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Whenever you want something better than what you currently have now, you have to change something. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to keep getting the results you’re getting, so if you want better results, you have to be doing better things.

Today, I’m presenting a list of 10 (well, really 11) extremely powerful financial changes that you can make to your life to change your trajectory. As with all such lists, not everything is going to apply perfectly to your life. Personal finance is inherently personal, and you should look at lists like this as a buffet of options where you choose the ones that really fit with your situation and skip by the rest.

Claire L. graduated valedictorian of Queens University of Charlotte, a small private institution, in May of 2019 with two bachelor’s degrees, three completed internships and plans to “save the world.”

She studied international studies and sociology to better understand how to help groups of people abroad, but she didn’t fully understand the gravity of the $100,000 in student loan debt she would be taking with her on that mission.

After spending seven months applying to jobs looking for the right fit, she found herself sitting alone at her kitchen table, on the phone trying to figure out how to consolidate her monthly loan payment totaling $900. “I very rarely cry or get upset,” she explained. But after she learned it wouldn’t be possible to consolidate her loans without a verifiable income, she broke down in tears.

“It was definitely a shock,” she says of navigating the experience. “No one tells you…I didn’t know how bad the interest would be.”

Sometimes emergencies happen in life, and the best advice I have for everyone is to plan as though an emergency will happen sooner rather than later. Start building an emergency fund now, so that you have cash when things go awry and you really need it.

That’s great advice, of course, but it’s not helpful for someone facing an emergency right this moment before they even have the opportunity to start building their own emergency fund. The reality is that we live in a time with high unemployment, and even before that, four out of five Americans lived paycheck to paycheck.

The best long term solution is to prepare for emergencies, but what are the options in the short term?

Maybe your grandma gave you a savings bond as a gift back in the day, and you’re wondering how to cash in savings bonds? Or maybe you’re interested in a risk-averse investment but need a little more information on how do savings bonds work? Whatever the case, savings bonds are a wonderful investment that comes with the full backing of the U.S. government.

What is a savings bond?

A bond is a financial instrument or asset class that represents a loan between an individual (you) and a company or government. Savings bonds are bonds that represent a loan from you to the U.S. government. The government uses savings bonds to help fund operations and manage debt. Unlike other assets, U.S. savings bonds can only be purchased directly from the government and cannot be transferred to anyone else.