As young adult or someone who is in college it can be very tempting to blow a lot of money on dining out and other forms of entertainment such as going to clubs. Instead of doing this, do the finanically responsible thing and manage your finances to avoid debt.
If you don’t feel comfortable selling, don’t do it. If your stock is performing well, hold off on making any moves. You can go over the stocks that aren’t doing so hot and come up with a way to move those to more profitable ones.
When traveling abroad, save on eating expenses by dining at establishments favored by locals. Restaurants in your hotel, as well as in areas frequented by tourists tend be be significantly overpriced. Look into where the locals go out to eat and dine there. You will enjoy better prices and a much more authentic dining experience.
Writing down your monthly expenditures can help you understand where your money is going. Having said that, it is useless to write this down into a small notebook that you usually keep out of your sight. A good idea is to get a large whiteboard for use in your office or home as a reminder to keep listing your expenditures. It’s hard to overlook such a large board, so this can help your goal stay on the forefront of your mind.
Do not fall for scams promising you a better credit score by changing your report. A lot of companies don’t give all the information about their skills for repairing your history. Credit repair can never be guaranteed as every situation is unique, and the steps needed for repair will be unique as well. There is no way to guarantee success, and if a business tells you they can, they are lying.
Large fees should be a sign for you to stay away. Full service brokers levy fees for services they provide. The fees you incur affect your total returns. Avoid brokers who have high overhead or take a huge cut for themselves.
Garage Sale
Try to hold a garage sale, where you can sell all of your unwanted goods for additional cash. Let your neighbors sell their things for a small fee! Get creative with your garage sale.
Get a no-fee checking account. Check out credit unions, Internet only banks, and community banks in your local area.
Keep student loans to a minimum unless you are confident that you will be able to pay them back comfortably. If you go to a private college, you should be sure of what you want to do as a career.
Savings Account
Some people spend $20 to $30 each week in lottery drawings hoping to ‘win it big.’ Instead, invest that same amount of money in a savings account. When you invest your money in a savings account, you will be guaranteed a return on your investment. If you buy lottery tickets instead, however, your “investment” is likely to yield no returns at all.
One way to be sure you pay your bills on time is to set automatic payments which can be done at your bank. Credit card companies would rather see you make regular payments than pay your balance off completely. If you set up an automatic payment, late payments never happen and you can pay more than the minimum if you happen to have some extra funds free.
It’s always best to plan for the unexpected, sometimes unexpected expenses occur and have to be prepared for. Know your late fees and grace periods for all your accounts. You will want to know all of the ins and out when you get into a lease.
Explore online banking if you think this could help you manage your finances. Popular websites and software programs make it simple and efficient to categorize expenses, calculate interest, track cash flows, and create a detailed, reasonable monthly budget and savings plan.
Pay down your debt, and do not accept any new debt. It sounds like common sense, but sometimes it is hard to do. Shave off debt little by little, and do not accept any new debt! Working at it consistently will find you debt free and in a place of personal financial freedom.
Keep track of your monthly expenses and create a budget using those records. Make sure to pinpoint areas where you seem to be spending excess amounts of money. If you don’t keep an eye on outlays, no amount of income will ever be enough. Think about getting some kind of personal finance software to help you, since this could ease some of the stress of budgeting, and possibly even make it a bit interesting. When you find you excess money, you may be tempted to celebrate. It is more effective to use left over money to pay down existing debt or make a saving account deposit rather than a night out on the town.
You should always have at least 10 dollars on you in cash. There are laws in place that allow merchants to have a minimum purchase price when a customer is using a credit card.
You should realize that it is never too late to put personal finances in a better order. By taking this step, you will still be in better financial shape at 65 years old than you would have been had you never started. When you are dealing with financial planning, a late start is better than no start at all.
Learn from your past financial mistakes. If you have had to spend some time getting out of debt, take that as a lesson, and stay away from taking out too many loans. Try to learn from your mistakes, and negotiate better wages next time the opportunity arises. Take the time to learn about finances, and you will be rewarded for your efforts. Take the lessons you have learned and apply them to your finances in the future, giving you an advantage moving forward.
If you develop and use a budget, you can avoid getting into debt. Keep these tips in mind in order to stay in the clear and be debt free!