Budgeting For Investments

When people think about budgeting, many people think of doing it to save for a car or maybe even a holiday. Not many think to do it for the purposes of investing in a stock portfolio or the more obvious option of an investment property. While it's often the last thing people want to do with their money, should they not have a great deal of disposable income, it should really be the first!

Investing is a financial decision that many people don?t make until they have superfluous money sitting in the bank however, this time may never come for many people. It's important to maximise the money you have and to do that you should seriously consider investing. The problem is that not many people have spare cash lying around to put into investments, so here are some easy ways to save for your investment portfolio.

Rent

While you may dream of owning your own home, if you are renting in an expensive area, that dream may take a lot longer to come true. While certain areas have a great lifestyle appeal, it's important to weigh up whether that lifestyle is really worth the money you are spending each month. Consider this; If you were to move to an apartment or house where you paid 25% less in rent each month but in a less popular suburb or area, would that be an option? Alternatively look at it from a different angle; If you were to have 25% more in your bank account each month without a salary increase and the money could grow, should it be properly invested, would that be an option?

Entertainment

Are your weekend pastimes partying, shopping or even playing an expensive sport? While it's important to relax and enjoy yourself, it's also essential that you are not spending a large portion of your income on activities you can really live without. Look at one activity you do on a regular basis ? then cut it out. How much money will this save you over a year? $100, $1,000, or even $10,000 could be sitting in your account at the end of the year, ready for investment with one simple sacrifice.

Food

Most people love to dine out on a regular basis ? it's easy, there's no mess at the end of the meal to clean up and it usually tastes better than anything you can usually whip up. And while all of those points are good reasons to dine out, the main issue that you probably won?t realise until you add it up is the cost! Commit to only eating out once a week, or better yet once a fortnight and you'll find that that bank account balance keeps growing and growing.

Investments do require a decent amount of money and need continual attention from either a broker or yourself to be profitable. It's easy to see that by making some very minimal sacrifices in the short term, your bank account, investment portfolio and lifestyle will benefit in the long run.

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