5 Signs You Need to Earn More, Not Spend Less

5 Signs You Need to Earn More, Not Spend Less 5 Signs You Need to Earn More, Not Spend Less “Spend less than you earn” - that’s a timeless and essential piece of financial advice. However, even among money experts, there’s disagreement about which side of the equation to focus on:   earning more money  or spending less of it. Unfortunately, the income side of the equation often is neglected. If you don’t earn enough, you might be cutting costs and micromanaging your budget, but you still might not see the desired results. Here are five telltale signs that it’s time to put away the budget spreadsheet and focus instead on growing your paychecks. Cutting costs  can be a smart way to start managing money wisely. Too many people tend to overspend on things they don’t need and might not even want. But every budget has a point at which it can’t be cut anymore before you hit your bare minimum of expenses.   Living costs eat up huge portions of your budget , but expenses such as rent or mortgage, food, and childcare often aren’t negotiable. If you’ve already nonessential expenses and still are struggling to scrape by, it’s a sign you’re not earning enough money in relation to your costs of living. If you’ve come close to missing one or more debt payments in recent months because you couldn’t afford them, that’s a big problem.   Missing a payment  can have some harsh consequences beyond the initial late fees and or a penalty APR. A missed payment also can put a   derogatory mark on your credit report   and cause your score to drop. It usually can take more than a year for a credit score to recover from making a late payment. You can try to manage debt through options such as   refinancing your student loans  or consolidating credit card debt, but it can be tricky. If you’re in danger of missing your payments, you might not have the income or debt-to-income ratio needed to qualify for refinancing. Instead, it might be more effective to focus your efforts on raising your income. Are you being paid what you’re worth? It’s an important question to consider, but one that can be tricky to answer. You’ll likely need to review your compensation and research   average salaries by industry  to be sure. First, you might want to review your income growth in recent years. If your income has been stagnant or hasn’t risen recently, it’s likely that your wage isn’t keeping up with market increases in pay. You also can use income-tracking sites such as   PayScale  to see if you’re being paid fairly for your area, job title, and level of experience. Or you can use job-hunting sites such as   Glassdoor  to compare salaries in your company to make sure you’re not making less than what your coworkers do. Money has long been a major source of worry for Americans, with 62% of people surveyed selecting it as a top stressor in the  American Psychological Association’s   2017 Stress in America survey . There are plenty of   causes of financial stress , from too much debt to high living expenses. Most money worries, however, can be resolved if you have more resources available and manage them responsibly. If your debt is stressful, for example, you can pay off a loan balance to get rid of a monthly payment. If your budget stresses you out, earning more could mean you won’t have to agonize over every expense. In these cases, increasing your income can be an effective solution to the problems that are stressing you out the most. Even if you’re doing well with your budget and income, you might be interested in growing your income. After all, having more money at your disposal will help you   work on reaching financial goals faster . Whether you want to get out of debt, start saving for retirement, or invest money, you’ll need to have the funds available. Earning more now will mean you’ll reach those financial goals sooner. Increasing your income is easier said than done. Unlike being able to cut expenses, you don’t always have direct control over your income or see immediate results from your efforts. But there are steps you can take to boost your earning potential and bring home bigger paychecks: It can take a while to see the results of focusing on growing your income, but the payoffs can be huge. While there’s a limit on how much you can cut costs, there’s no limit on how much you can earn. The key is to get started. Consider the above steps on how to increase income, choose one that’s a good fit for your skills and needs, and take action. This article was originally published by Student Loan Hero . Reprinted with permission.