The Top 6 Personal Finance Tips for Millennials
Personal finance can be complex as a Millennial: student debt, the gig economy, crazy real estate and renting costs.
I know older generations criticize us for our love of lattes and avocado toast, but is that really the source of our money problems?
You can save a few thousand a year making your coffee at home, but what if you decrease the cost of your home or rent?
Now we're talking potentially tens of thousands.
Same goes for your car.
There are little "hacks" or "tips" that may help a bit, but if you really want to move the needle, you need to focus on the bigger things.
That's why I decided to put together the top, most impactful, tips for Millennials.
If you already do these things then great! You're killing it.
If you're just getting started, these tips are a great place to begin.
Top 6 Personal Finance Tips for Millennials
1. Ignore investment trends.
A lot of people ask me what hot stocks or new crypto they should buy.
And when my response is questions like these they get pretty annoyed:
- Are you getting your 401(k) match?
- Have you funded your Roth IRA?
- Do you have an emergency fund?
I'm in the wealth-building business.
And building wealth has nothing to do with "get rich overnight" schemes.
If you're in it for the long-term, the hot investment trends don't apply to you.
2. Pay off high-interest debt.
I know we all want to get to the "fun" part of money: investing! At least I find it fun..
But if you have high-interest debt, you need to tackle it ASAP.
High-interest debt like credit card debt is extremely financially destructive.
You will struggle to make any significant progress while you have high-interest debt.
Pay it off with one of these methods:
And now you can get to investing.
3. Start investing.
Speaking of investing, have you started??
You may have heard of a thing called "compound interest".
Often referred to as "magical" because of the way your money makes more money and then that money makes more money and that money makes more money and that money makes more money..
And it goes on and on until you can hardly figure out where it started.
But this takes time. A lot of it.
So give it time, by starting as soon as you can.
4. Take advantage of retirement accounts.
Retirement accounts aren't just for people in or near retirement.
Your 401(k), Roth IRA, HSA, etc. are for you. Preferably today.
The government provides these accounts to encourage you to save for retirement.
How do they make them enticing?
Powerful tax-deferred status. These accounts get to grow without taxes interrupting them.
And some of these accounts allow a tax-deduction today.
Make use of these accounts by starting them as soon as possible.
5. Build a great credit score.
A solid credit score can save you A LOT of money.
Why?
Because people with poor credit scores often get penalized:
- Higher interest rates on loans
- Poor loan conditions
- High insurance premiums
- Rejection from employers
Get started with building your credit:
6. Track your spending
"What gets measured gets managed."
How will you know what to do if you don't know where to start?
Increase awareness in your spending by looking through your last 3 months of spending.
I'm sure you'll find some surprises.
Make sure you ask yourself if your spending aligns with your values.
And then ruthlessly cut anything that does not increase your happiness, time, or freedom.
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