Earn more vs. spend less is an age-old debate. Both are essential in financial freedom, but which team is supreme?
There are pros and cons to both sides, but determining the superior strategy remains inconclusive.
Is there a right team but no wrong answer?
TEAM: Earn More
If your income each month is consistently insufficient to meet your expenses, it’s time to boost your income.
Low earnings in relation to your expenses will only keep you in the red zone regardless of how detailed your budget is or how many streaming services you cancel.
Insufficient income = financial stress, instability, and insecurity.
A higher income lifts the weight off your shoulders by allowing you to pay your bills while leaving a little room to comfortably cover little luxuries.
Earning more will enable you to thrive, instead of survive.
More money also means that you will have the financial breathing room to invest and save, both critical steps to improve your financial wellness.
Steps to Earn More
ACQUIRE New Skills
While earning more money may seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be an uphill battle.
Today, there are many high-demand skills that you can learn from home during your downtime to improve your employability.
If you’re not sure where to start, begin by browsing the chock-full platforms, Coursera and Udemy, to find courses that meet your interests AND your budget.
Maximizing your downtime to develop new skills helps to beef up your professional brand and create a powerful portfolio to woo potential employers.
Request a PROMOTION With Your Employer
Looking to score higher pay at your current job? Take the initiative and have the courageous conversation with your manager about taking on more responsibility.
Demonstrate clear interest about desiring a pay increase and/or promotion, and be sure to put in the extra work ahead of this conversation.
Get noticed for being resourceful and reliable, and demonstrate your value by going above and beyond to underscore your request.
5 Ways to Earn More
- Start a print-on-demand store with a few bucks and no design experience.
- Score side hustle income leveraging your existing skills on Fiverr.
- Apply to freelance, part-time jobs on Flexjobs.
- Search for high-paying, six-figure jobs on Indeed or Ladders.
- Research investments that may pay dividends and provide passive income.
TEAM: Spend Less
No matter if you have $20,000 or $2,000 in your bank account, if your balance is close to zero around the time you’re getting ready to flip the calendar, your lack of saving is problematic.
Constantly lingering around the red zone because of excessive spending often means you never have a chance to build your wealth through investments or save enough money to help you in tough times.
Naturally, this lack of an emergency fund is a money mistake that may lead to financial hardship if you ever lose your job or have unexpected expenses arise.
Steps to Spend Less
Setting an Actionable Budget
It will be nearly impossible to cut your spending without knowing where most of your money actually goes.
Fortunately, effective budgeting makes it simple to take stock of your pluses (income) and minuses (expenses).
Once you understand the categories that eat up most of your money, you can work on setting limits or removing any unnecessary indulgences.
Pay Off Any Outstanding Debts
One of the reasons that people find themselves with a negative net worth is due to outstanding balances that are negligently left unpaid. They fail to create a debt payoff plan and, instead, have debt compounding with interest.
Unfortunately, trying to spend less while being bogged down by a deluge of monthly payments is beyond burdensome.
5 Ways to Spend Less
- Avoid using credit cards.
- Scale back your wants.
- Prioritize your needs.
- Split bills or subscriptions.
- Resist impulse purchases.
The Takeaway
Clearly, there are benefits within both teams of the earn more vs. spend less debate. However, earning more reigns supreme.
Life will likely only continue to get more expensive, especially with inflation, and boosting your income in whatever ways possible is a no-brainer.
You can still incorporate ways to spend less but if you are happy with your lifestyle and do not wish to cut back, finding ways to earn more is the winning way to go.
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