5 Things You Can Do In Your 20s That Your Future Financial Self Will Thank You For

(((Welp. Some of this did not age well did it?)))

5 Things You Can Do In Your 20s That Your Future Financial Self Will Thank You For (& that you should really do at any age if you haven’t already)

1️⃣ 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝙰 𝙱𝚄𝙳𝙶𝙴𝚃 & 𝙻𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙽 𝚃𝙾 𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙺 𝚃𝙾 𝙸𝚃

Write down ALL of your expenses (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc...) and all of your sources of income and create a budget that happily marries those things.

Make it realistic so you’re more likely to follow through and, most importantly (because budgets do nothing without this piece) STICK TO IT.

It’s OKAY to budget in fun things - I recommend it. You will burn out otherwise and you’ll likely spend the money anyway. Put pizza in the budget!

2️⃣ 𝙿𝙰𝚈 𝙾𝙵𝙵 𝙳𝙴𝙱𝚃 𝙰𝚂 𝚀𝚄𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙻𝚈 𝙰𝚂 𝙿𝙾𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙱𝙻𝙴

There are tons of opinions about how this should be done, but at the very least, you should be paying the minimum due on each debt each month to keep from paying fees.

If you have ANY extra money in your budget, toss that money toward ONE specific debt. IMO this should be the one you can pay off the quickest, aka the smallest amount,

I.E., you have a medical bill that has $250 left on it, you normally pay $150 per month and you find yourself with an extra $100 that month. PAY IT OFF. That gives you a "quick win", which your brain loves and will make it much more likely that you will feel motivated to keep going. Then, the next month, you can take the $150 had previously budgeted in for said bill and use it to pay toward another debt, thereby paying off the next debt more quickly.

Continue this on all smaller debts until you get to larger ones, then start applying the “pool” you’ve created from smaller debts to whatever debt has the highest interest rates.

Keep this going until you’re debt free (Yes, you CAN do this, you debt crushing rockstar, you!) and then start worrying about your “nest egg”.

3️⃣ 𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽 𝙰 𝙷𝙸𝙶𝙷 𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙴𝚂𝚃 𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙰𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙶𝚂 𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃

Pick a specific amount or percentage of your budget and have it automatically drafted in to a savings account like VIO Bank that will accrue interest on the balance. Leave the money there and it will create this magical cycle called “Compounding Interest” which roughly translates to free money that multiplies without you doing anything!

Here’s a calculator if you’re like me and you like imagining how much money you’re going to have at a certain point.

*My only caveat to this is: do not bother doing this if you are in debt. The positive interest you are earning here will likely not cancel out the negative interest you are paying on debts. Just pay the debt off first!

4️⃣ 𝙻𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙽 𝚃𝙾 𝙲𝙾𝙾𝙺

Seems simple enough, but do not scroll past this one! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just learn to cook a handful of meals so that you’re self-sufficient and so that you’re not tempted to eat out every single night. I dare you to really dig in to your bank account if you’re currently doing this. It will completely blow your mind 🤯 (<— like this guy) how much money you’re spending.

5️⃣ 𝙱𝚄𝚈 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚃𝚈

I have suggestions for this, but everyone’s situation is different. The important thing is that you purchase something large that will turn in to a future investment for you.

In most places in the U.S., your mortgage is going to be WAY cheaper than your rent for a comparable property, and whether you plan to stay there forever or not is not important because you can usually sell after the first year and make a profit in a lot of cases IF you’re smart about your purchases - I do not recommend this route, but it’s an option. The key here is to have property.

*️⃣ 𝙱𝙾𝙽𝚄𝚂 𝚃𝙸𝙿 - 𝙿𝙰𝚈 𝙾𝙵𝙵 𝙲𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙸𝚃 𝙲𝙰𝚁𝙳𝚂 𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷 𝙼𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙷

I added this as a bonus because I’ve heard SO. MANY. PEOPLE. talk about how evil credit cards are.

Credit cards are not evil. The companies who create them, maybe 🤷🏼‍♀️, but the key here is that they’re only evil if you use them incorrectly.

If you haven’t reached a level of self control to be able to manage your spending yet, definitely stay away from them all together. HOWEVER - if you have no debt (outside of your mortgage & vehicles), and you have a solid budget in place, I suggest using your credit cards for the things in your budget like “groceries”, “gas”, “car insurance”, “cell phone”- really anything you can use a credit card for and then... PAY OFF THE CREDIT CARD.

We’ve been doing this for years and we’ve used the points we earned for more things than I can remember now. What people who have been burned by them won’t tell you (because they may not even know) is that you only pay interest if there is a balance at the end of the cycle, so if you’re only using them for items you already have in your budget, you can pay it off every single month, all the while earning rewards and never paying interest.

—

ᴡʜᴀᴛ’ꜱ ᴏɴᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪꜱʜ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ/ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅɴ’ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ 20ꜱ?