Last Updated on January 23, 2024 by Gagan Dias
Understandably, many young adults don’t know where to start when it comes to handling their finances as they start out in life.
3 Financial Tips for Young Adults
If you want to establish good financial habits early on, it’s important to arm yourself with knowledge about the right financial tips and tricks that apply to your life now. Luckily, if you’re looking for help in this area, there are plenty of resources out there that can help you get started on the right foot financially.
Here are three simple financial tips that apply specifically to young adults just starting out in their careers and independent lives.
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1) Start saving early
The earlier you start saving, the more money you’ll have when you’re ready to buy a home or invest in other assets. Even just a few dollars per week can add up over time; if you invest $50 each week at 8% interest, that money will be worth $186,988 after 50 years. That doesn’t mean you have to put away hundreds of dollars every week—it just means starting earlier rather than later.
If you’re trying to save for retirement, consider opening an IRA and setting up automatic contributions so your savings are taken care of before you even see your paycheck. If you want to save for something else, such as a down payment on a house or an investment property, set up an automatic transfer from your checking account into a separate savings account. Once it’s set up, it won’t take any extra effort on your part and it will ensure that you don’t spend those funds before they’re needed.
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Small business financial tips can also help young adults get their finances in order by figuring out how much they need to save for retirement and how much cash flow is needed to run their business. Financial planning is a long-term game but taking small steps now could lead to big benefits later on.
For example, automating your monthly contributions to a 401(k) or 529 plan could eventually result in tens of thousands of dollars saved without requiring any additional work on your part. And what about financial tips for small business owners?
They’re probably similar to financial tips for anyone else: paying yourself first (and making sure you contribute enough), automating bill payments, building good credit, and finding ways to reduce costs (like switching to energy-efficient light bulbs). The most important thing is that you make it a priority instead of putting it off until later.
Financial tips and tricks aren’t rocket science, but sometimes we need a reminder to keep things simple. It’s easy to let our day-to-day financial tasks pile up (for example, remembering to pay bills on time) because there’s always another pressing issue that seems more urgent.
But if you forget one bill payment, it could end up costing you hundreds of dollars in late fees and penalty charges. Financial experts recommend automating all recurring payments so you never miss them again—even if that means switching banks or services to find one with better rates or fees. In addition, many financial institutions offer free online tools like mobile check deposits or text alerts for due dates and low balances. Make sure these features are enabled so your accounts stay balanced at all times!
2) Negotiate Your Way to Higher Pay
Even if you have no negotiating experience, you can still save money by asking your current employer for a pay raise. In fact, job seekers who asked their employers for more money landed higher starting salaries than those who didn’t ask at all. You don’t even need to bring up money right away—you can start with non-monetary requests and work your way up to salary negotiations.
Ask your manager to consider assigning you more responsibilities or let them know how much you value working at their company by saying something like, I want to make sure I’m maximizing my potential here, so I thought it would be helpful if we talked about my salary. How do you think I’ve been doing? Do you think I deserve a raise? If they say yes, congrats! If not, tell them that because of their response, you will begin looking elsewhere for employment.
This may seem harsh but remember: they are in charge of setting your compensation package. It is perfectly acceptable to negotiate (or threaten) as long as you do it respectfully and professionally.
Be prepared to back up your request with examples of what you’ve done for them over time and/or other reasons why you deserve a raise. Remember, people often avoid asking for things they want because they’re afraid of being rejected. The worst thing that could happen is they say no—and then there’s always next year. Or maybe now is just not a good time to talk about it. But either way, knowing how to handle rejection isn’t an optional skill; it’s essential life knowledge.
When someone says no to you, it doesn’t mean they hate you or think less of you.
It means they don’t want whatever it is you’re offering at that moment. They might actually love you and admire everything else about you, but that one thing? Not so much. Think of it as a compliment: They trust your judgment enough to respect your wishes when it comes to certain things.
And although getting turned down sucks, at least now there’s clarity on where everyone stands—and maybe next time around, both parties will get what they really wanted from each other after all! So go ahead and put yourself out there. Say something. Get some practice in.
No matter what happens, you’ll learn something valuable from every single experience along the way—including negative ones. One day soon, that new job offer you were hoping for will come through and before you know it, happiness won’t feel quite so far away anymore.
3) Work on a side hustle
Many young adults fail to consider starting a side hustle—or something on top of their 9-to-5—because they feel as though they don’t have time. The truth is, if you take a few minutes each day to work on your side hustle, you can earn an extra $100 a month in no time. Here are three financial tips and tricks that will help young adults get started: Be smarter with your money; Track your spending; Invest wisely.
For example, try using the personal finance software Mint to track your spending habits and set goals.
If you spend $50 at Starbucks every week, start making coffee at home instead so you can put that money toward a vacation fund or other savings goal. By investing wisely—like in an index fund—you’ll see those savings grow over time. Remember, it takes time to start seeing results from any financial strategy.
Small business owners need to be patient when it comes to growing their businesses but young adults should also remember not to rush things when it comes to saving for retirement or even buying a car. Work hard today so you can enjoy life tomorrow.
When used together, these financial tips and tricks can make a big difference in how much cash you bring in during your 20s. Even just one financial tip can change your financial future forever. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start working on your side hustle!
Work on a side hustle: Young adults (Don’t use Young Adult; we want to talk about people who aren’t old enough to drink legally) usually refers to someone in high school or college, so let’s go with that. I’m going to guess that most people reading our site fall into that category, although maybe some older folks might read it too.
That said, let’s go with young adults. You might also want to say something about financial literacy here (financial literacy, perhaps?) since we’re talking about financial education for young adults. Let’s keep it short and sweet because you don’t have much space. Financial tips and tricks are things like Saving 10% of your income and Keeping track of your spending.
These are good financial tips and tricks, but they’re not particularly unique to young adults. If you can give us some examples of how financial tips and tricks are different for young adults than they are for other age groups, then we’ll be happy.
For example, do millennials really need to save 10% of their income? Do they really need to track their spending? If so, why? What is unique about the situation that requires them to do these things differently than other age groups?
Is there any particular reason why you think millennials would be more likely than others to start a side hustle? Why does having a side hustle make sense? What kind of side hustles do you recommend? How can someone get started with their own side hustle? How will starting a side hustle change their financial future forever?
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How much money could they make from starting a small business? Where should they invest wisely, and where shouldn’t they invest at all? Why should young adults work hard today so that they can enjoy life tomorrow rather than working hard now to build up savings for retirement or buy a car when those things won’t happen until later in life anyway.
This question makes no sense! Shouldn’t everyone try to enjoy life today instead of worrying about saving money now so that they can enjoy life later?! Just kidding! 🙂 The final sentence doesn’t make sense either!
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Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying the content.