I bought this book. None of that Dave Ramsey bullshit. That guy's stuff is good, don't get me wrong, but it's written for Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers who are in thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt. What about the guy who's a Millennial and not in debt? Cue in this book. Written specifically for a guy like me. I read that book when I was 19 and started putting money in my own Roth IRA soon afterward, and setting up my two credit cards I had with full auto-pay every month so that I don't need to worry about missing a payment. Since then, I have never had to worry about my finances. I have never lived paycheck to paycheck. Financially, I am set and am on the way to a nice retirement before I'm 65.
After I set it up and determined my goals it takes me maybe 5 min a day to categorize all my expenses and 30 min or less at the end of each month to review and adjust?
I’m a huge fan of the methods in Ramit Sethi’s book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761147489/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_2B5ZZ0NZXCPJF494X72K
Find out what landlords want in your area. Do they need first and last month's rent? Income requirements? Damage deposit? Renter's insurance? Is there a local college in your area? If you join their reddit, there will be discussions about the local rental space. Also might be a good place to look for roommates.
Create a secret bank account that your family doesn't know about to funnel money into as you plan your escape.
If possible, try to get a job. You will need one to get a landlord to let you rent and also you can save money for your escape.
Book for people in their 20s:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Ich hatte lange in meinem Leben kein Geld und ich musste das auch erst lernen. Also was hilfreich sein kann ist wenn du n Kumpel hast der da n bisschen entspannter unterwegs ist, den einfach mitnehmen bzw befragen. Ist eigentlich wen. Du brauchst halt jemanden der dich darin bestärkt das Geld auszugeben. Soll jetzt natürlich kein Stuss sein, aber jemand der dir sagt, so geil ist die Jacke nicht nimm doch die andere, oder selbst wenn's ne sehr teure Jacke ist der dir sagt die sieht super an dir aus, das Hilft doch.
Das nächste ist ein Konzept was ich aus diesem Buch habe: https://www.amazon.de/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489 Ist zwar sehr für Amerikaner ausgelegt aber trotzdem leswenswert: Guilt free spending.
Wenn du weißt, das alles was kommen wird bezahlt ist, dann kannst du ohne schlechtes Gewissen Geld ausgeben was übrig ist. Ausgaben die erwartbar sind sollten keine Überraschung sein.
Ich habe einen Haufen Daueraufträge laufen und nehme in der ersten Woche des Monats alles vom Girokonto runter was ich für was anderes brauche - die Versicherungen die im Januar abgebucht werden, Investments etc. Alles was erwartbar ist oder was ich möchte wird in der ersten Woche vom Giro auf ein anderes Konto weggebucht.
Was danach noch auf dem Giro liegt gebe ich ohne schlechtes Gewissen aus, weil ich weiß das an alles gedacht ist.
Ich hab mir mal ein T-Shirt für 70€ gekauft. Es war Monatsende und die waren noch aufm Konto und ich fand das Shirt gut. Ist sicher übertrieben irgendwo. Aber was solls warum nicht?
One never stops being frugal. Your frugal will not be the same as another’s because it’s based on your net worth, income, financial health, etc
Read “I Will Teach You to be Rich” by Ramit Sethi.
Python is eminently useful for many things! Tech jobs are definitely an option for you without college.
I found this Ramit Sethi book super helpful in my 20s—it’s very actionable advice explained in a simple, smartass way.
My best advice to you is to read this book by Ramit Sethi. It addresses pretty much all the topics you mention, as well as some underlying beliefs you may have. It hugely helped me when I read it, at around your age. Best of luck! https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=nodl_
It has a corny title, but Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich has a great section on salary negotiation.
It does a great job of explaining things and will walk you thru getting everything set up.
Hey There,
This might get lost in the reply avalanche, but if nobody has mentioned "I will teach you to be rich" yet -- I'd definitely encourage you to check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
It's one of the best personal finance books I've ever read and really think it's applicable across the spectrum of budgets. Think if you go to his website, he's got a lot of content and PDF's up for free and if you don't wanna spend the money and buy a physical copy, I'm sure you can get it from your library -- or you could do a one month free trial on audible, download the book and then make sure you cancel before your membership renews.
I found it to be an incredibly accessible and helpful book. Hope it helps!
I don't know what areas of personal finance you are struggling with, but I find books like <strong>I Will Teach You To Be Rich</strong> to be filled to the brim with lots of actionable info, provided you can get past the author's bravado.
Read this book despite the clickbaity title its actually just a system for automating your finances in a deliberate way to help you avoid making poor decisions and use your money for what you want to use it for. He also has great youtube videos on salary negotiations.
You should probably read I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Also, never come on WSB again if you're serious.
Thank you. I highly recommend reading "I Will Teach You to be Rich" for any young college student. Although the title is a bit optimistic, this book contains some of the best advice on the basics of personal finance that I've seen.
Definitely definitely see a therapist, it's the easiest and most immediately beneficial thing you can do in your situation right now, the other things will take time. I'd put that at the very top of the priority list because it's a domino action--doing that first will help you to do all the other stuff.
For budgeting, I highly recommend this book
For your job, get the hell out of customer service. It takes so much out of people. I would start by figuring out what other skills you've developed during your time at that job and looking into which other industries they can be applied. Or perhaps a non-customer service job at your company.
Once you have a proper cash flow and a job that doesn't make you miserable, you'll be a lot happier. It will be easier to maintain friendships. Although something to think about is that if people always leave you bewildered, angry, and frustrated, maybe you need to ask yourself what role you played in that relationship and take some of the responsibility for whatever went wrong. If you find that you're always the victim, then it's probably time to take a look in the mirror. On the other hand, it's also possible that you have been in the very unlucky situation of being surrounded by dicks. I don't know you so I can't say.
And I have no idea how to meal plan. It's impossible.
fair. Scope his book reviews on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489
I've read it. It cost me 15$ and has probably saved me 10k. Lots of posts in this thread are about financial education. It would be great if they taught that in HS but we have to take matters into our own hands if we want to get that shit handled.
I highly suggest you start educating yourself on /r/personalfinance because you greatly underestimate your finances. If you think you can afford to pay $25k/year in loans, with a take home pay (not counting retirement, which is usually 5-10% of pre-tax income) of $36k, you are very ignorant to this subject.
Try reading "I Will Teach You to be Rich." I think it has a solid explanation of basic investing.
The reading list in /r/personalfinance is a great place for resources like this.
The first book I read that helped be understand some core concepts, while remaining accessible and somewhat humorous, was I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi.
Read this book I will Teach you to be Rich
Its $8 and can save you a bunch of headaches.
You just have to be willing to make a change.
I managed my money poorly until last year. I knew I had to do it, but I never really put the effort to work out as to how. During October last year I realized I needed to get my shit together and started reading /r/personalfinance and /r/financialindependence.
Now I'd say I'm pretty darn good with my money. If you read, I will teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sathi you will know all that you need to set yourself up for a decent future.
Managing money became very easy after learning to how. Ramit is also an ENTP, so I found his book easy to read. There are other good books, like "The millionaire next door", but that one is very Te/Si and painfully boring to read.
I thought this book was a great introduction to such things, with real practical advice: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
And to address your concrete question: IRA simply stands for "Investment Retirement Account," which is any account that you're using to save for retirement. You're probably thinking "Roth IRA" when you say IRA.
The difference between a Roth IRA and a 401(K) is when they are taxed. Simply put, with a 401(K), you put money in the account before taxes, and you don't pay taxes on that money until you withdraw it - then you pay taxes on the money you withdraw.
A Roth IRA, on the other hand, you fund with after-tax money, so there's no tax deduction as you make contributions, BUT you don't pay taxes when you withdraw the earnings, so it's free money.
Smart savers will have both types of account, as there are advantages and disadvantages to both (think about employer contribution matching, for example).
If you want to get your finances in order I'd definitely recommend you get a copy of I will teach you to be rich. Despite the poorly chosen name, it's not a get rich book. I've read it and recommended highly.
I highly recommend this book. Don't pay attention to the silly title, the book is not about getting rich. It has very good information on how to build credit along with other tips for your finances in general.
The guy who runs iwillteachyoutoberich also wrote a book! It's fantastic and motivating, plus it cuts through 90% of the bullshit that other "personal finance" guidebooks have. It's wonderful and Ramit is a hilarious dude. It's marketed towards 20-somethings, but the lessons in it are valuable at any age.
I graduated with a good amount of debt--around $20k. I'm able to pay for mostly everything myself. I'm still on my family cell phone plan and own my car, so I don't have those payments.
I wouldn't move to LA if you have less than $4,000 in savings, which is what I had. I know people who moved with less and got jobs immediately (lucky) and other people who moved with more (around $10,000) (also lucky) and didn't work for a few months. It's all a gamble. The more you save the better off you'll be.
Read "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
It's an amazing personal finance book that teaches you how to easily set up a budget that works for any amount of income. Good thing is that it's targeted towards people in their 20s/30s.
Saving is all about one simple thing: spend less than you earn.
For someone who isn’t a financial advisor, I’d call this pretty damn good opining. If you wanna go more in depth on what u/RyanFromPropel is talking about, Check out I Will Teach You to be Rich and Money Honey. They’re both simple and practical advice on financial planning clearly written for a younger audience. They changed my whole mentality around money, helped me budget, and helped me figure out how to, practically set up all of my long term investment accounts.
This sounds more a personal finance question than a question about resolving guilt.
The real questions I'd be asking are:
The 80,000 Hours blog actually recommends Ramit Sethi's book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, for EAs who want to learn more about personal finance. (See item 8 in this post for the recommendation.)
I actually read that book before I was aware of EA, but I'd agree that it's a useful resource for people who are interested in donating more generously. I believe you would benefit from reading it. The author explicitly mentions donating to charity as something you can optimize for when setting up your finances.
Hope this helps at least a little bit.
I'd also recommend listening to this episode of the 80,000 hours podcast. There's some useful insight about how to deal with the guilt that EAs often feel.
Here's how I got started:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi
(it's a much better book than the infomercial sounding title would lead you to believe)
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
The Bogleheads Guide to the Three Fund Portfolio, by Taylor Larimore
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Three-Fund-Portfolio-Outperforms/dp/1119487331
Check out I Will Teach You to be Rich and Money Honey. They’re both simple and practical advice on financial planning clearly written for a younger audience. They changed my whole mentality around money.
You only need one IRA. You can’t put more than $6k total into a tax advantaged account per year. Having two won’t change that. The rules for 401k are different ($19,500 per year, I think)
Most folks say:
Max out your yearly 401k contribution or at least put in whatever the percent match is your employer will max contribute. My employer will match 5%, so I put in 5% of my income.
Then, max out your IRA. So $6k
After that, since you already have the emergency savings you can open a regular brokerage account (you can have as many of these as you want but you pay capital gains on them) and save more if you wish. I have a TD Ameritrade account that I have extra investment money in, and I also have a “play money” account to scratch the individual stock picking itch.
Again, this is just what I do. A lot of what I’ve learned (also 32 btw) came from Ramit Sethi’s Book and Money Honey by Rachel Richards
Just wanna give credit to the smarter minds that helped me along the way.
I recommend you read the book I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi to learn about basic investing and how cryptocurrency can or cannot fit into your investing strategy.
I recommend KISS Crypto to learn about the basics of how crypto works so you know how to choose what coins to buy.
So... we're in a "bull run" when it comes to cryptocurrency. Everyone buying in is seeing a rise. Back in 2017, Bitcoin dropped to $3,000 and hit a record high of $20,000. A lot of people bought in at that time, seeing how their money was going up.
Then came a very painful several years as Bitcoin kept going down and down and down (aka "the dip"). A lot of people sold and cut their losses. Some decided to "HODL" (hold), and they're seeing 3x the gains.
Cryptocurrency is gambling. The rule of thumb is, "Don't invest what you can't afford to lose." If you're okay with losing $125, cool. If you're not, sell and forget about it.
I'd also encourage you to avoid any cryptocurrency subreddits. They're mostly garbage, people shilling the coins they've invested in.
This isn't investment advice, just generic advice based on knowing your interest in Dave Ramsey's work AND Cryptocurrency.
You may want to research "DCA", because I'm assuming you're interested in crypto, have debt, and don't have a lot to invest all at once.
I'd also say that if you're in debt, you can look at your crypto wallet as an extremely high risk savings account. A lot of people who get into crypto are gamblers (though they wouldn't call themselves one). They don't put money in savings accounts, they rather pump it into crypto.
Then they realize - oh shit, for the first time in my life, I have $1000 saved up - because it's been sitting in crypto. (However, you can absolutely lose all of it, without warning, overnight. That's the tradeoff - high risk, high reward).
Again, it all comes down to what your long-term investment strategy is. I'm 30. Statistically, I have time. I can absolutely "HODL" my crypto for the next 35 years, if I chose to. My savings + emergency funds are completely covered so even if I lost everything in crypto, I'm okay.
My general advice to you: Make goals for your cryptocurrency instead of just dumping money in there. That gives you a reason to why you're investing, how you're investing, and when to withdraw.
Example: You want to buy a new gaming pc, but won't die if you don't get one. You want to budget $2500 for it. You are willing to accept the high risk high reward of crypto. You want to buy this PC in 1 year and give yourself a deadline of 1 year.
You can -> Put $45/week in a high yield savings account. It's super safe. In 1 year, you'll definitely have the $2500.
You can -> Put $45/week in crypto. It's volatile. In 1 year, you may have $2500, you may have much more, you may have much less. Regardless, you plan to withdraw in one year and you're at peace with the risk.
Hope that helps.
Saving is everything, I think. Equally, making a budget and sticking to it is everything. One doesn't need to be some miser or super frugal either to live well and save a ton. I saved 38% of my income last year, still lived well, at out a lot, and am working on my private pilot's license. And I don't make anywhere close to 100k a year.
My dad had a huge impact on my view of saving money, but I've also read a lot too. Ramit Sethi's book "I Will Teach You to be Rich" and Rachel Richard's book "Money Honey" and I'm super grateful for the advice in both books on the subjects of saving and budgeting (but also investing). I've read other books about investing that are super helpful, but the things that have helped me change my mindset on how to allocate that money to invest are credited to what I've learned about budgeting and saving money from books and my dad.
I solved this by having my salary paid to a separate account. The separate account has a scheduled payment to sent my salary on on the 1st of the month. (The idea came from the weirdly named I Will Teach You to Be Rich, which turns out to be an excellent book instead of a scam.)
Another way is a category called "Reserved for next month" that's just there to keep your salary for a few days.
You can also browse to next month in YNAB and budget ahead. Like you say, this is less than ideal because money hasn't rolled over yet.
My current goal at the moment is to re-start joint money chat with my partner. We've been saving aggressively in the past year (we decided to live on a single lower income and saved the rest of our income - we now have $80k saved), initially for the prospect of buying a house - but we recently chatted again and realised we don't really want to buy a house or settle in the town where we live in long term (the joy of DINKs!), and we didn't think we give enough opportunities to ourselves to splurge or travel as we should (we're only in our early 30s). We will check in at the beginning of July and we'll see what happens!
Also I'm prepping to have my first annual review chat with my boss next week and I'm planning to ask for a raise.
Weekly resources: What the Elle? Newsletter ( https://www.ellevest.com/newsletter )
Currently Reading: I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi ( https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489)
You've to enough questions to fill a book! And there are plenty of good ones out there. Start with this one:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
Great book, he has a free website too. Step by step on what you need to know and do.
Read this book. It puts everything in very simple terms. https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529981825&sr=8-1&keywords=i+will+teach+you+to+be+rich+ramit+sethi
I think this book would be invaluable
And the guys web site
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com
And this
https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/stock-and-bonds
And this
https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance
If you master this information at your age you will have compiled the basics that many people twice your age have no working knowledge of. I buy a copy of I will teach you to be rich for every 18 year old kid any of my friends have.
You're being paid for a service, so it'll be taxable. You may want to consult a tax attorney to figure out how much you'll owe and how to declare it. Many attorneys offer free or cheap initial consultations.
Pay off your debt first, because that comes with interest that will start accruing the instant you graduate. Do you have credit card debt? If so, pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first. If you don't have CC debt, congratulations.
Do you want to prioritize moving out of your parents' house? If so, put some aside for an apartment. Details here. Include a money cushion for food and expenses, especially if you're not employed yet.
Re: accruing interest. If you don't already have checking and savings accounts, you'll want to open those up. People will say look for high interest savings accounts ... but honestly, you're not going to make your wealth from there because their rates aren't anything to write home about. (Get them anyway.) You want to look into investing for the long term.
When most people think of investing, their mind jumps to stocks. Stocks are volatile and you don't want to go that way. Look at mutual/index funds, which spreads your wealth around to many companies or industries. What that means is if one company takes a hit, your overall portfolio doesn't change, so you're good. Stocks put all your eggs in one basket, so one downturn and you're toast.
Investment options you also want to consider: Roth IRA and 401(k). You can open the former on your own with a place like Vanguard. The latter is offered by many corporate employers, many of whom will match whatever you contribute to the 401(k) tax-free. That means they give you FREE MONEY. Definitely take advantage of both if you get the opportunity.
This is a really simplistic overview. To get a solid idea of how to manage your money (and by that I mean save, spend, invest and make more of it), read this book.
I would recommend reading http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489
This should help build a strong basic foundation. It's an easy read and you can get through it pretty quickly. The examples used in it make it relatable.
This is a very good question.
I have read many books, and most books are garbage sadly, having great ideas, that are in real life, not so easy to apply.
I will teach you to be Rich - Ramit Sethi - Link to Amazon
The Automatic Millionaire - David Bach - Link to Amazon
The Science of Getting Rich - William Wattles - Link to Amazon
You were born rich - Bob Proctor - Link to Amazon
Capitalism and Freedom - Milton Friedman - Link to Amazon
Here are a few of my personal thoughts, use them or not, like them or not.
As a young adult, these are what I consider the stepping stones to becoming adept in financial matters.
Because in life shit will happen, if your not prepared for it, your gonna screw your life up.
But here's my power tip.
Automate it.
What I did, myself, was find a high rate online savings account, not sure how many there still are atm. I used IngDirect which was bought by CapitolOne360.
Anyhow, one of the benefits of this online savings account, was the ability to automatically withdraw money from any of my other accounts every month.
So even if it's just 10 to 100 dollars each month, over time, you can easily build up an emergency savings fund.
Automate as much bill paying as possible. This is a tricky one, for some of my bills, I send in a generic amount, and usually covers my expenses, but you can also screw yourself up, by not keeping an eye on your bills. So easy to lose control, or banks have glitches, and end up with bills not paid on time.
Control Your Costs/Spending - Even if your rich or not rich, learning how to spend your money wisely on those things you truly value, and spending frugally on things that you don't value, can really save you a lot of money in the long haul.
If you spend so much each month, leaving yourself very little room for any problems that come up, your gonna screw yourself over.
This doesn't mean you have to be 100% frugal, but realizing you can prioritize your spending in your life.
What things are really worth your time and money, and what things are frivolous and should be more controlling.
Investing - Investing is like gambling, you better know what your risking, and realize you can lose what your trying to invest. So do not blindly assume that just because other people are making money by investing, that it is going to be that way with you.
Spending your time.
We all have so many decades and years to our lives, so how are you spending your time?
Are you doing what will bring value to your life and others, or waiting for miracles to save your life, that may never come?
What's on your bucket list, or wish list of things you want to do with your life? What are you waiting for?
Good luck!
I recommend I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Singh.
I second Dave Ramsey and would add I will teach you to be rich
I got this book a few months ago and it has changed the way I use money, for sure. I highly recommend it. It's designed for people in their 20s and 30s, which is nice for a book on finance.
First, create a budget. Make sure you are spending less money each month than you are earning. If this isn't possible, you should prioritize finding a job that pays more, or find a way to cut down expenses.
What really helped me was paying off my debt in the order of smallest debt to largest debt. This is known as the debt snowball.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
I had a lot less money. I read two finance books: I Will Teach You To Be Rich and Your Money: The Missing Manual. Both are fantastic. They definitely helped me out.
How long ago did you read it, and how much do you have to show for having learned from this book?
I may check it out myself, it's only 10.00 here: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
I'm partial to I Will Teach You To Be Rich. The author has a blog of the same name.
I think you need general financial education. Slip $7.69 in Jeff Bezos' g-string and pick up this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/
Also read the sidebar/faq here. Money for shorter term goals goes in a high yield savings account. Money for retirement goes into a couple of total market index funds at Vanguard. Max out your IRAs, and if self employed start a solo 401k.
Here are some books to read... I Will Teach You to Be Rich - Ramit Sethi
or...The Millionaire Next Door
I recommend an online savings account and throw away the ATM card for it. This makes it easy to add money to. Also, if you ever think about taking money out, it will take you 48 hours to get the cash so it will really make you think about doing it.
The best book for young adults IMO:
Sure. I recommend reading: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489
That's finance for people who are REALLY new to finance.
After you read that, read http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365
If you do what's in those books, you will be fine.
A great book:
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489
Kinda spammy looking title, but a beautiful resource for people who don't know the first thing about finance and want to get started in investing. A 10 year old could pick it up and set up personal finance.
can you save $1 / week ? do that for a month.Did you miss that $1? up us as far as you can, just before it's really missed.
If you keep on that path, re-evaluating whether you really need a candy bar or a Starbucks coffee when you can invest it instead, things get interesting really quickly.
I went from living check to check to now saving close to 20% of my income this way. The trick us to set up scenarios that take the decision making process out if the picture.
Ramit Sethi has a great book on this concept:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761147489/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_fx4KDb8BF8NYW