Your future self will thank you for following these tips for building wealth since they will make it easier to keep your retirement funds on track and ensure their continued growth over the long term. Who among us doesn't find that sound appealing?
Automate your savings
A lot goes on in life. Have you maybe noticed? If calls for you to check and see if your contributions to your retirement account are set up to be made automatically. Because you are aware of the fact that any "must. do. this. now." duty that suddenly smacks you in the face — whether it be paying your credit card bill or viewing that dog video — is going to seem far more essential at the moment than "saving money for some future date decades away."
You want your money to work for you in the background, regardless of what is going on in your life or the world, so it is always there for you. Here is where the concept of automated savings comes into play. And, hey, you've already got this covered with your 401(k), so you're good to go.
You can model that approach with your individual retirement account (IRA) with only a little bit of effort up front: Connect your bank account to your IRA, then plan automatic transfers to take place regularly. (Some employers allow workers to have a portion of their paychecks sent directly to an individual retirement account (IRA). Enquire with your employer whether your employer offers such a reward.)
Revisit your savings once a year
When investing for a date very far into the future, it is perfectly OK to let your money simply sit there, silently enjoying the highs of the financial markets. This is because, as we have been saying, it is good to let your money just sit there when you invest for a date very far into the future. However, it's important to note that you shouldn't completely disregard your account for any reason.
This is why: The ups and downs of the market will cause your initial asset allocation, which refers to how you distribute your wealth across various categories of stocks and bonds, to alter over time, and it will ultimately become unbalanced.
Take, for instance, the decision you made when you first created your account to split your investments between equities (70%) and bonds (30%). If the value of the stock market has grown since the time of your first investment, the percentage of your assets comprised of stock investments will increase; maybe now eighty percent of your holdings are in stocks.
Hike your savings rate
Have we ever expressed our admiration for the fact that you are putting money down for your retirement? It's very cool. You've already completed the most difficult step, which is getting started. The next step is simple: every year, increase your savings rate by a little amount.
It is simple since you can carry it out regardless of whether or not your income increases. Let's say you got a pay rise, a bonus, or discovered extra money in an unexpected place. Why not communicate with your future self by sending a little portion of that information? You always have the option to skip it entirely if your financial situation isn't looking too good this year.
Do you remember how, once a year, you had to go into your account to rebalance it? Try to find a way to increase your savings rate by a fraction of a percentage point on the same day each year and see if you can. Or, to make things even simpler, check to see whether your 401(k) has the option to turn on yearly auto-increases, and if it does, immediately activate that feature.
Avoid high fees
In the same way that increasing your annual contributions by a little amount might propel your retirement savings to soaring heights, fees that seem inconsequential can have the opposite effect, sucking a significant chunk out of your account over your career.
The question then is how you can ensure that the money you save goes towards your desired lifestyle in retirement rather than to an arbitrary investing firm. Investing in low-cost index mutual funds is a sound strategy that may help you achieve your goals.
Stick with the market
When saving for something as important as retirement, the stock market is your best friend. That in no way negates the fact that it could be frightening. When the market is doing poorly, it may be downright terrifying. And it will fail miserably, as it often does. However, it also always goes back up again.
If you are investing in a diverse portfolio — which you are! — then you are investing in hundreds of different firms throughout the United States and the rest of the world. To ignore the market is equivalent to announcing that I anticipate the majority of firms throughout the globe will fail.
