Planning Financial Stuff for the Twenty Something Generation

The first and most important area in the 20 something financial plan is to know how much money you have coming into your life on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. If your employment has a steady paycheck this is a simple task... but if you work a job on commission or with tips, then you will need to keep track of your income daily in order to get an average income that you can count on for your saving and spending plan.

You really don't need a fancy program or notebook, anything will do... just do it. write down everything that is your income every single day... then come up with a weekly, monthly and annual average.

Let's say you work in a restaurant Wednesday thru Sunday

Days of the week tips and pay check

Wednesday 27.50

Thursday 37.25

Friday 42.50

pay check 100.00

Saturday 42.75

Sunday 19.25

Total 269.25

So, do this for a month.

You will probably have an average total of around 1211.63 if you multiply by 4.5 weeks per month. Or multiply weekly income by 52 (weeks in the year) and divide by 12 (months in the year). come on now, you can use a calculator, right?

So this is how much money you make! So next, how much do you spend ?

For one month, you need to keep track of everything you spend... i mean everything and put them in these categories or ones of your own choosing... tally each week for the month and come up with a number.

Housing

your rent or house payment (include taxes, utilities, upkeep, and misc.)

Household Misc Spending

cable, non food groceries, laundry products, cleaning products...

Food

all your food whether it is prepared in the home or you purchase outside the home

Transportation

All public transportation or your car (include gas, insurance, upkeep and payments)

Consumer Debt

your credit cards, lay away commitments, student loans, other loans, etc...

Entertainment

movies, cd's, dvd's, concerts, bars, sports... you know... entertainment.

Clothing and looking good stuff

clothes, make up, hair products, boots and shoes, jewelry....etc..

This is not easy!

You may find that you spend more than you make and that's why you borrow money so often.

Analyze each section of both the income and spending and ask yourselves those hard questions...

How can I make more money?

How can I stop spending so much money?

There are areas where we spend emotionally, like in the Clothes and Entertainment areas, and often really put ourselves in a bind.

Food can drain you of money if you don't plan well.

What 'cha gonna do?

It sucks to be broke all the time. A little spending control might be in order or maybe a little motivation to make more money (complete that degree, go on a job search rampage and just do it!)