Money, money, money, money. Definitely one of the most important things in life that we need to understand and fully grasp, but yet fail to understand. Why is that? Well, for starters money is not taught to us in the school system. High school’s tell you to attend college, study something you want to, and then get a good job. They never mention college debt, taxes, the money you’d be making, the economy, not really any of that. It reaches a point when you’re towards the end of college and you go, “Wow, I have a lot of college debt, why didn’t I know about this or what am I going to do?” And you’re just shaking your head. I have friends as well as people that I’ve met that have over $100K in student loan debt, and are not even working in the field they studied in college.
You have to tell yourself that in this life you need to learn how to master money and make it work for you. If you don’t have money in the stock market, real estate, or a business I personally think you’re losing money and missing out on a lot of opportunities. When I look at life at least to me the most important things are: relationships, career, health, and money. Mastering those four things are very important. There’s obviously many more, but these are the four that are most important and they fail to teach us in school, especially money. I want to discuss a few simple ways on how to improve your finances.
Have a budget. Yes, you should automatically know in your head how much money you have coming in every month and what your expenses are. If you don’t know this, which I hope most of you do, then get on it and understand your monthly income! Maybe you have a side hustle, maybe you’re a bartender or waiter/waitress on the weekends and enjoy making the extra cash. But, know what you’re taking in every month.
Allocate money to your investments. What do I mean by this? Put money into your work 401K, Roth IRA, IRA, Brokerage account, etc. Don’t leave money in your checking account. Open up a savings account with an institution where you’re earning interest on your money. Having cash sit in a checking account with a bank is worthless and earn you little to no interest. I like to do a financial analysis on my money every two weeks. I check my accounts, make sure I’m transferring money where the money needs to go, and assess my goals. Did I hit my savings goal this month? I think assessing twice a month is totally okay, feel free to do more, but I think looking at your money situation twice a month will give you that idea of where you’re at financially.
Overall, when looking at your finances you should be tracking where you’re money is going. Always pay yourself first, you’ll be thankful way later on in life. But, remember to spend money on the things you love and that make you happy.