The most sensible piece of financial advice you’ll ever get is to start saving every month and start as early as possible. Having a healthy savings account will be a huge help once you retire and it can get you out of some sticky situations before that if you’re hit with an unexpected bill out of nowhere. Having that buffer there really helps you to relax and not stress about money because you know that if something bad happens (unexpected home repairs or job loss etc.) you won’t be struggling to make ends meet.
But sometimes, people go a bit overboard with their advice about saving and they make it seem like spending any of that money is completely out of the question. That advice comes from a good place because it’s difficult to save money when you’re constantly dipping into your account and taking it back out again. If you’re always taking money out to spend on things that you don’t really need, or you’re having to use savings to cover expenses because your budget isn’t working, that is a problem. However, if you’ve been good with your savings and you’ve built up enough for retirement and some for your kid’s education and there’s still some left over, there’s nothing wrong with spending it. In fact, sometimes, you can increase your savings by spending some so holding onto it for dear life isn’t always the most sensible thing.
You’ve done the hard part and saved up some money, now it’s time to start spending some of it. Here are some of the best things to spend your savings on.
Invest It
This is sort of like saving still but you are risking the money so it does count as spending in that sense. A lot of people will tell you that investing your savings is essential but people often misunderstand that advice and think that they should start investing everything they’ve got right from the outset. Even if you go for the safest investments, there’s always the chance that you could lose the money. That’s why it’s a bad idea to invest all of your savings. What you should do instead is wait until you’ve got a decent amount saved up for everything you need in later life and then invest the extra money that you’ve saved on top. That way, if your investments don’t work out, you’re only losing what you can afford to lose and you’ve still got enough left in your savings account. The world of investing can be a bit confusing, especially if you’re not a financial expert, so it’s best to seek the advice of a professional broker before you part with your money.
Travel
Life is short and you should enjoy it while you still can. You can spend your entire working life saving up and not spending any of that money but what have you got to show for it if you haven’t enjoyed any of it? That’s why you should spend some of that money going away with the family. If you’ve built up a good amount of money in your savings account, you can afford to really splash out and tick some places off your bucket list. If you really want to have a luxury trip you can avoid the hassle of airports and long flights by hiring a private jet. The Citation X+ is the fastest jet in the world and it’ll cut flights times down by a significant amount. Having a no expense spared holiday with the family is a great way to spend your savings and get a well deserved break after all of your hard work building up the money in the first place.
Clear Debts
Clearing your debts isn’t quite as fun as splashing out on a big trip but it’s a sensible way to spend your savings. If you can pay off all of your debts, you’ll free up a lot more money each month which you can either put back into your savings or you could just increase your monthly budget and splash out on a few more luxuries. If you’ve got quite a bit of money in there, you should consider increasing your mortgage repayments and paying off the house quicker. Once you’ve done that, your monthly outgoings will drop drastically.
Home Renovations
Home renovations can be incredibly expensive and it might not seem sensible to spend a big chunk of your savings doing work on the house. But what you’ve got to remember is that making changes and additions to the house will add value so you aren’t really losing that money. You should see it as an investment because you’ll get that money back if you sell the house and if you don’t, you’ll have a bigger asset to pass down to your children one day. Moving house when you’re older is a bit of a pain so it’s often better to just make alterations to your current house.
A New Car
When you’re younger, practicality is the first thing you look for in a car. You need something with enough space to fit everybody in and you need something that is cheap to run as well. But when you’re getting a bit older, you can be a bit more flexible with the car that you drive. It’s probably best to keep your practical car but now that you’ve got the money, why not consider splashing out on something a bit more fun for yourself as well. That doesn’t mean you should start spending your entire savings account on a sports car, but you can go for something a little more flash. Having a second car will make life easier if you and your partner both need to go somewhere at the same time as well.
Food
When you’re working on a budget and you’re trying to save money, cutting down on your food bill is always a priority. That inevitably means that you have to sacrifice on quality sometimes and you can’t always buy the healthiest stuff. But now that you’ve got a bit more money to play with, you can afford to splash out a bit more. Eating right is always important but as you get older, you need to pay extra attention to the food that you’re buying. Use some of your extra money to spend a little more on food each week and cook healthier meals.
Gym Memberships
A good diet is important but exercise is the key to staying healthy. Gym memberships are pretty expensive and you probably can’t fit them into your budget when you’re trying to save up money. But now that you’ve got a healthy savings account and you don’t need to worry quite as much about your monthly contributions, you can cut back a little and spend some of that money on a gym membership instead. If you’re really keen to stay in shape, you could even spend some money on personal trainer sessions to help you get the most out of your workouts.
Having a savings account is important and you should always avoid dipping into it on a regular basis for frivolous things. But that doesn’t mean you should lock that money away and never spend it at all. When you’re in a position where you’ve got enough money saved for all of the essentials, you can start to reduce your contributions a little bit and spend the surplus on some of these sensible things. Just remember to be careful and don’t burn through it all.
These are all great things to spend your saving on.
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