Fitness is something that most of us strive towards. We want to be strong, fit and healthy. We pay for gyms, personal trainers, active wear, yoga mats and the best runners that we can afford.

We spend time and energy on our pursuit of physical fitness.

But how much time do you spend pursuing financial fitness?

How financially fit do you consider yourself?

If you lost your income tomorrow how many days/weeks/months rent or mortgage payments could you make?

As a mortgage broker I see way too many people not putting enough emphasis on their financial fitness, so here are my top 7 tips to improve your fitness when it comes to $$:

  1. Know how much you spend – don’t guess – know – like for real. Create a spreadsheet, make up some categories to record your expenses, look at your last 3 months spending and enter what you’ve spent.
  2. Plug any holes that are leaking money – is there anything that you’re spending too much money on or that you’ve got a subscription to that you don’t use anymore, or bank fees that you could avoid? Find them and stop the leak!
  3. Work out a spending plan. It doesn’t have to be restrictive, but you need to have some boundaries on what you spend each month. If you need to spend a little more in one category this month, you may have to reduce your spending in another to balance it out.
  4. Review your essential expenses to make sure you’re on the best deal – like your electricity and gas, health insurance, internet and phone.
  5. Stop using credit – especially if you don’t pay your credit card(s) off each month. This is the biggest waste of money and the biggest red flag that you’re unable to live on what you earn. Stop it.
  6. Set savings goals – they don’t have to be huge – like a deposit for a house, but small, achievable goals that work towards a bigger picture.
  7. Set lifestyle goals and figure out how you’ll fund them – they can be big, huge, audacious goals – but put some thought into what you consider will make a good life for you and then work backwards to see how you can make them happen,

Cash is always king, so my final tip would be to use cash for everything. This will take your financial fitness next level.
Pay attention now. Just like with your physical fitness, the rewards for your hard work will pay off.