22 saving and investing ideas for 2022

When it comes to finding ways to save and invest money, the internet is overflowing with an extensive number of tips and tricks that people swear by! The thing is, not all money hacks will suit your unique financial goals, but the one that does might just change everything.

Keep in mind the choices you make with your money aren’t just about what you want to do this year, they’re about who you want to be in the future.

With that being said, here are 22 different ways for you to both save and invest your money in 2022. Any of these small steps can go a long way to improving your finances, so take what you need and share some of these with a friend over coffee.

Note from Kate: I’m re-sharing this article and podcast, because it was just so damn popular when we first published it in January 2022. If you’ve got tips for next year – I’m all ears!

Ideas for saving more money in 2022

Reduce, swap and pause your regular expenses

To quickly improve your finances, consider your current automated expenses. Do a bank account audit and go through your cards and accounts to cancel any recurring subscriptions and memberships that aren’t essential anymore. Don’t forget to review those pesky in-app subscriptions as well!

Remember, you can always resubscribe if you realise you can’t live your life without a certain subscription. If you’ve recently had a subscription renew and haven’t been using the service, it’s always worth contacting the company to see if you can get a refund.

Plus, if you’ve got a monthly subscription or bill that you plan on keeping for another year, consider paying the annual fee upfront for a discount.

Use cash back and savings websites

For goods and services that you’re already planning to buy, get around cash back sites like Cashrewards or discount hunting browser extensions like Honey, to keep some of your cash in your pocket. Both of these services offer free accounts to help save you money over the year.

Use round up savings apps

What better way to put some extra money aside for Christmas or pay down your mortgage without even noticing! Find a bank like ING which offers round up features from your transaction to savings accounts. Those small figures will add up over time!

Find a better deal on your health insurance

If you currently have health insurance or are thinking about getting it, sit down and look through free comparison sites like Choice, iSelect and PrivateHealth, to compare different policies and make sure you’re getting the best deal for your personal health requirements.

Like many things, the best deals are often only available to new customers to lure you in their direction.

Regardless of whether you have private health insurance, make sure you’ve got ambulance cover to avoid additional stress during a medical emergency.

Ambulance Victoria has a helpful checklist to determine if you have sufficient ambulance cover. Unfortunately, not all health insurance plans (especially the basic level ones) include the correct level of ambulance insurance, so it’s worth reading the fine print and not getting caught out!

Consider gig economy work

Supercharge your savings goals in 2022 by making some extra money on the side through the likes of Airtasker, Uber and Airbnb. Additional work and flexible arrangements could help you to reach your goals faster.

Get your tax return sorted and maximise your return 

If you’re the person that keeps putting off your taxes until your accountant reminds you that it is in fact time to get yourself sorted, gathering documents and expenses over the course of the year is a great way to save some money.

By making sure you’ve got your tax deductions lined up, you might get a nice tax refund to bolster your emergency fund.

Frozen easy meals (over Uber eats)

Don’t let yourself fall prey to the delivery app gods in 2022. Have some lazy meals prepared in the freezer for those late nights or early mornings to save you time and money

Pack snacks for the plane when travelling domestically

This was an excellent listener suggestion we received earlier this year. Instead of paying for some overpriced peanuts when you jet off to Byron Bay, take a cup of noodles on the plane with you and ask for a cup of hot water.

Bam! Instant meal for a few bucks (and you’ll be feeling very clever).

Work out the 10 things that bring you joy and reduce spending in other areas 

Earlier this year I shared the reflection things with listeners, based on the ideas from Ramit Sethi about knowing your spending dials. Download this PDF, follow the instructions and identify ways that your spending can be slightly reconfigured to bring you greater happiness.

Set up and automate your accounts

Take some time to work out the perfect financial system for your own circumstances. Maybe you like separate savings accounts for each goal or you want discretionary spending money to slowly drip into your spending account to stagger your purchases.

Automate as much of your financial plan as possible by setting up automatic transactions in your bank account when your pay cheque comes into specific savings accounts. You could also even try labelling your savings accounts with the goals that you’re trying to achieve to keep you focused.

Try using a reverse budget

Instead of dishing out all your spending money for the month as soon as you’re paid, move the money to a separate account and automate the payment of 1/30th of the money into your spending account each day. Then everyday is pay day!

For example: If you've got $1,000 for discretionary spending each month, you would transfer around $33 into your spending account each day.

Ideas for investing your money in 2022

Pick one financial topic to do a deep dive into

The Australian Finance Podcast has covered everything from emergency funds to ETFs over the past three years.

Challenge yourself by selecting one topic that we’ve discussed on the podcast over the years and take a deep dive into it and become your own expert.

Set up a regular investment plan

If you’re just getting started with investing, automating your savings and adding regular contributions to your account is a great way to consistently grow your investment over time and weather the volatility of the market.

If you’ve ever wondered how people turn $1000 into enough to retire on, the secret weapon behind this is compound interest. Okay, so it’s not as magical as Rumpelstiltskin turning straw into gold, but it’s pretty close.

The essence of compound interest is that your money grows over time as the income and capital growth on your investment compound. It’s often depicted as a snowball. The longer you let it roll down the hill and the more snow you feed it, the bigger it gets.

You can test this out for yourself by heading to the MoneySmart Compound Interest Calculator, and see what a difference this might make for your individual situation.

Dip your toe in with micro-investing and fractional investing

This is probably the quickest way to get started and dip your toe in the water as you’ll only need $5.

Whether you set up a regular contribution plan in your Raiz account or start buying small parcels of shares with Stake, there are numerous Australian companies offering quick and easy ways to start investing.

Examples to get you started:

• Raiz
• Stake
• Spaceship
• Goodments
• Sharesies

Sort out your super

One of the biggest issues with a compulsory super system is that Australians lose track of all their different super accounts, created as they move between jobs and change their contact details.

So much so that in 2018, the ATO announced that the total amount of lost and unclaimed super in Australia was around $17.5 billion.

The good thing is that if you create a myGov account and link your ATO details, you’ll be able to keep track of your super funds and find any money that has slipped through the cracks.

Invest in your health

Invest in your health, there’s no point being wealthy and dead.

A gym subscription isn’t a waste of money if you actually use it. Go to the dentist, get a health checkup, sort out your nutrition and diet, see the physio and so on.

Take an Australian holiday 

With many lockdowns finally ending, it’s time to explore your big backyard. Support local Aussie businesses and invest in your own mental health by taking a breather and booking a holiday. The last two years have been hectic to say the least, and we all deserve a good break from it all.

Give your house a facelift

If you’re keen to upgrade your house on a limited budget, consider painting a feature wall in your bedroom, putting in some new doorknobs and adding some fresh throw pillows. These small things can make all the difference!

Invest in your happiness

Pick one thing you really wanted to do during the past few years that lockdown put on the back burner and just do it.

It’s important to enjoy yourself along the journey. Don't pursue your financial goals at the expense of everything else.

Research and invest in a company that you love

If you’re interested in investing in individual companies, set yourself the educational challenge of fully investigating one company that you’re interested in.

If you’re still confused, Rask has a free valuation course and resources to help you with this.

Explore thematic ETFs 

If you’ve got your core portfolio set up, you might like to explore the idea of thematic ETFs, where you can express your views in a certain sector like green energy, tech or even a country, and invest in the change you’d like to see in the world.

Sort out your investment plan for 2022

Sort out your investment goals and plan for the year – think about how much are you going to invest each month, how are you going to invest it and what are you going to invest it in.