5 Daily Habits To Improve Your Finances

Most people understand that setting good financial habits and discipline is critical to reaching their short-term and long-term life goals. 

A common hurdle many people make when working to improve their financial lives is becoming overly ambitious; rather than systematically tackling the issues at hand.

The bright side is that there’s an easy way to get on the right path. 

Start small.

This way, you can gradually take up habits that build up to other intricate practices, beneficial to you – professionally and in your personal life.  

1. Track Your Financial Goals

It's a good idea to plan before carrying out any task.

Therefore, your first step toward building wealth is to have an actionable plan by prioritising all your financial goals, from most to least important.

• To illustrate how this should be a daily habit, take a moment to consider how much you consume and spend each day. You’ll notice that some of your spending are routine, while some are irregular. 

Review your transaction history, and identify and prioritise compulsory expenses (like transport fare) and non-essential expenses (like lunch break takeout). 

Here are a few ideas to help  keep this goal, at the top of your mind:

1. There’s the classic option of using a spreadsheet to plan, detail, and track your financial goals. Simply, install a spreadsheet software on your smart devices and set aside time to review your daily progress. 
2. Download a finance tracking or budgeting app that works best for you and stick to it to help you monitor your financial goals.  
3. A unique and a more personal option is to have an “accountability buddy” - who could be a spouse, a sibling, a close friend, or a financial advisor/mentor. 

Essentially, the role of your “accountability buddy” is to check in with you every day. 

For this to be a workable agreement, work together to set a specific check-in time and the check-in session duration (keep to under an hour) - to keep these sessions collaborative, focused and productive.  

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Read Also: 7 Short-Term Financial Goals to Set For Yourself

2. Check Your Accounts Daily

It's as easy as it sounds.

Here's an illustration; recount how often you check your email and social media accounts daily (I bet it’s a couple of times a day). 

So, why not include your investment, current, and savings accounts in your screen time rotation? 

Before long, you'll be in the habit of checking your accounts daily.

Some benefits to this as a daily goal are:

• You can track your financial habits. 

As such, you identify how you’re doing and celebrate your wins (not by overspending, though). This does serve to give you cause to stay motivated and on course.

• It's easier to understand where, how much and when to deposit and spend your money. So, whether you prefer using an app or the classic pen-to-paper option, this gives you a clear picture of your finances.
• You easily track your spending and develop a problem-solution approach toward your finances to secure your financial well-being.

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Read Also: 8 Amazing Benefits of Tracking Your Spending

3. Save Something Everyday 

No amount is too little to save.

Taking advantage of the free access to automate your savings makes it easy to start developing the habit of saving.    

The best way to do this is by directly transferring money to your savings accounts. 

Do so by automating transfers to your savings bank account and/or your mobile money savings account.

For example: if you save Kshs.10, 20, 35 (etc.) daily, technically, you only need to set up recurring transfers once and automate your savings. These savings eventually add up to a tidy sum that contributes to the success of achieving your short-term and long-term goals. 

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Read Also: 11 Ways to Save Money Without Driving Yourself Crazy

4. Educate Yourself (Strive To Learn Or Re-Learn Something Everyday)

Are you confused about budgeting? Have you given up on investing because you can’t figure it out? Does debt repayment sound too complicated to learn? 

These questions do resonate with many, and you're not alone. 

And after all, everyone has doubts or assumptions they hold on to, which lead to unproductive financial habits and choices. 

This is why your financial literacy is key to your financial well-being for wealth development. Let's start by getting into what financial literacy is.

According to the National Foundation For Educational Research, “financial literacy is the ability to make informed judgments and effective decisions regarding the use and management of money."

With that in mind, it quickly becomes clear how credible information is necessary to educate and inform on financial topics you need to understand. 

Your learning journey doesn’t have to be overwhelming or complicated.

To simplify your learning process - write down some topics you want to learn or be more knowledgeable about. 

Secondly, pick a topic and work on it at your own pace (remember, you don’t have to be a financial guru, but you should take it in stride). 

Here are ways you can make this a stress-free, daily habit:

• Watch daily TV business talk and feature shows. This way, you stay on top of what’s happening, locally and worldwide.
• Check out the free online articles. Start with short-read articles (2-minute to 8-minute reading time) before moving on to lengthier articles. For example, browse the money254 website for your pick of detailed, short-read articles on financial topics, news & analysis, and more.
• Sign up for training seminars or classes, both at work and unrelated training opportunities. Consider your schedule and take on online and offline opportunities – these include webinars, face-to-face training seminars, and video tutorials on professional networks.  
• Listen to podcasts by financial pros. 
• Watch YouTube videos that provide videos in different formats and languages, at no cost.

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Read Also: 9 Financial Topics You Need An Understanding Of

‍5. Monitor Your Money Habits 

Finally and importantly, is to address the personal biases that encourage you to follow through on impulse choices.

Why? Because your habits, values, and attitudes do impact how successful and unsuccessful you are in handling different situations, including financial situations.

The correct way to avoid yielding to impulsive financial actions is to strive to be disciplined. Don't strive to be perfect!   

Here are a couple of simple habits you can practice daily, to avoid the impulse-buying trap:

• For that impulse shopping itch - here’s a hack that works to support mindful shopping. 

Wait at least a week before making a purchase that is, or can be, marked as an impulsive buy. Say, for instance, buying an extra pair of shoes you want because they’re on sale and not because you need a new pair of shoes.

• Recite a personal money mantra to remind you that no matter how erratic life can be, you do have some measure of control. You can create your mantra or borrow from existing money mantras like, “I am in charge of my spending decisions.”
• Do take time to review your online accounts and ensure you've logged out. This is especially important if you transact online daily (like paying for fares via mobile payment). In the rare situation where you have to make daily emergency payments (like paying for a medical service) - delete the auto-saved credit and debit card information from websites and apps. 

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Read Also: Critical Dos and Don'ts of Managing Your Money

Bottom Line: Dream Big. Start Small & Keep Going

The five habits above are easy to work into your current routine and maintain.

However, even if you're working toward one or two new habits a day, it takes time. 

Now, get at it and aim to keep at it.