I remember reading an interview with Larry Winget, who is known as “the Pitbull of Personal Development,” and is author of such books as It’s Called Work for a Reason and You’re Broke Because You Want to Be.

It was a real wake-up call for me. He was talking about a myriad of topics, including financial wealth, and if I recall correctly, he said, “Your life is exactly the way you want it to be.” The statement caught me off guard.

What‘s important to appreciate is there is no grey area with Larry. He’s direct, in-your-face and calls it as he sees it. So, it should come as no surprise that he followed up this declaration with another doozy, “Your biggest problem is not in your wallet or in your bank account. Your biggest problem is between your ears.” That one hurt – so much that I’ve been a faithful follower of him ever since.

How we think, followed by how we act determines our success. In many respects, financial success is about learning, identifying and seizing opportunities. So, if our problem is “between our ears,” then let’s shake things up and look for some opportunities.

Here are four great ways to make your money work for you that you may have missed:

1. Educate yourself.

Knowledge is power and if you’re seeking to build your savings, then financial smarts can tip the scales in your favour. Some people spend more time planning their family vacation than they do their finances. So, take the opportunity to take control – speak with a financial advisor, attend a seminar or take a course – but whatever you do, take action.

2. Renegotiate your credit card interest rate.

This can be as simple as making a phone call. I know, I did it. My credit card interest rate decreased from 19.50% to 11.8% with a five-minute phone call. All I said to the customer service representative was, “This high interest rate isn’t going to work for me. What can we do about it?”

Do some research on best rates and you may be able to do better than I did. Check to see what your credit card company charges new customers and chances are it’s lower than your rate. Better still, see what the competitors are up to. Knowledge is power.

3. Take advantage of your employer’s retirement savings plan.

Benefits vary from plan to plan but may include:

• Matching contributions. Depending on the features of your plan, your employer may match a certain percentage of your contributions. This is like receiving an annual bonus without even asking.
• Tax savings. By contributing to your employer’s group RRSP, you’ll reap immediate tax savings as your contributions will be made on a pre-tax basis. This is an advantage over an individual RRSP where you only see the tax break as a refund at the end of the year.
• Automatic deductions. Pay yourself first by having your RRSP contributions automatically deducted from your pay cheque and you’ll never know it’s gone.

4. Maximize your employer’s profit sharing plan.

Find out if your employer offers an Employee Profit Sharing Plan (EPSP), which allows employees to share in the business profits. An EPSP can be a great way to maximize your work efforts and build your nest egg. There are various stipulations and rules on how payments may be made, but it’s well work asking about. After all, you need to know the game to play the game.

I’ve taken a lot of Larry Winget’s advice over the years. So, with Larry in mind, I would like to share some of his words of wisdom: “It’s not how you start that matters, it’s where you end up.”