So, you are in your 18, and looking for financial tips. Well, as a teenager, you are in a very powerful position. Starting good money habits will put you ahead for the rest of your life. Therefore, founder activity loves to share these financial tips for 18 years olds, in order to help all who struggle to get finances in order.
In fact, you are not the only one who is struggling to get your finances in order. According to the GoBankingsRates survey, 73% of 18-24-year-olds have less than $1000 in their account. As a student, you may have student loans, credit card debt, and other things that disturb you for saving money aside. So, let’s take a look at how to cope with those expenses and the idea of saving money.
#1. Understand the power of Time
As 18 years old, you probably aren’t making a ton of money right now. But, the amount you making is not the matter. The matter is time. You can invest your little amount of money. With time, you can return your money at a rate. So, start to earn, save, and take the interests then time is rarely on your side.
#2. Improve a money-saving habit
How long have you been taking your breakfast? From your young age, you are taking your breakfast, and you have been doing it for so long as a habit. The power of a habit is the same as the power of time. A habit is something that you do automatically, without thinking too much.
So, when it comes to money, you just have to save money as a habit. Keep a habit of saving a portion of every dollar you get. As a 18 years old, you may don’t have a lot of expenses. So, you can easily save at least a half of the money you get.
#3. Track your spending
Sometimes, tracking your spending may be hard. Because cash is the hardest thing to track. To make this task easy, there are money budgeting apps like Quicken, Mint, and so on.
#4. Open a bank account
Because you are 1, now you can build a relationship with a bank. But before opening your bank account, make sure to research the various type of accounts bank offers.
The easiest way to choosing a bank account is, choosing a bank that has a location in your city. Then go there and tell them what do you want. They will have you set up in under 10 minutes what you exactly want.
Remember, a simple bank account should never have any fees. After you open your bank account, start using a savings and checking account to full their potential. And especially, don’t touch the money in your savings account.
#5. Open a credit card
A credit card can do great things for your credit. It will help you to deal with money smartly. In fact, the benefits of a credit card far outweigh the risk. Though this may seem like a not big deal at this age, it will undoubtedly affect you in the future. So, a credit card will be a great option for you to save money.
#6. Improve your knowledge
Improving your knowledge about personal finances is one of the best things you can do before starting to save money. The more you know about money, the less you are tied to a job for decades making someone else money and the less consumer crap you buy.
#7. Avoid from debt
As you are 18, you may don’t have any experience with debt. You are most likely to don’t understand debt. In the reality, debt means a huge expense. Though some people promote terrible loans, debts are poor financial decisions. Those people are targeting people who do not understand such things, as teenagers or less experienced people about debt.
As an 18 years old one, you may easily be caught for student loans, car loans, and so on. There are many people that still paying off debt from when they were young. So, do you like to be such a person? Therefore, don’t catch up on such terrible loans.
In fact, when you are young, you need to avoid any and all consumer debt. Consumer debt simply put is buying crap you don’t need to impress people you don’t even care about.
#8. Be careful about people
Have you ever heard about the pyramid scheme? Once the people heard that you are going to save money, you will soon see people promoting ways o make millions of dollars fast. It is not a matter of if it will happen, but a matter of when you will get contacted by someone looking to suck you into selling a crap product. They are crap. As you are young, they will promise you a way to make millions or never have o worry about money again. It is a big scam. So, be careful and save money through the correct ways.
#9. Eat from home
I’m sure, you as a teen, are spending a lot of time and money eating out or ordering in during your college years. You may have spent thousands upon thousands ordering foods. So, you can decrease this habit in order to save your money from destructive expenses. You can eat from your home, and eating from out randomly.
#10. Make money
Though you are 18, you have really dozens of ways to make money. You can do,
- Do freelance work from anywhere in the world
- Sell digital products online
- Writing blogs
- Start a youtube channel
- Starting a small business from home
These are only few ideas to make money as a 18, for more refer this article.
However, you don’t need to have a college education to be entitled to making great money at your young age.
#11. Making smart decisions about college
A smart decision is choosing to major in something that people actually get paid to do. A smart decision about college might be attending a local college for two years and then transferring to a more expensive prestigious college. And further, it can include the decision not to attend, or to delay attending for a few years and work full time to help pay for it.
Accordingly, financial independence is really a great thing. So, 18 years old is not too early to start to be independent financially. There are many people, that their biggest financial regret is a lot of them wish they had started getting serious about money much earlier than they did. So, you are very lucky to start saving money at a young age. Start now with these tips and so you don’t have to regret a few decades thinking that you are late.
