Over the past few months, millions of Americans have found themselves applying for unemployment insurance and government assistance programs after the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. For these families, money is unusually tight, and traditional money-saving tactics may not be enough to keep their bank accounts adequate enough to keep up with life’s big expenses.
If you are one of those individuals who have suffered financially as a result of the health crisis, you may want to consider adopting a strategy or two to save your pennies. Fortunately, there are ways that you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars today.
1. Invest to Build Wealth
While investing may not technically be a money-saving tactic, since you need up-front capital, it is one of the best ways to help grow your money and build wealth over time to save for a rainy day. Having a savings account is a great way to put money aside, but the minimal interest rates that the average account pays out will probably not do much in terms of growing your wealth.
Instead, a sound investment vehicle can help your hard-earned money grow much more quickly and bring in a higher ROI while hedging against risk. The key is to choose an investment that is conservative in nature but still pays out handsomely.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds are a great place to start for beginner investors – whether you have a young family or are nearing retirement – because of their low expense ratios, low investment requirements, lower risk factor, and diversification.
2. Take Advantage of Today’s Low Rates and Refinance
If you are a homeowner, you may want to pay attention to what mortgage interest rates are doing right now. For the past few months, rates have been on a downtrend and have hit all-time lows multiple times since the beginning of the year. New home buyers who are taking out mortgages are reaping the rewards of these low rates, making mortgages much more affordable.
Just because you already have a mortgage in place with a higher rate doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of today’s historically-low rates either. By refinancing your mortgage, you can significantly lower your mortgage interest rate and start saving money right away.
Depending on how much you still owe and how long your amortization period is, you could potentially save tens of thousands of dollars over your entire mortgage term.
3. Switch to a Health Share Program
The cost of medical care is incredibly high. Even if you have health insurance, you’re likely paying hundreds of dollars every month to have medical coverage. In many cases, the medical requirements you have simply don’t justify the costs you’re paying for health insurance.
One excellent alternative to costly medical insurance is health sharing programs. Members of health sharing programs can often cut their monthly expenses in half. Further, health share programs offer flexibility and freedom to choose which primary care physicians or specialists they see from a large, national provider network, rather than having to be restricted to the small, local or regional network of professionals often seen under a typical insurance plan.
If you are looking to save money on your monthly healthcare expenses and have questions about how health share programs work, get in touch with USHealthShare today to see how health sharing saves money.
