5 Tips to Be a Financially
Smart Young Adult

As you begin to make money and have bills to pay, anxiety regarding your finances also begin to grow. After all, they didn’t really teach you the words financial literacy, financial freedom, and bad debt in school. Now, here you are, just getting started with adulting, clueless about how to make the right financial decisions. Or maybe you’re trying to figure out how to afford next month’s rent, along with your credit card debt.

However, you’re not alone. In fact, a 2018 study found that only 22% of 18–24-year-olds were financially literate and stable. Financial literacy is the understanding of concepts that equip you to make responsible financial decisions. Being financially literate helps you achieve financial wellbeing, as well as reach your financial goals.

A few examples of these financial goals may include:

Having established the importance of good financial wellbeing, this article will list down several tips for making good financial decisions. These include the following:

Avoid Spending on Unnecessary Items

For some people, growing up, their parents taught them how to delay immediate gratification to afford their needs and long-term goals. If this wasn’t you, then don’t worry because it’s not too late to learn this attitude. The best way to achieve this is by always thinking long-term before making any purchasing decision.

For example, instead of always buying take-out meals and eating out, you can consider doing groceries and preparing your own meals. You’ll soon learn that this is more cost-efficient and help you save money in the long run.

Take Advantage of Cashbacks And Discounts

With expenses still being inevitable, you’ll want to be on the lookout for cashback and discount promos. With some discounts having a one-per-person policy, you might want to consider utilizing fake IDs. These can be easily purchased by searching online using keywords such as ‘fake ID maker 2021.’

Aside from shops, banks also offer these promos when you use their cards for your purchases. Of course, this must be taken with a pinch of salt. This is because it’s unadvisable to use a credit card when you lack self-discipline.

This allows you to save a little more money. When accumulated, you’ll find that you’ve saved a considerable amount of money. Then, you can use it to either treat yourself, or you can put it into investments or savings.

Now, with the money saved by following the previous tips, you might want to keep or grow your money. As such, the next tip will explain how to save and invest your funds.

Save And Invest

Having established the importance of thinking about long-term goals, like retirement, it’s important to save a portion of your paycheck. Aside from this, it’s also beneficial to save money for emergencies as it’s important to come prepared.

However, saving isn’t enough. It’s also important that you balance your savings with investing your money. This will let a portion of your savings grow with the economy as inflation is inevitable.

Now, saving and investing aren’t enough for achieving financial wellbeing. It’s also important to know where your money has gone and where it’ll be spent.

Track And Budget

Finally, to reach your long-term goals, you must keep track of your money. Additionally, you need to know where your money is going and coming from to eliminate unnecessary purchases. Furthermore, it’ll help you with your budgeting.

Budgeting helps you make sure that you’re spending within your means and saving enough according to your plans. By tracking and budgeting your finances, you’ll spend your money wisely and reach your financial goals.

Finally, having saved, invested, and budgeted your cash, it’s important to get rid of any debt. With this, the following tip will elaborate on the importance of getting rid of debt and how to do it.

Get Rid of Debt

When you borrow money, loaners will usually include interest with your payment terms. While you get to pay off the price monthly, the post-interest total is actually worth more than the original price. Therefore, in the long run, keeping your debts will be costing you more and more. As such, it’s important to pay off any debt as soon as you can.

Conclusion

To ensure your financial wellbeing, you must make responsible financial decisions. Hopefully, these tips have helped jumpstart your journey on becoming a financially smart young adult. However, remember that there are more insights and materials out there to learn about financial literacy.