Do not cut down expenses, increase your income!

Many personal finance experts like me often encourage consumers to have financial discipline, differentiate between needs and wants, track spending and spend less than they make. What frustrates me, however, is how we (personal finance experts) quickly encourage consumers to ‘cut down on their living expenses’, if they are to make ends meet.

Do not get me wrong, it is important to manage expenses especially with the high cost of living. The source of my frustration stems from the reality that there is a threshold as to how much cutting down expenses, consumers can make because most of the monthly expenses and commitments consumers cannot do away with. How then can consumers cut expenses?

This week’s article seeks to encourage consumers to focus on how they can increase their income to keep up with expenses.

The questions I often ask clients I work with are:

‘Instead of cutting expenses, what can you do to increase your sources of income?’

‘What can you do to increase your earning potential?’

‘What can you monetise from your skillset, resources or knowledge?’

Track spending and manage expenses.

A good starting point is for consumers to track spending, manage expenses and where they can reduce or cut expenses, I encourage you as a consumer  to do so. In the article ‘Ideas to help you navigate the tough economic times’ available on The Reporter’s website, I share creative ideas to reduce and manage expenses.

Increase sources of income. 

For many consumers salaries have remained the same or increased with 2-3% which is below inflation. Sadly, relying on one source of income is no longer feasible, especially with the increasing cost of living.  What can you do to monetise your skills, knowledge and resources?

In a  YouTube video on My Money Adventures Podcast and article titled ‘How to monetise and increase our sources of income’ available on The Reporter’s website, I share different ideas to consider if you want to increase your sources of income. Like my clients, what can you do to increase your sources of income?

‘What can you sell or promote that can help increase your income?’

“How can you leverage your many years of experience to help small medium enterprises and make extra income?

‘Do you have business ideas that can make you extra money that you have not started yet?

“The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth in what seems to be an instant” – Robert Kiyosaki

Quoting Kiyosaki when he said ‘the single most powerful asset is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth in what seems to be an instant.’

As we start a new month and festive season today, I challenge you to think about increasing your income instead of cutting down expenses. While managing expenses is important, think about how  you can train your mind to create extra income and build wealth. Wishing you all the best as you navigate the journey to unlocking additional streams of income. Likhomo!