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7 Brilliant Ways to Build Wealth After 40

Last updated July 20, 2026 | By FinanceBuzz Editors

Your 40s (and beyond) is a great time to get serious about building your wealth. There's a good chance your career is taking off and you're earning more money than you ever have before. With upcoming expenses like college and retirement looming, investing smartly and saving money are more important than ever.

Now is the time to make sure you're putting that money to work for you. 

Turn your home’s value into extra cash

If you want to pay a large expense now, like a home improvement project or credit card debt, you may have considered using your home equity as leverage to borrow a large sum of money.

But with interest rates rising in recent years, a cash-out refinance or home equity loan may not make financial sense.

Here’s a potential solution: Get a home equity line of credit (HELOC) instead.

Using LendingTree’s simple HELOC matching tool1 (yes, the company from the commercials), you can compare rates and see what works for you.

How a home equity line of credit is different: Your line of credit acts similar to a credit card, where you can withdraw funds when you need them, and you’re only responsible for minimum monthly payments for what’s called the “draw period,” which is usually 10 years. After this borrowing period ends, you pay off the rest of your balance during an extended repayment period, which is usually 20 years.

Plus, as a revolving line of credit, rates are usually variable, so you won’t be locked into a fixed rate if they ever go lower.

To get started:

  1. Check out LendingTree’s HELOC matching tool.
  2. Answer a few questions.
  3. Be matched with personalized offers for you.

Visit LendingTree

Set up direct deposit - pocket up to $500

If you aren't banking with Bank of America, you could be missing out on a huge boost of extra cash just by following a few simple steps.

Earn a bonus of up to $500 when you open a Bank of America Advantage Banking account through this page by September 30, 2026, and set up and receive Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new account within 90 days of account opening. Your bonus amount will be based on the total amount of your qualifying direct deposits received in the first 90 days.

This is practically passive income and a great way to supercharge your earnings. It basically takes no extra work at all other than following the steps above.

Open your account and earn up to a $500 bonus

Alert: In 2025 Americans lost over $10 billion to identity theft and fraud

That's right. According to the FTC, Americans lost over $10 Billion to fraud and identity theft in 2025.

But you can safeguard your data with all-in-one identity theft protection services from Aura which comes with $1,000,000.00 in identity theft insurance2per adult, to cover you should you have eligible identity theft-related losses.

An individual plan starts at $9 per month, and you can choose a family plan that outmatches most others - includes Dark Web monitoring to scour data breaches and leaks for your sensitive personal data — such as Social Security numbers (SSN), Medicare information, and phone numbers.

Before you make your next online purchase, protect what you’ve built for a fraction of what it could cost you if your data were compromised.

Save up to 68% when you sign up for protection today!