7 Financial Goals to Achieve In Your 30s (ADULTING 101)

make a million dollars buy a yacht and retire early duh it's so simple okay but for reals now that you've entered or you're about to enter your 30s what financial goals should you be focusing on first of all this video is not going to be about specific milestone numbers that you should be hitting in your 30s i think we already struggle with the feeling that a lot of us don't measure up to all the successful mega good-looking people we follow on instagram so i don't want this video to be about comparing yourself to where you think you should be and feeling bad about yourself so i'm not going to talk about how much money you should have saved by now how much debt you should have paid off by now that's not how financial goals work i know some people graduate college with no student loans others have to put themselves through school and take on a lot of debt others live in an expensive city where it's hard to save money and yet others have to support their families either way every person's financial situation is unique so there are no shoulds when it comes to money rather financial goals should be about being on the right trajectory focus on direction not speed so even if you're not debt free yet in your 30s are you on the trajectory towards becoming debt free and are you doing everything you possibly can to get there this is the kind of financial goal setting that i'll be talking about in this video instead of talking about specific numbers to hit in your 30s i'll be talking about what trajectories you should be on at this stage of your life i myself turned 31 not too long ago and i definitely feel like my financial priorities have shifted a lot from when i was in my 20s so now that i'm older and presumably a little wiser i'm excited to share with you these seven financial goals to achieve in your 30s the first financial goal to hit in your 30s is to build a career that you love and also makes you money i would say your 20s are a time of exploration self-discovery maybe trying out a few jobs that really didn't work out for you and i think your 30s is where you really hone in on something that you like doing and you really gain traction in that one particular line of work your income is going to be your number one tool for building wealth so it's worth the effort to find something you love to do and can see yourself doing for a long time there's lots of people who make good money but don't enjoy what they do and there's also a lot of people who enjoy what they do but don't make money with it so if you can find that sweet spot in your 30s or at least you're working towards it i think you're golden so i had all kinds of jobs in my 20s everything from waitressing and bartending ad sales well that was more like early college late teens i also worked in investment banking forex trading to real estate private equity to property management to bookkeeping a lot of different side jobs along the way and even though it seems like a pretty random hodgepodge of jobs all those experiences helped me realize that what i actually love to do is being creative interacting with people and helping people and also nerding out over finance and investments and crunching numbers the whole package so that's what led me to what i'm doing today teaching and empowering people with financial education and that is my sweet spot at least for now and i truly believe that when you have the passion the money will follow so do not spend your 30s settling for a job that you feel about you got to get out there talk to people learn about different career paths be ready to pivot if you have to but find something that you love to do and also brings in good money like i said before your income is going to be your number one wealth building tool so you might as well find a way to do it profitably and enjoyably so once you've got that income part figured out the second financial goal to hit in your 30s is to start converting your income into assets you're probably making a little more money in your 30s than you were in your 20s and if you're not careful it is really easy for lifestyle creep to eat up all that additional income maybe you're getting pay raises you're getting promoted yet for whatever reason you don't actually have more money you're still living paycheck to paycheck or just not getting ahead this is common if you make more but you spend more the net result is that you don't actually have more money than you did in your 20s you don't want that the last thing you want is to work hard all throughout your 30s and then have nothing to show for it so now is where you start putting those good habits into place when you start making more money keep your expenses low keep them low like they were in your 20s don't move into a bigger apartment and upgrade everything to designer clothes just because you're making more money just maintain the same standard of living and then use all that surplus income that you're making to convert that into assets so you got to think of your income as a flow of resources it's like a river of money that comes in every month but your assets are a reserve of resources so your income is that paycheck that keeps coming in and as long as that paycheck keeps coming in you've got money but if the river stops flowing you suddenly don't have money anymore and then you're in big trouble so that's why you need to have reserves you need to have assets you need to have money in the bank as a savings account you need to have investments that will take care of you and pay dividends and grow whether you are working for that money or not you need to have real estate you need to have a 401k all that good stuff assets that just goes to show your income or your salary is not what gives you financial security no matter how high it is because as soon as that money stops flowing the money is gone true financial security comes from having that reserve of resources of assets don't spend everything you make set aside a portion of your paycheck every month to buy stocks bonds real estate and to build an emergency savings fund so that's how you start converting income into assets you build up a reserve of financial resources that you can tap into if the river ever dries up checking off this financial goal is simple this can be as simple as calling up hr and asking them to route 5 or more of your paycheck to your 401k starting today or set up an automatic monthly transfer out of your checking account where you get paid and start putting 200 a month into a roth ira and start investing in some low cost index funds these are just a few examples but there are lots of ways to use your income as a vehicle to build an asset base of investments that grows throws off dividends and rental income and gives you financial security for life the third financial goal to hit in your 30s is to get over your fear of investing you know the 30s is the time to really start getting over this fear you're not going to be able to reach financial freedom just by saving money you also have to put that money to work and make it grow the stock market can do so much of the heavy lifting for you and investing isn't just something that's nice to do it's something we all need to do hoarding your cash in a bank account is a losing proposition because inflation will slowly but surely destroy the purchasing power of your cash every single year you know saving money is like running up a down escalator if you've ever tried it it's really hard i mean you're just losing ground every single second in fact just in my short lifetime the dollar has lost 52 percent of its purchasing power according to data from the federal reserve that means if you never get around to investing you're going to be 50 poorer when you retire so there's a lot at stake here if you don't start investing your money now inflation is going to make it pretty much impossible for you to maintain a decent standard of living as you get older and look if you've never invested before i know it can feel scary the stock market does go up over time we all know that but there's a lot of ups and downs in the meantime and it's not easy watching your hard-earned money go up and down with the market but it's a feeling you can learn to get used to and you can just start with a small amount of money whatever you feel comfortable with to test out your nerves and start getting over that fear of investing if you're interested in learning more about investing i actually have a free live master class coming up it's called the three secrets to successful investing in times of uncertainty i know it's a really financially unstable time for everyone right now with the pandemic and everything and it's hard to know which direction the stock market is going gonna go so this masterclass is specially tailored for what's going on in the world right now i'm gonna teach it live so i would really love for you to join just go to roshaffa.com forward slash masterclass to sign up and i'll also drop the link below this video the next financial goal to hit in your 30s is to develop the habit of paying yourself first paying yourself first is the idea of treating your savings and investments like a bill i know it's usually the last thing that happens you get paid you treat yourself you you know pay your rent and all these things you go out to dinner and then if there's any money left you save sound familiar this is exactly what i did all ever since i started working as a teenager all throughout my mid-20s when i started realizing that wow i've been working since i was 14 years old when i started hostessing at a restaurant in high school and for the last 10 years i don't have a whole lot to show for all that work i've done that's when i really sobered up and started realizing that truly the best way to save money is to prioritize it to treat saving money for yourself like a bill as important as paying your rent every first of the month or whenever you get paid you set aside a predetermined percentage of your paycheck into a savings account or a retirement account such as a 401k or ira and this works even if you're self-employed and your income is irregular then you just do it whenever that client pays that big invoice or you can put yourself on a monthly schedule and then once you've paid yourself first you just work with what's left for the rest of your monthly living expenses it's the difference between getting paid and then spending spending spending spending and then trying to save whatever is left versus getting paid saving whatever percentage you've committed to saving and then living on what's left ask anyone who's managed to save a lot of money how they did this they did it by paying themselves first they committed to doing it so that all their spending and money decisions had to move aside to just make room for their commitment if you don't commit to doing that amazon prime is going to get your money ubereats is going to get your money and if not then definitely some really clever advertiser on instagram is gonna get your money in this hyper commercial world you really need to commit to saving a portion of what you make otherwise it'll be hard to get out of the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck paying yourself first means you're prioritizing your financial well-being and your future over everything else prioritizing you is the ultimate form of self-care and if you look at it that way it's not going to feel like deprivation at all and look even if you don't have a ton of wiggle room in your budget right now that's okay just commit to saving one percent of everything you make commit to saving ten dollars every month whatever you can handle the amount doesn't matter as much as the act of just paying yourself first it's really just a subtle mindset shift that will serve you really well for the rest of your life in fact you can automate all of this that way you don't have to think about it i explain in detail how to automate your finances in this video right here personally what i do is on the first of every month i have a bunch of automatic transfers set up from my bank accounts over to my savings account my roth ira my hsa and all my money goes where it needs to without me lifting a finger and then i just spend whatever's left automating your finances is a game changer and makes it effortless for you to pay yourself first and build wealth another financial goal to achieve in your 30s is to diversify your income streams if your only source of income is from your job you are more financially vulnerable than someone who has say even two sources of income especially nowadays where a lot of people are getting laid off this has become so much more obvious you never want to put all your eggs in one basket and rely on one employer or one stream of income for your entire financial livelihood so something i want you to do is to set a goal to create at least one additional income stream in your 30s this could be as easy and simple as a side hustle like dog walking or selling something on etsy it could be a second job if you have time for that and if you don't have the time you could buy investments investments that throw off passive income like stocks index funds real estate if you want to get into that and it really just it doesn't take a ton of money to to do this and start creating a passive investment income stream in fact in this video right here i talk about five passive income investments you can make with just one thousand dollars so definitely check it out for some ideas right now i have about six or seven different income streams there's dividend income affiliate marketing income youtube income some dog walking income options trading income and couple other things that i'm doing and i'm always working to increase those income streams and add to them i feel much more secure than i did when i worked on wall street and had only one source of income even though it was a nice sized income you know i had a pretty good salary but all it takes is for some person at the top of the corporate ladder to say that they need to cut expenses and then you could just get laid off from your job just like that actually this happened to my family when i was growing up after 9 11 my dad's company which was a tech startup they did a bunch of layoffs and our family was left without any source of income it's scary stuff so i'm a firm believer that you should never rely on only one source of income by either investing your time or your money wisely you can create multiple income streams and it's definitely something you should focus on in your 30s if not sooner the next financial goal to hit in your 30s is to work towards becoming debt free wouldn't it feel great to finish your 30s no longer owing a monthly payment to anyone personally i get super excited just thinking about the hundreds and hundreds of extra dollars i'll be able to put towards my investments once my student loans are finished being paid off and i am so close i will be posting a video about that when i get there but it's gonna happen sometime towards the end of this year if not sooner now debt is a serious obstacle to financial freedom mortgages aren't so bad because you will be paying that down and building equity in your house but the other kinds of loans credit cards car loans student loans those are serious obstacles to financial freedom if you want a shot at financial freedom in your 40s and 50s you've got to buckle down and make a plan to become debt free be relentless so the first step to becoming debt free is to put a freeze on adding any more debt this could mean cutting up your credit cards and doing a spending detox i've even heard of people putting their credit cards in water and then putting that in the freezer so that it's harder to do any sort of impulsive shopping on it delete any saved credit card information from your chrome browser and really make it a point to not buy anything you don't need okay and then once you've stopped adding to your debt the next step is to start paying it off i know it feels like this huge mountain to climb but did you know that paying just a hundred dollars extra just a hundred dollars extra towards your student loans every month is going to shave 10 years off of your debt free date that's because of the way payments and student loans work and i talked more about how this works in this video right here so check it out if you've got a lot of student loans to pay off but really every little bit counts it reduces your principal which reduces the interest over the life of the loan which means every time you make a payment more of your money will go towards paying down principal versus interest so every little bit counts to start paying off that debt last but not least the seventh financial goal to achieve in your 30s is to create a monthly money date with yourself to review and manage your finances on an ongoing regular basis you've probably heard this quote if you can't measure it you can't improve it what gets measured gets managed this is so true with money it's really important to routinely track your net worth review your spending check your credit score and look at your investments it's a way of checking in with yourself to see if your actions are taking you closer to financial freedom or taking you further away from financial freedom so around the first of every month i check all my accounts all my credit cards all my loan balances and i update all the numbers in a spreadsheet you can also use an app like mint or personal capital i've heard very good things about those apps as well and this is how it works so your assets are everything you own whatever's in your checking account savings accounts roth ira 401k etc and then your liabilities are everything you owe so your credit cards any unpaid taxes student loans and then you subtract one from the other your assets minus your liabilities and that equals your net worth what you want to see is you want to see this net worth number go up every month if you are paying down your debt and converting your income into assets just like we talked about in this video your net worth should be going up every month so that's the trajectory you want to be on and don't worry if your net worth is negative right now because a lot of people start off that way when you finish college you're probably gonna have a lot of student loans and not a lot of money saved so the point is just to track which direction your net worth is moving if your net worth is moving towards more positive territory and getting bigger every month you're on the right track you can also use this monthly money date to manage your investments look over your credit card and bank statements to make sure there's no fees and charges you're not aware of it's a way of reviewing your budget and i personally love it i do it on the first of every month like clockwork and it's just like an automatic habit i think when you're younger in your teens and your 20s it's okay to be pretty happy-go-lucky with your money and to just kind of trust that financial problems will just work themselves out somehow and that is fine for a while but once you hit your 30s you want to be more proactive about your life it's too early to realize this now but when people hit their 60s 70s and 80s it becomes painfully obvious which people were proactive about their finances versus which ones took more of this avoidant head in the sand approach you do not want to be in that second group also no matter where you are in your financial journey right now please don't be too hard on yourself and definitely do not compare yourself to someone you see on instagram who looks like they're farther along than you are right by now we're all on our own journey and the most important thing is that you are working towards your financial goals in the way that works best for you with that i'm going to leave you with one more piece of wisdom from warren buffett the number one reason for warren buffett's financial success according to him is that he lives his life according to what he calls an inner scorecard most people tend to live by an outer score card and it causes them to chase false measures of success such as material possessions status and other things that won't truly make you happy so living by an outer scorecard will cause you to overspend be irresponsible with money because you're trying to keep up with the joneses and you're just going to be doing things to fit in versus doing things that make you happy warren buffett's inner scorecard is why he didn't follow the herd in the late 1990s and get into tech stocks like everybody else was doing and as a result he didn't lose money when the dot-com bubble burst because he wasn't following what everyone else was doing so studying people like warren buffett has taught me that building wealth is 99 an inner game when you live by an inner scorecard your spending and money habits will become effortlessly aligned with your values and you're less likely to make bad investing decisions bad spending decisions and building wealth becomes a much more fun and fulfilling journey so that's a little bonus financial goal to achieve in your 30s to learn to live by an inner scorecard so that's it for my take on the seven financial goals to achieve in your 30s i really hope you enjoyed it let me know what you thought in the comments and again if you want to get a head start on learning how to invest your money which in your 30s is a great time to do be sure to sign up for my free upcoming masterclass the three secrets to successful investing in times of uncertainty i will be teaching it live and i'll be putting some of my best investing tips and advice in there so make sure to sign up at roseshop.com forward slash masterclass or click the link below i post new videos about money and investing every wednesday so if you haven't already hit that subscribe button below and join the tribe thank you so much for watching and i'll see you next week same time same place take care bye [Music] [Music] you

Channel: It's Your Girl Rose

Views: 390,214

Keywords: financial goals by 30, financial goals, personal finance for millennials, money milestones by age 30, investing with rose

Id: 8tBkktmilN8

Length: 21min 10sec (1270 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 29 2020