Adulting 101: Money

The seriously basic guide to saving a few bucks that might come in handy later.

This is your basic guide to saving, investing, and maybe even making a couple of bucks in the process. You’ll find the simplest information about saving and investing tools that you can set up in literally 5 minutes, and hopefully, I’ll answer a few questions along the way regarding account types, IRAs, blah blah blah. The younger you can start these things the better, but it’s also never too late — so get on it. I find myself constantly surprised that (SOME) of my friends and acquaintances don’t have bare minimum savings in place. So, first off, know you’re not alone in this.

Also. No, this will not be “Lamborghini on TikTok” money (I originally wrote “Instagram” and it made me feel old. So there, I’m aging myself in paragraph two.), and there will be no fun “get rich quick” ideas here. I’m sorry if this is news to you, but most of those are pyramid schemes or secretly involved plenty of mommy and daddy’s money to get started. For the 0.1% of you who are outside of those categories and by some miracle of the gods got to this article… Good for you! Donate your enormous wealth to charities, tip LARGE, spend it on seriously dumb shit that will help stimulate your local economy. Just don’t hoard it. That’s how we all got here. Moving on!

These entry-level tools CAN be new car money. Down-payment-on-a-house money. Retire-comfortably-with-a-couple-million-and-a-boat money. Yeah, that was a jump, but it’s about expectations, okay?

Start small and find your balance

Throughout this post, I’ll say “start with $10.” I’m expecting you to tinker with this and find the right balance for yourself. If you can afford more, do more. Where ever you are in life at this moment, it’s ok. You’re not alone. I’ve had $10 times, $500 times, and all sorts in-between. Just start somewhere for you and your future. If you can afford more, do more.

First thing’s first, you need cash. I’m assuming by this point you have a job or some way to make money. Good, we’re making progress. If you grew up in a cave, bubble, maybe a ship at sea (Whatever, I don’t know your life) you’ve possibly missed tip #1…