Bright Ideas to Boost Your Income
by Ginita Wall, CPA, CFP
Excerpted from the book The Way to Save: A Ten-Step Blueprint for Lifetime Security
If you are industrious, there are ways to increase you income. Here are a few.
- Work part time. If you are not currently in the work force, part-time work may enrich your life as well as your bank account. Ask older children still at home to take part-time jobs to pay for some of their own expenses.
- Moonlight at an extra job. If you can find extra work that is connected with a hobby or special interest, working extra hours can even be fun. An art buff might become a substitute guard at an art museum, a handicraft enthusiast might enjoy clerking part time at a crafts store. If you have an entrepreneurial bent, start a multilevel marketing business, distributing a product you use and believe in.
- Have a garage sale. Sell valuable possessions that are no longer useful. If you make crafts, include some of your handiwork in the sale merchandise. To save income taxes, donate leftover items to charity and deduct them on your tax return.
- Sell valuable possessions. If you have valuable possessions you don't really need, sell them and invest in more productive assets. For example, if you sell an extra vehicle that is worth $10,000 and invest the money for twenty years, you will boost your retirement fund by more than $50,000.
- Take in a roommate or boarder. An extra bedroom can become a gold mine that funds a substantial part of your monthly household budget. By taking in a roommate or boarder, you also will be providing housing at a reasonable rate to someone who could not otherwise afford to live so comfortably.
- Adjust your withholding. Instead of claiming a tax refund each year, increase your paycheck by increasing the withholding allowances you claim on your W-4. That will increase each paycheck, which is almost like getting a raise. Don't overdo it, though. The government will penalize you if you fail to pay in at least 90 percent of your taxes through regular withholding or quarterly estimated tax payments.
- Put idle money to work. Shift money from a non-interest-bearing checking account to an interest-bearing checking account or a savings account. If your funds are in savings, consider stocks and bonds to produce a greater return. You work hard for your money: Make your money work as hard as you do.
- Don't squander a windfall. A financial windfall is any amount of money that is more than you are used to handling. You may win the lottery, earn a bonus, receive a gift, or find $100 in the street. Whether a windfall is expected or unexpected, don't use it to pay bills, take a trip, or otherwise squander it. Invest the money in a long-term investment, such as a growth stock fund, and let it grow for several years. This strategy applies to large income tax refunds, bonuses, retirement plan distributions, inheritances, even garage sale bonanzas and gambling winnings.
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Ginita Wall is the Co-founder of WIFE. She writes two weekly columns: Tax Talk, Suddenly Single. Worth Magazine recently named Ginita Wall, CPA, CFP, one of the top financial advisers in the country. She provides forensic accounting and financial guidance to men, women and their attorneys before, during and after divorce. She is the author of several books, including "Your Next Fifty Years" and "Our Money Our Selves". Visit her website at: www.planforwealth.com |
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