Millennials live in a time full of financial challenges; there’s no denying that. Whether we are just not trusted, or if it’s because the cost of living is always on the rise. Regardless, it’s a challenge. But, there are ways to become a financially strong millennial. For any millennial out there, wondering how to take hold of your finances, this post is for you!
Organize and Economize
If you find yourself struggling with your finances, then the first tip we have for you is to begin organizing and economizing. Organizing is as precise as it sounds, take to recording absolutely everything that takes place regarding your expenditures or outgoing money and incoming money, all of it. This is for several reasons. The first reason is that it helps to keep a tighter hold on your finances and ultimately stop your spending from spiraling out of control. And second, financial records provide evidence if you find yourself in trouble. My favorite way to organize my finances is Mint. Mint gathers information from all your financial assets, helps you create a budget, and work toward saving goals while providing you with useful spending and income trend information. I have been using it for over seven years, and I don’t know what I would do without it.
One way of organizing your financial information is generating payroll check stubs on a site such as PaystubCreator.net and then keeping them in an organized fashion. You could also be keeping all the invoices you receive, both in the world of bill paying and in the world of income, so that you can always prove you have both paid debt that you owe and have been paid.
Economizing refers to eliminating unnecessary spending and utilizing a budget. Before making a purchase, take a deep breath, and ask yourself, ‘do I really need this?’ and if you do need it, ask yourself ‘is there a cheaper alternative that will work just fine?’ Another way to economize your finances and eliminate splurges is to go shopping with a list, never deviating from this list no matter the deal or discount. It’s hard, don’t get me wrong, I struggle all the time! But it is doable!
Get Ready for Retirement
Even if your planned age of retirement is well over four decades away, it’s still important to start planning and saving for it now. This is because believe it or not, as millennials, we are in an ideal position to do so (at least compared to past young generations). Starting your retirement fund now is important because your money will grow and accrue interest and the longer it is growing, the more money you will have when you go to retire.
Specifically, what you should be doing is beginning to contribute to a Roth retirement fund option. This is a fund that both you and your employers will contribute to, meaning money will be growing within it whilst you work. A good piece of advice is to match whatever your employer contributes. If your employers do not contribute then it is up to you to save, add it to your new budget!
Now that you have a better idea of how to begin your journey toward financial strength, get going! Start organizing your financial life with the use of budgeting, shopping lists, filing systems, or whatever else works for you!
This post was written in collaboration. This means that while I have added to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not its original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation.
