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You’re doing great! While you may not feel like you’re in control of money, you’re on your way to a prosperous future. You may consider making a few tweaks to your money mindset and your money habits so that you learn how to save more of what you spend.

Now what?

If you want to move from coasting to thriving with your money, consider this:

Financial freedom usually doesn’t occur as a result of more income.

You may believe that if you earned more, you’d be able to save more. Actually, when most people earn more, they spend more, which can bring a host of new tax complications, commitments and contracts you’re tied to, and different expectations about how your life should look. Before you focus on how to earn more, make sure you’ve considered the following:

Do you know your net worth?

One day when you get older, your income will go away, and you’ll see that what matters most is your net worth. Learn how to calculate how much you own minus how much you owe to see if it’s a positive number. Instead of only thinking about income, focus on beginning to build assets, like a retirement investment account, or owning a home under the right financial circumstances.

Save before you spend.

When you’re buying any major item, like a vacation or a wardrobe upgrade, consider your savings first. If you don’t have a lot of savings, you’re putting yourself at great risk of expensive debt, which is counterproductive! Make sure that when you do make significant purchases, you do so because it matters to you, not because you believe you should in order to appear successful to others. Your future and security are on the line. Build cash savings first and foremost.

Divide your monthly cash needs into TWO checking accounts.

Consider separating your bill-paying checking account from your spending checking account. This way, you never spend money on food or leisure that’s already allocated to bills. Yes, that means two personal checking accounts and two debit cards, but it also gives you much better visibility into how much you spend on non-essentials.

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