Financial stability is fundamental to a person’s life. On such stability depends whether or not an individual can buy a home, support their children, or pay for an unforeseen situation, among others, without having to declare bankruptcy.

But despite its importance, we don’t always take the time to prepare a budget, explore different ways to save, or plan for our retirement.

When should I start saving and how much? How do I budget and plan my investments?

Lack of financial information can result in overwhelming debt, which in turn translates into stress and anxiety and health problems. Beyond your income or lifestyle, there are ways to regain control of your finances and life.

Ways to gain control of finances

Budget

No one is predict suffering an accident, contracting an illness or face an unexpected expense that affects your wallet and results in debt and interest. But financial health is based on habits that allow you to deal with such unexpected events without losing everything.

This is the reason experts advise creating a budget to know for sure how much money you have and how much you can spend, without guessing and creating unnecessary stress.

Adjusting to a budget also helps improve your credit history and get lower interest rates when buying a vehicle or property. Credit history not only influences purchases and interest rates, it can also affect the cost of insurance, or the ability to rent a property. Employers also investigate a candidate’s credit history before offering them a job.

It begins simply by listing essential expenses you can’t do without, such as rent, food, transportation, and other essential expenses. Create a second list of non-essential expenses, such as dining out and other types of entertainment. Consider your income and plan your expenses, setting aside extra money for emergencies and a certain amount, no matter how small, to save each month.

Unexpected Expenses

No one is immune to unexpected situations, accidents or illness. That’s when having insurance can be the difference between losing everything, or being able to get ahead. Many jobs today offer life insurance to their workers that can help the worker’s family in the event of an accident. For a monthly fee, insurance can protect you from unexpected situations that might otherwise leave you on the street and put your family’s financial future at risk.

Savings, Retirement and Other Contributions

What plans does your employer offer?

Many companies offer plans like the 401(k), and even contribute your contribution. This type of savings, in which a sum is automatically allocated even before taxes, makes it easier to separate that sum, which you don’t see, than if you had to once you received the money.

If, for example, you receive salary through an automatic deposit, you can tell the bank that you want 10% of each check to go automatically to a second account, designated for savings. After a year, you’ll have saved a good amount of money, almost without realizing it.

IRA Account

Another way to prepare ahead of time for retirement years is to open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). This is a good option for those who don’t have a plan like 401(k) in their jobs, and also for those who do, but want to increase their investment for future years. An individual can contribute up to $5,500 to an IRA. Those over the age of 50 can even contribute another $1,000 to catch up.