Keys to Successfully Managing Personal Finances
Your personal finances become a lifelong assignment and handling your money is one of the most challenging of all life lessons. As we grow up, we have our parents as models and guides. We have a career advisor at school, talking a mile a minute about college applications and future financial responsibilities. Teachers act as anchors and can help us prepare for life after school.
However, the real learning begins as we go into adulthood. Thrown in at the deep end, we can sink or swim. Effective organization of your assets is that very buoyancy; to see that you can take on the rapids of life. On that note, the following are some keys to successfully managing your personal finances.
Knowledge is Power
An essential factor in a successful future is education. Of course, not everyone opts to go down the college route but if you do, you could reap in many benefits in the long run. The world is an ever increasingly competitive place and certain careers require a degree. A golden nugget of advice is to invest in knowledge. Take out student loans. You will only get this enriching opportunity once so you should accept this vital support outlet.
They are made to be affordable and manageable, with low interest rates to suit your particular needs. Moreover, as you pay them back you will boost your credit rating. As you cure a patient, hold a courtroom, seal a deal in your top floor office or secure funds to start a business, you will be so thankful for your college experience. A way to be successful at anything in life is to simply do it properly.
Save Money
As the old adage goes, save more than you spend! Given that your personal financial portfolio is a project, there are always goals. For example, going on vacations, buying a house, planning for a family, contributing to retirement etc. All such things are expensive and complex ventures. They can go very smoothly but are never without bumps in the road.
Therefore, starting a savings account and devising it into sections from as early on as possible is crucial. It may be cliché but never underestimate the power of being better safe than sorry. Monetary security is a serious matter that demands logic and commitment. Having a savings account will always be a positive, always a saving grace. It’s also important to advantage of ALL tax advantaged savings accounts as well. If your employer offers a 401k program, then you should contribute at least enough to take full advantage of their matching contribution.
Even if they don’t offer a matching contribution, I would argue that it is to your benefit to max it out if at all possible. Typically, paying taxes on your income in retirement is more beneficial than paying it today. You get the benefit of compound interest on the tax-free earnings over the next few decades, as well as a lower (hopefully) tax rate in retirement.
Bank on Budgeting
In order to be economically stable, you should work out what you have in the clearest way possible. Then, you should diligently stick to a budget plan as closely as possible. You could use the 50/20/30 rule as a basic model. This is after tax deductions, dividing your income- 50% on needs, 30% on wants and 20% on savings. You can also alter and personalize these percentages as you like.
To the extent you can minimize the “needs” portion of his equation, you can save even more money. There are FIRE (financial independence retire early) seekers out there that have found creative ways to minimize their monthly expenditures. In turn, they take all of their additional disposable income and invest it for their early retirement.
The principal is that you are working with numbers, hence, face the matter numerically. Life is at times a messy affair and you can’t always be so stringent. Nevertheless, having a nicely set out agenda always there to refer to when you need it is surely the best mechanism in a well-oiled financial machine.
