@scottyboyyy A lot to work with here:
Debit card - takes money directly from your bank account - pretty much same as cash. Upside you can't go into debt, downside you lack a lot of protections against fraud.
Credit card - allows you to purchase things on the understanding that the bill comes every month. Credit cards can be very healthy if you have the discipline to never spend more than you can afford to pay back. If you pay them off monthly, you will never pay the interest and the costs will be the same as if you paid cash for it (most of the time, some people give discounts for cash)
- Credit cards also come with bonuses such as X% cash back, and the best bit - fraud protection. If someone steals you card information - YOU aren't out any money and the card deals with it. If someone steals you debit card - you are out the ACTUAL money until the fraud complaint is resolved.
If you are going to college now living at home, you have a great start as you are likely saving on room and board. Low expenses should allow you to save money if you are working.
If you have a job - and have a decent income with it, start saving for your future - this year you can contribute $7000 to a roth IRA if you make at least that much. Depending on how much you are working in college you may not be able to - but roth dollars grow tax free, and you can have several million by retirement if you contribute to that every year without a lot of difficulty.
If you stay premed and end up in med school there is a lovely saying that the financial aid people have - "Live like a doctor when you are a student, and you will live like a student when you are a doctor". You will have friends entering the workforce while you are still in school. Don't think you need to keep up with them. Keep your head down, keep your expenses low, and minimize the amount you have to take out in student loans as much as you are able depending on where you are admitted.
Residency - you will be making below minimum wage foe the hours you actually work compared to what you are paid. Enjoy the time to learn - save when you can, and live a reasonable lifestyle - the frugality advice from med school continues to be relevant here. But by god go out, be social, and try to keep your sanity.
When you leave residency/fellowship and get your big kid attending job......oh boy here comes the $$$. You're gonna be tempted to have some SERIOUS lifestyle creep. After all, you have slaved away for years while your peers were out making money. This is your time to TREAT YO SELF. Right?
Hold up there. Most specialties you are gonna be making money well above the social safety net. Pay yourself first. Max your 401(k)/403(b). Contribute the max to a traditional IRA and backdoor it to a Roth IRA - let that tax free growth keeep working for you. If you have a high paying specialty you're gonna likely fill these buckets easily and can start investing early in taxable accounts - putting your money in the stock market and letting it grow for you over years.
Somewhere in here - an insurance salesman is going to find you as a resident or young doctor and try to convince you WHOLE life is a great investment - tell that scam artist to fuck off and save yourself a ton of money.
Google the White Coat Investor - great discussion about higher net worth individuals and a community that can help you through medical school and on.
You're still in undergrad - the landscape may change greatly by the time you reach these levels. You may decide that med school isn't for you. The lessons are the same.
Don't spend more than you have. Pay yourself first. Don't try to keep yup with the Jones' - there's looking rich, and there's being rich. Aim for the latter.
