As easy as many personal finance bloggers make it out to be, personal finance can still feel really hard. Your bills will still be there, you can’t easily make more money and if you’re deep in debt progress feels hard to come by. I get that. However, I do believe that there are a few easy things that you CAN do, even today. I’m a big believer in forward progress and believe that if you can start making progress on some small and quick wins; bigger wins can follow.

So, if you’re feeling stuck or hopeless, here are a few easy things you can do today to start making some progress. 

1 Open a High Yield Savings Account – 30 mins max

Interest rates have risen a ton over the past two years. You may have heard this in the news in relation to the Fed or with mortgage rates. Along with those rates rising, so have the interest rates that banks pay. If you bank with a big bank like Bank of America or Chase or Wells Fargo, you may not have noticed because most of their savings accounts still pay less than 0.50%. High yield savings accounts like Marcus or Capital One or American Express are paying above 4%. That is a big difference and it’s the difference in earning $5 if you have $1,000 in a savings account vs $40. That’s an extra $35 you just get to keep. You don’t work any harder for it, you’re not risking your money anymore (high yield banks like I mentioned are still FDIC insured) and it takes less than 30 mins to open an account. 

You simply open a new savings account and link to your existing low yield interest bank and transfer money over. I personally use both Capital One and American Express in addition to my main bank (Bank of America). I use BoA for my daily banking needs and then as I’m able, move money into my high yield account. In my opinion, everyone should do this! 

2 Automate your savings – 15 mins 

Life is busy, and as quick as money comes in it seems to leave just as quick. It can be the end of the month and you can find yourself with no money left to save or invest. Thankfully there’s this amazing tool most banks offer which is an automatic recurring money transfer. Go ahead and set this up, preferably if you’re following along from option 1; into a high yield savings account. There are many different options for when to do this, some ideas could be: right after your payday, or in the middle of the month like on the 15th. Start small, even $10 can start adding up. 

Notice the little box that says ‘recurring’

Now you don’t have to worry about your savings growing, as it’ll happen whether you remember it’s happening or not!

3 Contribute to your retirement – 1 hour 

All of us can and should be saving for retirement. Government funded social security may or may not be around when we retire (link to shortfall!!) and even if it is, it probably won’t be all that much; just ask your grandparents how far $1,700 goes each month (that’s the average that social security recipients receive). The good news is that there’s value in compounding interest, i.e. reinvesting dividends and having your investment grow over time. Time is something you have on your side as a young professional. There are lots of good examples on how saving even a small amount while you’re younger beats saving a lot later in life; here’s a good quick read with pretty charts. 

Similar to #2, I’m a big believer in that even saving a little bit now can start going a long way. Even if you’re only able to set aside $25 each month I still say get started!

Many American employees have access to a 401(k) through their employer. A 401(k) is an employer sponsored retirement plan. You tell your employer how much to pull out each paycheck and they put that into your retirement account. Plus, they might even offer a 401(k) match which is free money, typically in the range of 2-6% of your contributions. I like free money, and I’m guessing you do too. In 2024 you can contribute up to $23,000. If that feels like a lot, don’t stress about it and just save what you can! Even 1% or 2% of your paycheck can go a long way in the future! 

Don’t have access to a 401(k)? Well, unless you are planning to make more than $161,000 in 2024, you are eligible to contribute $7,000 to a Roth IRA. An IRA is an individual retirement account and anyone can open it through an online broker. I like Vanguard. Vanguard is truly committed to low fees and not charging you an arm and a leg. 

Your future self will thank you, start saving for retirement today! 

4 Say no more often with girl math – 30 seconds 

I recently discovered girl math. It was explained to me by Mrs. Money and her friend with things like “well if it’s under $5 it doesn’t count…returns don’t go back in the budget they’re yours to spend…cash isn’t real money so it’s free if I spend it…” which I laughed at first and then gave Mrs. Money a glance that said “please stick to our budget!!!” but the more I thought about it the more I like it. Girl math in my mind is a great mixture of economics and human psychology. While I still budget and don’t really view cash as ‘free’, I have adopted girl math in my own life, particularly when it comes to my spending. 

I have started to learn to say ‘no’ to more expensive things and instead say ‘yes’ to smaller, cheaper or future purchases. I recently went to the grocery store and thought to myself, “I’m tired and could use a little afternoon pick-me-up. There’s a great coffee shop next door, perhaps a quick latte would be amazing, I should get it!” Then I remembered that Mrs. Money and I really trying to watch our expenses for the start of the year and that I should really say no to that $7 purchase. While I agreed with this decision, I was still bummed about it. So, instead I decided to turn my frown upside down and girl math it! In my head I had just ‘saved’ $7 so I treated myself to a $2.50 beverage to enjoy on the way home from the grocery store. 

I am also girl mathing my way to saving more. When I cut back and say ‘no’ to a drink at dinner, a more expensive entree or that coffee at the coffee shop, I do a little mental math and take 50% of what I ‘saved’ by not making that purchase and allocate 50% of that amount towards something I am saving up for, or I put it in my investing account. I get a little feel good feeling and it’s only 50% so I’m still ‘saving’ money by not making that purchase. 

This may not work for you but I love girl math for being a fun little mental game I can play to help me save more and spend less! Find something that works for you! 

5. Cancel one or more subscriptions – 15 mins

We live in a subscription world with basically EVERYTHING being a subscription now. Companies have structured all their products or services these days to be a recurring credit card charge that automatically happens monthly. They know very well that humans don’t like change and that many of us won’t put in the effort to cancel the subscription. In the past they made it difficult to do, we’ve all likely heard stories of gyms that make you come in, speak to a manager, print a form and sign it all to cancel but hey signing up can be done online. Grr. 

Today many subscriptions are much easier to cancel with a simple login and click cancel. Unfortunately most don’t offer a ‘pause’ options but if you’re looking to make a change, I say cancel a few subscriptions. It’s so easy to re-sign up for Netflix or Hulu or fill in the blank subscription. Find something you feel like you can’t live without and give it a try for a month. If you’re low on cash, canceling subscriptions is an easy place to start! 

There you go! 5 EASY things that most of us could sit down and do to improve our finances and at least by my calculations they can take less than 1 hour to accomplish!