After your first few years of working, you are likely to get more settled in both your working and home life.
You may start to put down roots in a place, and you will probably want to buy things that require more money like a home and/or a car.
To secure a home, you will need to save up the deposit and be sure you can afford the home loan repayments, insurance, water, electricity, and levies (if you buy in a complex) or rates and maintenance (if buy a free-standing property).
Depending on the car you buy and how you buy it, you may also need to save for either a deposit or for the full purchase price.
Achieving this is difficult if you haven’t yet set a budget that will help you identify how you can save towards a goal. Read more: Why budgeting doesn’t have to be a bad word and use the Smart About Money Budget Planner
Determine how much you need as a deposit and then work out how much you need to save using the Smart About Money Savings Goal Calculator
These goals are shorter term ones, but you can also set your future self up for financial success if you make a start now on saving for longer-term goals like your financial freedom and/or retirement.
If retirement is something you haven’t yet thought about, start exploring our Getting to retirement section here: Why should I save for retirement? and How much do I need to save for retirement?
If you have reached the settling down stage of your life, but you still haven’t protected your future earnings, don’t delay any further. Although you may think it won’t happen to you, statistics show that too many young people with most of their lives still ahead of them have had their future’s ruined by a disability.
People with disabilities can and do achieve great things, but people with financial and physical disabilities have a much steeper hill to climb. Read more: Do I need disability cover?
If love is in the air
If you are in a relationship and thinking of making it permanent, remember that you should be able to manage your own finances before you expect your soul mate to marry theirs with yours.
If your own finances are a mess and you don’t know where to begin to set them to rights, talking about money probably strikes fear in your heart. You are then unlikely to have meaningful conversations with a partner about your finances as a couple.
Sorting out your own finances will mean starting with a budget. It may involve getting rid of debt that doesn’t fund a growing asset, or investing in your future earning capacity. Read: How can I save when there is more month than money?
Dating couples often share a night before they share their views on money, because your emotional connection will be stronger than any rational thoughts about ensuring the way you earn and spend money are aligned. Talking about money may even be taboo for some people.
You can, however, save a lot of heart-ache if you have conversations about money earlier rather than later.
Start exploring how aligned you are financially, by asking about your partner’s childhood, the role money played, how the family made or lost their money, who earned the money, and whether money decisions were shared or controlled by one family member.
You can also explore your partner’s values and beliefs around earning money and living standards by asking about the time and effort put in to earning an income, how he or she decides to spend it and / or save for the things he or she has or wants.
Ask about cultural beliefs and how they are intertwined with money.
Look for signs of a partner who cannot control his or her impulses to spend and when spending is high, ask if it is within or beyond budget. This will give you an avenue to explore if your partner has a budget that also involves longer-term savings goals.
Ask about debt
Asking your partner if he or she has debt is also difficult, but you can lead up to asking this big question by exploring how his / her possessions were paid for and by watching how and when your partner uses a credit card.
Ideally, you don’t want a relationship that will lead you into debt when your finances are combined. If you are considering living together, starting with no debt could be a condition of moving in together.
If your partner can’t be open and honest about money, think seriously about what it could mean for your relationship. If your partner earns more, how will he or she share those earnings and if you will be the home maker, what resources will you have to run a home?
If you believe your partner is right for you, but you can’t reconcile your views on money, consider getting some professional help from a money coach.
If you are tying the knot, don’t forget the marital contract. Talk about the contract early on so it doesn’t become a last-minute deal breaker.
Should a baby be on the way, there is much more to do than exploring your financial life together.
You will need to explore how to create the best financial life to support the new life you will welcome into this world. Read more: How to survive the arrival of a baby financially?
