How To: Post-Grad Money Management Basics
If you’re like me, money has always been something to be conscious of, but not necessarily focus on. I always knew how important it was to save before spending and to pay bills on time, but beyond that I was a bit clueless with no motivation to learn more. In the strange times we’re living through, the importance of properly managing money and making it work for you is more crucial than ever — especially as someone extremely new to the post-grad workforce. This is how my money journey started, and how I hope yours can get an extra boost:
Creating (and actually sticking to) a Budget
When I started out on the journey of finding a full-time job, I had a hard time quantifying exactly how much a salary should be. For someone who has worked commissioned or hourly pay positions for the entirety of her employment history, even something as low as $28k sounds like A LOT of money. That is, until you start to break down what your cost of living is. When it comes to salaries, how are you supposed to know how much to aim for if you aren’t sure what your total living expenses are?
Here’s where I acknowledge my privilege. I’m a first-generation college student from a modest, rural background. But I know that my parents would be able to help me out financially if I really need it. At this point, they are still paying for my phone bill, insurances, occasional emergency expenses and sometimes the last bit of my rent in months where my income has been less than expected. I’m incredibly lucky to have that safety net. Through scholarships and federal aid, I was able to graduate with less than $15k in student loans, and because of COVID, federal loans have been placed in forbearance — essentially meaning I won’t have to worry much about them until next year. I guess that’s one positive this year!
So I soon realized I needed to track my spending if I was going to have any idea how to budget my money. For the last 3 months, I’ve been dutifully logging every purchase into a Google Sheet. Now that I have three months of information, I can pretty reliably guess how much I’ll be spending per month on things like groceries, utilities, gas and subscriptions. I know roughly how much money I’ll be bringing in each month. I can also set a spending limit for myself on things like eating out or shopping for personal items. If you want to make your own, there’s a great monthly budget template and I can show you mine upon request to get yours started!
Because of this, I have a better idea of how much money I need to be making to be completely financially independent, how much I can plan to spend on holiday gifts and how much I can reliably transfer to a savings account to build wealth in the future.
Using Social Media to Your Advantage
We live in a time when the world’s information is at our fingertips. So much so that even figuring out what to Google first can be one of the biggest hurdles. Instead of aimlessly wandering the internet for financial advice, mobilizing some of the powerful resources you already have on your phone can be an incredibly helpful start in understanding how to make your money work for you. Isn’t it time you use the apps you spend the most time on for something more than dog blogs and photos of models?
Luckily, there are plenty of finance bloggers out there, and they’re part of a new wave who aren’t going to make you feel guilty for spending your money in a way that makes you happy. They just want to make sure you’re set up to continue doing that in the long-term first. Here are a few of my favorites:
Tori Dunlap — @herfirst100k
Tori was one of the first personal finance accounts I followed on Instagram, and she is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to getting a better understanding of money. She covers High Yield Savings Accounts, determining what your personal money priorities should be, the basics of investing and spending in a way that brings joy. All this content is free across her social channels (including TikTok!), but you can take it a step further by enrolling in one of her courses on topics like budgeting basics and getting a side hustle off the ground. She’s funny, easy to understand, strong-willed, and upholds a phenomenal personal philosophy: The best way to beat the patriarchy is to get rich.
Marsha Barnes — @thefinancebar
With helpful reminders, tips and other ideas you might not have considered, The Finance Bar is all business when it comes to your finances. Their information is always laid out in clean, easy to understand graphics and videos. This account is essentially all helpful content and no fluff, so it’s perfect if you want occasional reminders to consider your finances without over-cluttering your Instagram feed.
Vee — @veemakescents
Vee’s account is full of money motivation to help get your mindset around finances in the right space. She posts videos of herself actually writing out her tips on sticking to a budget or cutting spending, so if you’re the type of person who needs to actually see it in action, she’s your girl. Another helpful facet of her account is the occasional “notification” to transfer money from checking to savings, which is never a bad idea!
Amanda Holden — @dumpster.doggy
Amanda has a uniquely funny approach to understanding finances, taxes and all other things money by offering tons of information layered between bits of comedy. She has some great metaphors for understanding more complicated pieces of your financial life like a 401K, mutual funds vs. ETFs, and stock market volatility. She also has tons of tips for being thrifty and repurposing some things you may already own to save yourself a little cash!