5 minute Read
Hello, beautiful people from across the lands! Personal Finance was a foreign term to me about 3 years ago. In the beginning, I had no idea how to learn more about personal finance and felt very overwhelmed. Overtime after finding people who know more than I did, my understanding began to expand. In this post, I share simple ways to begin to learn about personal finance if you are just started out. Even if you’ve been at it for a while these resources can still be helpful.
Research The Basics
With every concept, there are basic principles on which it stands on. In personal finance, some of the common principles are budgeting, saving, and investing. I would start by learning these basic concepts to build your foundation. When you begin to learn about personal finance it is important to know its personal. Which means what you learn can be applied to your unique money situation. Some strategies may or may not apply and that is Ok.
Budget
Learning to budget and discovering what budgeting method works best for you is number one in this finance journey. Think of your budget as the GPS or road map that will help you get to your desired financial destination. Without it, it is difficult to really move forward in the next two concepts.
Savings
Building savings is a very pivotal moment in your finance journey. 63% of Americans do not have enough saved to address a $500 emergency. Once you’ve completed your budget it should tell you how much money is leftover that you can contribute to your savings plan. Learn how to build your savings fast in this post here.
Investing
Investing is like the graduate school of personal finance. It is not as intimidating as you may think and there are very simple ways to get started like maxing out an IRA or contributing to your retirement. Investing is the tool that will position financial stability generations after you.
Find Easy Ways to Learn About Personal Finance
Podcast
I love love love Podcast. I am actually working on launching one of my own soon. Podcasts make it so easy to consume content as you can have it playing while you are cleaning up, folding clothes, taking a drive, etc. Read about my top 7 Personal Finance podcast that can help you learn about personal finance.
YouTube
Youtube is another great resource to learn about personal finance. Many of the Podcasts I listen to have youtube channels as well. Again I encourage you to read this blog post here to begin to build your library of go-to experts.
Document Your Progress
Develop budget
As I mentioned earlier developing a budget is the very first step you need to take in your personal finance journey. I recommend starting out with a written budget first to help build discipline. Grab a free copy of my budget template here to get you off to a great start.
Journal/Note take new lessons learned
As you are listening to Podcasts and watching the Youtube channels make it a habit to take notes of some of the key takeaways you learned. That can be in notebook form, apple notes, google docs, etc. Whichever works for you, just be sure to journal your process along the way for reference and refreshers.
Conclusion
Starting to learn more about personal finance does not have to be overwhelming and stressful. Start with basic learning to budget, save, and invest in your retirement. Begin to surround yourself with content that will expand your understanding of these concepts.
Find easy ways to do this by listening to podcasts and/or youtube. Read here about the 7 Personal Finance experts I enjoy listening to.
Last but not least document your progress. Journal and/or take notes of the new concepts and strategies you learn to be able to reference back or refresh from. Be encouraged and know if I can learn so can you.
Until next time dream, believe, and achieve.
