It’s been all over the news: A Reddit-based investment group, primarily made up of people just learning how to trade stocks, shared ideas on what companies to buy based on what hedge-fund investors were shorting. 

After these forum-based conversations turned into a collaborative venture, something unbelievable occurred: the inexperienced investors reaped handsome profits at the expense of the Wall Street investors, who incurred heavy losses.

Because of the high volume of buy orders placed by the neophyte investors, the hedge-fund investors were also forced to buy the same stocks as stop orders to curb their losses. At the time they abandoned their positions, the hedge fund managers were unaware of the reason for the surge in buying orders for the stocks that they had shorted. 

This buying frenzy catapulted many companies hard hit by the pandemic — as well as compromised by other market forces, such as pursuing analog business models in an increasingly digital marketplace — to suddenly have more than enough capital to recover from their long history of net financial losses. 

While one way of reflecting on this news story might be regret that you didn’t know about the unbelievable financial opportunity, another way to view this moment in stock market history is to repair your current finances to get in on a good thing in the future. 

With that in mind, here are five ways to create enough positive cash flow to make it easier to tuck away some surplus money into a savings account:  

1. Find a More Effective Way to Pay off Your Credit Card Debt

Millions of people had to rely on a credit card last year because the enormous economic problems the country faced after the pandemic forced many businesses to close. If you were affected by a business closure or job loss last year and are now struggling to pay off a high credit card bill because you kept on falling further behind on your balances, you might have noticed that most of your money goes to paying off the interest with very little of it affecting the principal. 

One way to get out of this cycle of high-interest debt is to pay off all your credit cards with a consolidated loan. Since this unsecured loan is based on a fixed interest rate, rather than the variable interest rates used by credit card companies, you will now have to pay a lower total amount.

For individuals that can’t afford or get approved for a debt consolidation loan, a starter loan is advised. If you have poor or minimal credit, the chances of getting approved for certain loans decreases. A starter loan is a short-term loan of up to $2,000. When borrowed responsibility, this loan can be used to pay down credit cards and improve or establish your credit history.

2. Take a Good Look at Your Finances to Get a Better Understanding of Where Your Money Is Going Every Month

Once you understand where you are financially and envision where you would like to be, then it’s time to pivot, pointing yourself in the right direction. Think about strong moves you can make with your money.   

3. Ask for Help

If you are not sure how to evaluate your finances, then ask a financial advisor for guidance. 

And if you aren’t sure what steps to take to manage your money better, then spend some time learning about money management, perhaps by reading personal finance books or listening to podcasts.  

4. Evaluate Your Financial Situation More Often

If you only review the progress of your financial goals once a year, you are not evaluating them often enough. Decide to evaluate your goals more frequently so that you can make small adjustments when you get off track. For instance, you could evaluate your goals every month, every quarter, or every 6 months.

5. Reward Yourself for Managing Your Money Better

A reward is a way of celebrating your financial successes. For instance, after saving $10,000 in a year, reward yourself by spending 10% of it on something fun. Emotionally reinforcing your financial achievements will positively reprogram your subconscious mind.  

What the Reddit group did was make people aware that anyone with the right attitude and ideas can make money. If you want to invest in the future, a good place to start would be to use these five suggestions to save up money to invest.