might qualify for, for example.

Here’s our ultimate guide to using Credit Sesame.

5. Kill off High-Interest Debt

Most of us have got debt — student loans, car loans, credit cards, maybe a mortgage. But not all debt is created equal.

Be strategic. Pay down your high-interest debts first (while still paying the minimum balances on all your other debts).

That way, you’ll spend significantly less money on interest payments over the long run. As the years pass, your high-interest debts should start to disappear. In 20 years, you shouldn’t have any.

This is commonly called the debt avalanche method.

Your highest-interest debts are probably your credit cards. And at the bottom of the list? Probably your federal student loans, which tend to come with favorable interest rates and flexible repayment options.

6. Lower Your Interest Rates

Target that credit card debt first. A lot of us are being crushed by credit card interest rates north of 20%. If you’re in that boat, consolidation and refinancing might be worth a look. Pay off your high-interest debt with a lower-interest personal loan

Here’s an easy way to do that: Fiona, a search engine for financial services, can match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Fiona searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Its platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

Establish a Budget-Conscious Lifestyle

We’re not asking you to radically change your life. That’s not realistic. You don’t have to suddenly start living like a monk or anything.

Still, to set up your finances for the next 20 years, it’d be smart to establish some new habits.

7. Cut Your Food Budget

Groceries will be a huge part of your budget for the long run, so it’s worth taking a few steps to shop smarter. Here are our favorite tricks to save money on groceries:

• Look for free printable coupons.
• Compare your local grocery prices using this worksheet.
• Earn cash back. Ibotta pays you cash-back on purchases if you take pictures of your grocery store receipts. Plus, you’ll get a $10 bonus for signing up!

8. Spend Less on Car Insurance

Car insurance will likely be a constant expense for you. That’s why it’s worth shopping around for a new policy every now and then. (Most people don’t bother.)

Just like you compare the prices of flights, shoes and laptops before purchasing, why not compare car insurance?

The Zebra, an online car insurance search engine that offers “insurance in black and white,” compares your options from 204 providers in less than 60 seconds.

9. Look Into Life Insurance

Because we’re thinking about the long term: If you have a family, the last thing you want is to leave them without any financial support once you’re gone.

Maybe you should think about life insurance, which pays your dependents a set amount of money if you die. You might at least look into a basic policy that would pay off your funeral, mortgage or other debt.

Ethos can get you term life insurance in less than 10 minutes — with no medical exam — for coverage up to $1 million. Ethos offers a digital application, and customer service is available if you have questions.

Make More Money

In 20 years, you’ll want to be making more money. Ultimately, that’s up to you and your career path. In the meantime, we’ve got a couple of shortcuts to help you pad your bank account.

10. Get a Side Gig

To set yourself up for the long term, it helps to have more than one source of income.

Look for ways to earn extra money on the side. Here are a few options:

• As a partner driver with Uber, you’d be an independent contractor. You’d set your own schedule and drive as much or as little as you want. You must be at least 21, have a valid driver’s license and pass a background check. Your car must be a four-door, registered in-state and covered by in-state insurance.
• List a guest room on Airbnb, which could help you make hundreds — or thousands — in extra income each month. We’ve discovered you can list just about anything through the platform, including couches and backyard tents.
• Here’s our guide to making extra money online.
• Here’s our beginner’s guide to earning passive income.

11. Use a Rewards Credit Card

To earn a little extra cash, look at getting a rewards credit card. The rewards can really add up over time.

For instance, an option like the Chase Freedom Unlimited card* enables you to earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all your purchases. (Hello, grocery store!) Plus, if you spend $500 in your first three months of opening the card, you’ll pocket a $150 bonus.

Keep in mind that there are different types of rewards credit cards, so make sure to get the kind that works best for you:

• Cash back credit cards are the simplest, because they just give you a portion of your spending back as a rebate.
• Travel rewards cards offer miles, flights, hotel stays, car rentals and more.

Here’s our basic primer on rewards credit cards, and here’s our list of nearly 40 ways you can increase your earnings from your rewards cards.

No matter what, make sure to pay off your bill each month so you’re not paying interest on a balance.

*The information for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has been collected independently by The Penny Hoarder. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. The Penny Hoarder is a partner of Credible.

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He tries to plan at least a couple days in advance.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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