In your thirties, you may find yourself facing a financial dilemma. You probably make more now than you did in your 20s, even though your costs seem to be going up at the same rate. Building wealth might not seem possible when you have a mortgage or rent, a growing family, and the general cost of living is going up all the time. But you can do it without starving or skipping coffee on weekends.
The key is to be smarter with your money instead of harder. Let’s talk about how you can start making real money in your 30s without giving up the life you’ve worked so hard to build.
The Power of computerised Money Management
Many busy people in their 30s have found that automation is one of the best ways to make money. When you automate your investments, you get rid of the emotional hurdles and decision fatigue that can stop you from investing regularly.
You might want to set up automatic transfers of even $100 a week to a diverse investment portfolio. If you assume a safe 7% yearly return for ten years, this amount would grow to almost $76,000. The excellent thing about this method is that it works in the background of your life. You won’t have to worry about when to spend or whether you’ll remember to do it.
For Australian buyers who want to start out small, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a fantastic choice. They offer quick diversity and low fees, and most online brokers let you buy them for a low brokerage fee. If you start with broad market ETFs that track the ASX 200 or foreign indices, you can buy hundreds or even thousands of companies at once.
Getting the most out of your retirement plan
Australians can build wealth in a tax-efficient way through superannuation, but many people in their thirties aren’t making the most of it. The government offers big tax breaks to get people to put money into superannuation. If you take advantage of these, you’ll get rich much faster.
Especially since you are in a higher tax bracket, you might want to add more money to your super fund on your own. The maximum concessional contributions you can make in 2024–25, after accounting for your employer’s required contributions, is $27,500. You have room to add more if your company pays you 11% of your salary and you don’t make that much.
Giving up your salary is still another effective strategy. You can save for retirement and lower your taxable income by pre-taxing your super with your employer. If someone making $80,000 gave up an extra $5,000 in pay, they could save almost $1,950 in taxes and have more money in their retirement account.
Creating several ways to make money
Depending on your main job alone could make it harder for you to build wealth. When you’re in your thirties, it’s a good idea to look into other ways to make money that might offer both short-term cash flow and the chance to build wealth over time.
Many ways to make extra money have become possible thanks to the digital economy.
- Freelancing in your area of expertise
- Making online lessons
- Starting a small e-commerce business
These are all examples of extra income sources that can help you reach your wealth-building goals faster.
Real estate investment is another option that many people in their thirties consider. Real estate prices can be scary, but there are ways to get into the market without having to put down a lot of money. House hacking, which means buying a house to live in and renting out rooms or a separate dwelling, helps pay off the debt while building equity.
Smart debt management
Not all debt is the same, so knowing the differences will greatly affect your wealth. Your first goal should be to pay off high-interest consumer debt, like credit card bills. With interest rates ranging from 15% to 25%, these debts make it difficult to accumulate wealth due to their high costs.
But low-interest debt backed by assets that are going up in value, like a mortgage or loan for an investment property, can actually help you get rich. The key is to make sure that the asset’s growth potential is higher than the costs of getting money.
Using the debt avalanche method, make a list of all your debts and sort them by interest rate. Then, pay off the debt with the biggest interest rate first while making the minimum payments on the other debts. In terms of interest, this approach is the best way to save money over time.
Keeping your income growth safe
Although Journey Insurance may not appear directly related to wealth accumulation, obtaining the right protection is crucial for safeguarding your earnings. If you get sick or hurt and can’t work for a while, years of careful financial planning could go wrong.
Income protection insurance is more vital in your thirties, as you likely have more debt than at twenty-five. This coverage can replace some of your income if you get sick or hurt and can’t work. This way, you can keep doing the things that help you build your wealth even when things are challenging.
Life insurance and total permanent disability insurance become even more crucial if you have dependents or significant debt. These regulations ensure the stability of your family’s finances and safeguard the money you’ve saved from unforeseen events.
Getting Help from Experts
You can get rich alone, but a pro can help you maximise your plan and avoid costly mistakes. In this case, independent financial planning is very helpful because it lets you get personalized advice that fits your needs and goals.
Good financial advisers can help you make hard decisions about things like your insurance needs, tax optimisation, and how to distribute your investments. They can also help you stay on track and delegate tasks when things get hectic in your life or the markets go crazy.
Getting professional tax advice can also make sure that you are taking advantage of all tax benefits and setting up your investments in the most tax-efficient way. The Australian tax system gives people many legal ways to lower their taxes, though some of these can be hard to handle without professional help.
Ensuring that you understand market volatility is important
While you’re in your thirties, the market will likely go through several stages, with both bull and bear markets. If you want to build wealth, you need to be consistent, even when the market moves quickly.
Even though markets can be volatile in the short term, history shows that they tend to go up over long periods of time. People who stick with something during a recession often get the best results when the markets start to get better. This is why having a clear plan and sticking to it, regardless of what the market does, is important for long-term wealth building.
Using a Lifestyle to Make Money
The most successful people who want to get rich see it as a permanent change in their living, not a temporary sacrifice. This doesn’t mean you have to be cheap all the time; it just means being smart about your money choices and making sure your spending fits with your values and long-term goals.
Over time, small, regular actions add up to big effects that you can see. The person who starts investing $200 a month at age 30 will have a lot more money in retirement than the person who waits until age 40, even though they both put in the same amount total.
If you know how, you can get rich in your 30s without going bankrupt. The effort is worth the financial freedom, but you must be patient, consistent, and smart. Begin with your current resources, utilise what you possess, and take that initial step promptly.
