One statement that gets thrown around by people who have read a few personal finance books and had an epiphany is “make your money work for you”. It is after all solid advice, money is to be used as a tool to achieve the things you desire rather than as an end goal in itself. Making your money work for you is the key to making your life the life you want to live. So how do you go about making your money work for you? You can’t exactly send money out there to get a job. There are many ways to do this and we are going to discuss them.

Investing

Investing is the first example that many if not all would name. It is the act of putting money into a place, product or group of people and getting more money in return. And that is making your money work for you. Use your money to create more money. We talk about investing a lot here in various forms and we love to encourage people to get into it. There are many ways and options available to invest even in Zimbabwe with comparatively limited options. Investing is also attractive because in the right circumstances it gives you more money which you can further invest to earn even more money. That’s money working for you.

Building capacity

The second way of making your money work for you is by building capacity. This involves purchasing assets which improve your ability to deliver whatever it is you deliver. A web or graphic designer buying a better computer or fast food store owner buying a vehicle that can be used for delivery of food or good examples of capacity building. These examples make it sound like it’s something for people in business only but it’s not. It’s available to anyone and it’s about looking at the things you do and asking yourself if there is a way to do them better.  By better, I mean at a lower cost or increasing the output.

Buying time

The one resource we do not control is time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day and this is not a jab at anyone out there who is struggling but simply an acknowledgement of the fact that we have no control over time. However, we can make decisions that determine how much of this time we have available to work, spend with friends and family or whatever else we want to do with our time. We buy time in many different ways and through many different things. Employing someone to take care of particular tasks is an example of buying time. So is buying machines to make work lighter or quicker. In this way, your money works for you by giving you greater freedom with your time. This allows you to employ your time in other areas be these areas that you simply feel need more time or areas that increase your output and/or income.

Buying peace of mind

It may be a stretch to call it buying peace of mind. However, a good way to make your money work for you is by purchasing products that give you a degree of security over the state of things in your life. The obvious example that springs to mind are something like paying for home security guards or systems. Security is often ignored as a way of making your money work for you but it is one of the best ways to do so. It also isn’t always packed in a security guard uniform. It could be expressed in choices such as where one lives. Being in a place or state where you are not at high risk of loss comes with a mind that is liberated to focus on other matters. It’s hard to put a price on that.

Guaranteeing a result

Finally using your money in a way that guarantees a result is another great way to make your money work for you. If you bought something valuable, say bought one of those capacity-building assets that we just mentioned, purchasing insurance for it means that you know that whatever should happen you will have the asset or the ability to replace the asset (which still amounts to having the asset). Using your money to guarantee outcomes counts as making your money work for you.