If, for whatever reason, you’ve got $1000 hanging around that you don’t know what to do with, start by investing part of it in inexpensive personal finance software. Today’s blog will tell you a number of other excellent ways that you can either spend it or put it to work for you. Enjoy.
Now, unfortunately, you would probably do best to not spend it foolishly. Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst for Bankrate, says that “Going on a shopping spree is probably not a real good use of the money, particularly if you have other financial fish to fry.”
That being said, meeting the retirement match that your employer is giving on your retirement account is an excellent way to spend that $1000. Not only will you get a return in the long run on your $1000, you’ll actually double your savings!
Of course you can also open an individual retirement account or 401(k) with your thousand dollars if you’re employer doesn’t have a company match. “Money put into a retirement account in early adulthood… can expand with compound interest year after year,” says University of Michigan Retirement Research Center director John Laitner.
Using that $1000 to pay off some your student loans would be a great idea as well, but only after you pay off your high credit card balances first.
If you’re thinking about changing careers or just want to learn a new and valuable skill, spending than $1000 to take an educational course might be perfect for you. If learning Spanish, computer coding or how to create a website would be valuable to your career, that $1000 investment will pay off for years to come.
Invest, invest, invest! If you have extra money laying around then investing it is always wiser than spending it. Consider opening a metatrader account to maximize your savings and take advantage of compounding interest.
Another excellent way to spend your $1000 is to pay off credit card debt, starting with the card that has the highest balance and highest APR. Dave Ramsey, the well-known national radio host and personal-finance author, recommends what he calls his “snow ball” plan.
In a recent email interview Ramsey said that consumers should “List your debts in order of smallest payoff balance to largest,” and then went on to say that “every dollar you can find from your budget goes towards the smallest debt until it disappears.” Using Ramsey’s strategy you can build a momentum for your debt payoff that’s similar to a snowball rolling downhill.
Making some much needed home improvement repairs with your $1000 is a fine idea, especially if you have a roof that’s leaking, a bathroom that’s years out of date or you’re worried that your roof will start to leak sometime in the near future.
Still another fantastic use of $1000. would be to build up your emergency savings account. The fact is, millions of Americans don’t plan for life’s “little surprises” and so having $1000 in an emergency account might be the best place to put it, especially the next time your car’s transmission breaks down or the HVAC unit in your home needs to be replaced.
Of course if all of your financial needs are being met, you don’t have any outstanding debt that’s costing you money in interest but you haven’t had a vacation, taking a vacation with your $1000 would be a fantastic idea. The memories and good times that you will have a vacation are well worth the $1000 investment as long as there aren’t any other financial needs that you have that are more pressing.
In the end, distributing that $1000 between your retirement savings, your regular savings and paying off your debt is your best bet but, like we said, if those are taken care of, there’s no way anyone could fault you for spending that thousand dollars (or at least part of it) on something fun and maybe even frivolous.