In your 20s, people may often tell you that you would have everything together in your 30s and know precisely what you want out of life and how to get it. However, for you, this may not always be the case, as everyone has their own timelines. You may not know what you want in life when you turn 30 and that’s totally fine. But in your 30s, you will learn for sure how to get more comfortable with who you are and your priorities for the future as time goes by. By this time, you might already have a solid career path, but still struggling to build your wealth. Establishing your wealth in your 30s will not be that easy even though you might be earning a lot already due to your age and experience. It is because, at this point in time, you are paying for expenses that you didn’t have a few years ago, such as starting your own fam ily, monthly house and lot amortization, or your business venture. While there are challenges to overcome, your 30s are actually the perfect time to begin saving and investing for the future. Hence, following simple habits for personal finance success in your 30s not only helps you to avoid debt, and save more, but as well as to create a solid plan for your future.
To help you stay on track with your money habits, below is the list of some simple habits for personal finance success to build your wealth in your 30s.
Simple habits for personal finance success
1. Be smart about how you reward yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with indulging in wanderlust or eating in new and cool restaurants as a reward for your hard work. It’s totally normal if you just probably made the most out of your financial independence when you first acquired it. You probably spent your earnings on things like expensive clothes, fancy food, or travel because you wanted to enjoy the fruits of your hard work immediately.
However, as we all know too much of anything is bad. Rewarding yourself all the time by splurging will not help you to build your financial independence in the future. Rather, indulge in delayed gratification and be patient. As you grow wiser in your 30s, you will learn that living your life trying to be in and fit with everyone all the time will cost you a lot. Society has put us under this kind of norm where instantaneous returns are more sought after than the goodness of delayed gratification. So in your 30s, discipline yourself to be patient. Patiently work hard for something you really want for your future instead of sinking into debt for your instant rewards and struggling to pay it back later on. Try saving more for the things that will benefit you in the future and not spend on things that will only give you superficial and temporary joy. As they say, there’s more joy in reaping what you sow patiently and diligently. As you hit your 30s, your priorities change. You start being mindful of the consequences of your decisions, and you worry less about how your life should look right now instead you give more focus to your long-term personal goals. The choice between hitting different beach trips every week versus saving for your down payment on your first house and lot becomes easier. So one of the simple habits for personal finance success to build in your 30s is to be smart enough on how to reward yourself.
2. Spend Less than You Make
Almost similar to the first listed money habits to build in your 30s above, however, spending more than what you earn and living above your means do not have the same intention of just over rewarding yourself for your hard work. Overspending talks a lot about your priorities. As you get older, you start earning more, generally that’s how it should be. However, as your earn more you also tend to spemd more to match your income. And this commonly known as lifestyle creep or lifestyle inflation. You’re not aware that you’re already practicing this kind of behavior because for you it may seem like, “What’s the big deal in buying some stuff? My officemates are also buying or into this stuff. Why shouldn’t I if I already have the money?” See, you start to justify your bad money habits without even realizing it. You even compare yourself to your peers.
Living a life constantly trying to impress others will not get you any further. You’re not putting yourself first by trying to keep up with your peers and letting them influence you on how you spend your money. Put an end in comparing yourself to others, especially those with your same age and living a lavish life that you cannot sustain. Conversely, start changing this by following simple habits for personal finance success like spending your money wisely and live within your means. But in reality, it’s easier said than done, you cannot lose your bad money habits you had in your 20s overnight. And that’s why it’s called money habits to build in your 30s because once you turn 30, you have now a more profound understanding of what you want to achieve. You can start by listing down all the unnecessary food, clothing and other similar expenses that you incurred in the past that you would consider as bad money habits. Eventually, you will realize that living on a budget brings you more peace and actually feels good.
3. Learn to live by a Budget
As mentioned above, living on a budget brings more peace in your life. You’re at peace because you know that you will not be sinking in debt for any unnecessary expenses and that you will always have some spare money to use in emergency. Practice being intentional with your money. Living on a budget is the foundation of building wealth and understanding where your money is going. Be mindful and talk to your money where it will go instead of wondering where it went. Creating and living on a budget are just some simple habits for personal finance success that are so easy to achieve.
4. Save Consistently
As you grow with age, your financial responsibilities also grow, you have more bills to pay, more family obligations to worry about and other similar responsibilities. That’s why in your 30s, saving your money isn’t just for your own good, you have to think about the people who depends on you. Saving money is one of the simple habits for personal finance success that anyone can do as long as you have the will. Ideally, your savings should start from the very moment you got your first income. However, it’s still not yet too late for you to save some money. Because again, simple habits for personal finance success don’t happen overnight. It doesn’t matter when you start as long as you constantly strive to achieve it, you will eventually get there. Saving money also gives you peace that when an unexpected emergency occures, you have money to pull out from your bank account. When things go south, you will thank your past self for saving up money in order for you to survive. Read more from this article to learn more: The 3 Best Reasons to Develop the Habit of Saving Money. If you’re justa bout to start your savings habit, you can use an auto-investment facility. For as low as one thousand pesos (P1,000), you can save this small amount every month until it grows and place it in an investment plan. Bear in mind that savings alone won’t protect your money in the long run. You have to be wise to invest it in some investments such as real estate. Investing in a real estate has a higher yield since real property don’t depreciate its value over time.
