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Whether we like it or not, the world revolves around money. Those at the top made even more last year than everyone else, leaving many Americans in a precarious situation.
Nonetheless, if you are in a situation where you are looking to make more money, whether it is through freelancing opportunities, simple schemes, starting your own business, or improving your employment prospects, then you are in the right place.
Keep on reading this guide now for 20 great ways to make more money and become a happier, more fulfilled person in the process.
Start a Side Hustle to Make More Money
Around 50% of Americans have a side-hustle on top of their full-time job. The reason for this is clear, allowing people to top up their income with a second job. The only problem with doing this is that you do run the real risk of burning out.
If you do decide to go down this route, you have to make sure that you have both the physical and mental capacity to work more than one job a day.
Nonetheless, if done correctly, it allows you to make at least a few hundred more, often tax-free, dollars a year that can then allow your income to go further.
Invest in Higher Education
Sometimes you have to spend some money to make more money. This is especially true when it comes to university education, which of course, costs a fair bit of cash, but has been proven to pay back far more times than it is worth once you actually graduate.
This is particularly true now as increased demand and low numbers of willing workers means that wages are currently going up.
One degree in particular that people often extol the virtues of as guaranteeing a much higher return on work than any other, is an MBA. To learn more, check out an MBA business intelligence at Suffolk University in Boston now.
Try Investing
No matter how much money you make, it is a very bad idea to just let it sit in a bank and not work for you. A much better option is to put your money in investments.
While there is some risk involved, as the GameStop news has shown, people who invest at the right time can make some serious earnings.
With that said, there is some risk involved in investing, meaning that you should try and aim to have a broad portfolio to mitigate that risk.
Get Government Help
Whether you have a disability, are a veteran, or have children to look after, you might be entitled to federal or state aid without even knowing about it.
It is worth taking a look at government websites to check if there is money that you are entitled to claim. These schemes are designed for a reason — to help the more vulnerable in society. If it does apply to you, it is within your right to claim this money.
Found Your Own Company
The richest people in the world are usually either CEOs or founders of large multinational companies. While many of them had a head-start in life, usually hereditary, their achievements show that one of the best ways to get rich is to develop a product that nobody else has thought of before or take an existing model and improve it significantly.
In addition, by founding your own company, you get to be the boss, and depending on how you organize it, you can make significant amounts of money when the company goes public.
With that said, becoming a founder of a company takes a lot of work, so it is worth taking courses such as an MBA to learn entrepreneurial skills.
Sell Your Unwanted Items
One of the easiest ways to raise money quickly is by selling off your unwanted items. Whether it is your clothes, furniture, jewelry, or record collection, there are always people willing to buy the items that you no longer have any use for.
You can either choose to have a yard sale in your own backyard, or you can sell your items online using a free third-party service. For more valuable stuff, try to find someone reliable and maybe not online. For example, for earrings and bracelets you do not wear anymore, you could search for a local jewelry buyer to help you. You would be surprised by how willing people are to buy your stuff.
Ask for a Raise
If you want to make more money, but you already have a job, now might be the time to ask your boss for a raise. Make sure to wait for the opportune moment, for example, if the boss is in a good mood due to a recent success or performed particularly well and helped the company.
If you are particularly invaluable to the company, you could ask for more money or decide to switch to another work mode. If they still decline your request, then perhaps you should simply:
Switch Jobs to Make More Money
If the job that you are currently on does not pay you enough, now is the time to start networking, connecting with people on LinkedIn, and looking for a better job.
Although it may seem dishonest, you should not tell your current job that you are looking unless you have a firm offer because they may see this as a sign of disloyalty and fire you, meaning that you might have several months without making any money at all.
Track Your Spending
Sometimes one of the best ways to make more money is actually to cut down on spending. After all, it more or less amounts to the same outcome, having more money in your bank account month upon month.
Now, thanks to the power of digital bank accounts and mobile apps, you can track your spending online rather easily, identifying where you are spending too much and coming up with ways to cut down on that spending.
Get a Cash Back Credit Card
Did you know that you can get a fairly significant amount of money back every time you use your credit card? Not only do they offer you points that can be put towards travel or hotels, but they can offer as much as 2% on all purchases that are used on that card.
While this may not seem like a lot of money, this can be the difference between a positive or a negative amount each month, helping you to build up wealth over time.
Pay Off Your Debts
Debt can help to perpetuate a cycle in which you lose more money each month than you earn. This means that if you have the means to do so, you should be trying to pay off as many of your debts as you can.
Start with the smallest debt first, then snowball until you pay off the biggest one at the end. It might seem impossible, but if you manage to make more than you lose each month, a small amount can go to paying off the debt every thirty days.
Switch Savings Accounts
While interest rates on savings accounts are at record lows these days anyway, you are doing yourself a lot of harm by putting your money in an account where the rates are basically non-existent.
It is very easy to shop around and find an account where you can make more money from simply putting your savings away for a rainy day.
Generate Passive Income
Passive income is how you make money each month without then having to put any further effort in. The classic example people go for is affiliate marketing, where you can create a website and then let it take on a life of its own as people discover it through Google and make you money by clicking on the adverts and buying products.
Other examples of passive income are becoming a landlord or having investments that give you returns each month. Of course, it helps to have money and have worked hard in the first place, but once you are set up, passive income allows you to relax and take your foot off the gear whenever you need to.
Seek Advice
Sometimes two heads are better than one when it comes to financial security. This means that if you are making just under the right amount of money to begin properly saving, maybe you need a second pair of eyes, either someone you trust or a professional, to look over your finances to see if there are any overlooked areas where you can make extra cutbacks to allow you to save the money that you want to.
Also, if you are in a long-term relationship, have an open and frank discussion about your finances to make sure that you are both on the same page, and pool your resources where necessary to help you both save extra cash for when you need it.
Rent Out a Spare Room to Make More Money
If you rent a large apartment or own a house, you can use the spare rooms you have to your own benefit. Thanks to the power of technology and third-party companies such as Booking and Airbnb, it has never been easier to list your room online and get somebody to pay to stay there.
Then, you can either rent it out every month and act like a mini-landlord, or you can do the room up and treat it more like a holiday home for tourists. Either way, this can be one of the best ways to make more money.
Ask Family and Friends for a Loan
If you are truly in a spot of bother, there is always the possibility that you can ask trusted family and friends for a loan. You would be surprised how generous people can be if you honestly lay out the case as to why you need money.
However, if you do go down this route, you should make sure that this is only a one-time ask. If you borrow money regularly from family and friends and do not manage to pay it back, you will quickly lose their trust.
Do Your Tax Return to Make More Money
While it may not be the most exciting part of life, it is good to do your tax return each year to see if there is any money you may owe.
Not only is this a legal requirement if you are a freelancer or business owner, but it might get you a significant refund if you are a salaried employee who was accidentally overcharged.
What is even better is that you can use third-party services to handle all the boring parts for you, allowing you to focus on what truly matters.
Check For Unclaimed Money
As the government points out in this article, you might actually be owed money that you do not even know about. There are a whole bunch of reasons why you might be owed money by several institutions, whether it is unpaid wages, unclaimed pensions from employers, insurance refunds, bank mistakes, and more.
Just make sure that, if you do claim this money that you believe you are owed, you do it through official channels, as these types of claims are often exploited by robocallers, currently a long-suffering thorn in the side of millions of Americans.
Recycle Your Bottles for Money
A simple way to make more money is to recycle bottles if you live in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont.
While it is pretty time-intensive to walk around a city looking for bottles, a clever idea is to remember to recycle your own while perhaps also occasionally hosting a massive bring-your-own-drinks party in your home. Afterward, the people that leave their drinks behind are basically just giving you free money!
Try P2P Lending
If you have enough start-up capital to do so, you can always try peer-to-peer lending. While it can be a risky venture, it involves becoming a loaner to people in a network, who then repay the money back with interest.
The trick here is to fully do your research on the people to whom you are lending money, to make sure that you can trust them fully to successfully pay you back.
