4 Unconventional Money Tips On Reddit That Actually Work

Credit card rewards can do more than help make your next vacation a little more affordable. They can be used to improve your long-term financial health.

Brian Walsh, CFP at SoFi, has firsthand experience seeing this tip in action. “Most people I work with are much better at putting their credit card rewards to their financial goals than fun things like travel,” he told CNBC Select. For example, you can use the cash back from your credit card to fund your retirement account, grow your savings, or pay down high-interest debt.

If you use a credit card like Chase Freedom Unlimited® with no annual fee, you’ll get 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3% for drugstore and restaurant dining (including takeout) and 1.5% on all other purchases. You can then use that cash back reward to pay off your credit card balance when you redeem it as statement credit. This means your gifts help you live debt free or reduce your overall monthly bills.

In addition to applying credit card rewards to your financial goals, you can maximize rewards by using them for purchases you already know you’ll make (instead of using them as an excuse for extra spending). If you plan to carry a balance (which is almost never a good idea), any rewards you earn will be negated by interest charges.

Marguerita Cheng, CFP at Blue Ocean Global Wealth, says caring for her children is an important goal for her. She cashed in on her gifts for gift cards so her younger children could buy something for themselves. “My son and daughter love spending $200 each on Nike gear,” she says.

We all love a good deal, but scoring sale items is even better when it helps increase your savings. The next time you buy something on sale, move the money you “saved” into an actual savings account. For example, if you bought a pair of shoes that originally cost $100 but are selling for $80, take the $20 you saved and put it in your savings account.

Walsh identifies this technique as a powerful way to save money without having to think too hard. And Ramona Ortega, founder and CEO of fintech company My Money My Future, agrees. “Micromoney habits are part of creating better habits,” says Ortega. “This is one way to allocate those ‘savings’.” Walsh just added a warning to make sure you don’t use a sale as an excuse to buy something you don’t need.

Where you keep your savings is also important. Online high-yield savings accounts offer much higher returns than your traditional brick-and-mortar savings account, plus they’re accessible if you need to leverage your funds. With the account below, you have a chance to get a strong northern APY of 4%:

Consider buying large quantities of everyday items you regularly use (think toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) whenever they’re on sale. It should be noted that this is actually a suggestion touted by Mark Cuban himself.

This is a great tip because, as Walsh points out, buying essential non-perishable items in bulk for less can be a great way to cut costs and save trips to the store. “Fewer trips to the store not only save you time but also help you avoid the temptation of walking around the store while trying not to waste money on things you don’t need,” adds Walsh.

Plus, considering you’ll end up buying these basics again when you run out, you might as well get them for a deal while they last.

When you’re about to make a purchase—and ideally a large purchase—it can be helpful to reframe how much that will cost Really your costs by converting the price from dollars to the number of hours you need to work to pay for purchases.

For example, you want to buy a new sofa for $1,500. If you make $50 an hour, that couch will cost you 30 hours of work – almost a full 40 hours of work in a week. The idea is that by looking at the price through a different lens, you can better evaluate whether the purchase is worth the money.

Walsh loves this tip: “I love the idea of ​​understanding the true cost of buying because it helps you better understand what you’re actually trading in for that new outfit, concert, or car,” he says. “Understanding this tradeoff can help you appreciate the value of reduced spending and savings.”

Walsh also emphasizes that you should consider not only the amount of time you have to spend buying the item, but also the amount of time you plan to spend using the item. For example, “most people spend far more on cars as a percentage of their income than the time they spend in their cars on a regular basis,” he explains.

Not all (or even most) of the personal finance advice you find on social media is good. But the four tips above have been tested by financial experts and can help you achieve your goals.

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