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The 30s is the time of the 3M’s, marriage, mortgage and munchkins!
However it is also the time to get serious about finances and building on the next chapter of your life, in this video – I’ll walk you through the top 5 financial hacks to do in your 30s, to set you up for the following decades.
Transcript:
Ah yes, the 30’s, you know how you wake up one day and somehow, your age has a big 3 in front of it?
In this video, I’ll walk you through the top 5 financial things to do in your 30’s. Make sure you stay to the end, as I’ll give you a couple of bonus tips, which you might not have thought about. If you wanted to check out my earlier video on what to do in your 20’s, make sure to do so here.
1 – What’s Your Budget?
OK so, the 30’s is a time to get really serious about your finances. Sure we might have spent our 20’s experiencing life and finding out more about ourselves, but our 30’s should be a time of increased focus.
If you want to get ahead in your financial life, it is imperative to be across both our day-to-day expenses to ensure that it meets our long-term financial goals.
If you don’t know how to budget or are after a good budget template, I strongly recommend you check out the government’s MoneySmart website here.
2 – Start Clearing Out Your Debts.
By this I mean to start picking off the low hanging fruit of your existing financial commitments such as your credit card bills, any interest on late fees, or personal loans before you consider the mother of them all, the mortgage.
Aim to payoff the highest interest debts first, then the next and so on. E.g you may want to payoff your credit card debt at 20%, then some personal loans at 15%.
3 – Maximize Your Income.
Our 30s is also when our income growth really amps up, as we become more established in our jobs and careers.
Therefore, we should be formulating an income strategy to get ahead during this time, and not just “keep on keepin on”.
Some strategies may be, to make yourself invaluable to your employer, by doing the tasks no one else wants to do. Or to work in such a specialised niche, that the barrier of entry is too high. Or it could even be starting your own business or side hustle to grow your income streams.
That’s the beauty about living in the internet age, there’s a guide to everything we want to learn.
4 – Consider Investing.
I am a big believer that you need to build multiple streams of income, and what better than to consider investing.
If you haven’t started investing or are still learning about investing, don’t fret – because you still have plenty of time in your investment life to go, over 30 years in fact.
Property and shares are the typical asset classes to think about, but be aware that they are typically more volatile than lower risk investments such as cash or fixed interest.
The great thing about investing in your 30s though, is that it allows you to create options in later decades.
5 – Build An Emergency Fund.
I’ve often talked about this, but not only do you have to think about offence in terms of investing, but also defence in terms of having an emergency fund or what’s known as a rainy day fund.
The usual recommendation is 6 months of expenses covered in your emergency fund for unplanned events such as a job loss, or a medical event, or even having your car fixed for emergency repairs.
Bonus 6 – Marry The Right Person.
This one might be a bit controversial, but money issues are one of the top reasons couples seek marriage counselling, as financial issues can cause significant stress in a relationship.
Without stepping on too many toes, I’d suggest instead of just looking at income and earning power, look at your potential life partner’s spending attitudes and financial goals instead.
It’s important to try and be financially compatible before tying any knot.
Bonus 7 – Avoid Keeping Up With The Joneses.
Our 30s is a time when people can be enticed to spend the most money. This is because we are still young and financially mobile enough to want to impress.
The key is to resist living a lifestyle we can’t afford to prevent us from making big financial mistakes that carry into the next decade. The biggest trap here would be lifestyle creep, which is the tendency to spend more as we earn more.
Don’t get suckered! It’s up to us to keep up – or increase – the savings pattern we started in our 20s.
There you have it! 5 hacks and a couple of bonus ones for what everyone should be doing in our 30s.
I hope you liked this video, let me know in the comments below what you think?
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