5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Finances

When it comes to finances, it’s easy to think of long terms goals like buying a home, a car, sending a child to college or saving for retirement. But before you can reach those goals, it’s important to focus on all of the smaller financial decisions that will end up impacting your financial health in the long run. These smaller goals are usually easier to manage and accomplishing them gets you closer to your long-term goals.  

If you're looking for a mid-year financial boost, here are a few things you can do to help you started.

Having a budget in place will help you control your finances but don’t forget to include yourself–or rather your long-term financial goals–as an expense line in your budget. Set up an automatic transfer from your checking to your savings account. The automatic transfer will help you grow your money and prioritize your long-term goals without even thinking about it. 

The more you know about financial topics, the better you’ll be at making financial decisions. Whether you’re looking to get better at investing or manage your finances better, a limitless amount of information lives online to help you make that possible. Hughes’ free interactive financial education tool, MoneyCoach provides you with a variety of financial lessons to help you learn more about financial topics like budgeting strategies, retirement, investing and more to help you get in better financial shape. 

Got questions about your credit score? Take advantage of online applications like CreditSmart, Hughes’ new online tool that provides you with credit reports and scores to help you understand the different factors that make up your credit score and what you can do to give your number a boost. 

Is your account balance low every month? Maybe there’s a big-spending hole in your budget? If you’re not tracking your spending, you might not be aware. No matter if you use the old-school technique of compiling receipts or a banking app like Hughes’ myHUB, it’s vital to know where your money is going. 

If you find that you’re spending too much on dining out, try planning a monthly menu to help you narrow down your costs and focus on necessary food items and eliminate the need for eating out. There are also menu-planning apps like Whisk and Yummly to help make grocery shopping and cooking a breeze.

Did you get a better job? Did your credit score increase? You could be paying more on things like your auto loan, credit cards and insurance. According to RateGenius, in 2021, consumers saved an average of $1,158 per year after refinancing their auto loans. Take a look at your current rates, shop around online and consider refinancing your auto loan. The same thing goes for products like credit cards. Explore your options and consider a balance transfer to a card with a better interest rate. 

While you’re out shopping, make sure to also research better plans and options when it comes to your cable, phone and internet service. If you find a better bargain with a competitor, give your provider a call and see if you can negotiate a better deal. 

Banks are made to put profit ahead of consumers whereas credit unions were designed to do the opposite. Because banks are beholden to shareholders, profit needs to constantly be generated. Credit unions also create profit but instead of going to shareholders, any profit is returned to its members in the form of better interest rates on loans and savings and fewer fees. 

Ready to make the switch to a financial institution that works hard to take you further? Find out why people like you are choosing Hughes. Learn more at HughesFCU.org