Noob and clueless about my financial skills

[dazza_73]

@sweetascandy1990 Don’t worry. I was in a similar situation when I was your age.

I only started an excel sheet listing my income and expenses when I was 27 so you still have time. At 28, I started investing. So you are definitely not beyond saving.

I’d say tracking your expenses is the first step in the right direction. Then do a monthly review on what is necessary/unnecessary.

Next is starting an emergency fund.

Beyond that, investments.

 

[sweetascandy1990]

@dazza_73 Yes it’s kinda scary because I only have my study plan as my plan - this doesn’t include the marriage saving money or anything that come after

 

[jayjaydee]

@sweetascandy1990 Money is used to buy necessities and wants. Spending on a want today means you can't spend on a necessity tomorrow.

Maybe the want of Cafe food today is worth being unable to spend on rent next year. You make that choice for you and for future you.

Also, today, yell(?) at past You for spending too much on Cafe food last year. Past You should have planned better, so you'd have more money now.

 

[sweetascandy1990]

@jayjaydee After working 17 hours in a day all you want is just some good foood

 

[reallivegirl]

@sweetascandy1990 Saving up:

1. Delete shopee and most of your problems will be fixed haha (half joking)

2. if you spend a lot of money on cafe food, you'd most likely went there for coffee, try making your own coffee and you wont have a reason to be there.

Organize:

Net salary - Rent - Bills - Food - Rainy days fund - Parents Allowance (up to you) = extra money

> up to you on how much you'd want to put into as investments/savings, remember to treat yourself. Keep it realistic and you'd be fine, Being (I'd assume single) with a 4.5k salary should be enough imo.

Invest:

If you don't know what you are doing; ASM, EPF, MMF and FD would be the go-to low risk investments.

You can put your savings or into MMF and long-term investments into ASM or EPF as they are not as liquid as MMF. FD is more in between as you have to keep the money there around ~6-12 month.

 

[sweetascandy1990]

@reallivegirl Will surely look it up thank you tho I am not familiar with some terms

 

[letsallbehypocrites]

@sweetascandy1990 Delete those shopping apps/mute their notifications.

 

[aniello]

@sweetascandy1990 25F, government and 4.5k net? I didn’t know the government is paying that much these days.

 

[jade1074]

@sweetascandy1990 Wait, is it typical for govt workers to get 4.5k at 25?

 

[abbyzowabby]

@jade1074 If you work as a doctor/dentist, it's possible.

 

[dustybunny]

@sweetascandy1990 First of all, congrats for the courage to reach out for financial help, If you're serious about saving up for the future, there will be some sacrifices to make, eg. Less cafe hopping, less shopping, less hanging out with friends and so on.

Try finding alternative ways that are budgeting for your wallet. Some activities doesn't even require money.

Not sure if this will help but try saving up for nice luxury, relaxing trip, after that you'll get a taste of what you'll get to experience more in the future, which then motivates you to save up and invest more.

Now let's say after you've fixed the bad habits of over spending, it's time to start saving up for you, you can easily save up 2k-2.5k monthly.

If you managed to stick to 2k+ savings, realistically with average 4% interest p/a within 5 years you can save up to 130k-160k

With 150k you can get so many things
10 luxuries traveling
More investment plan (highly recommend)
Down payment for a house (highly recommend)
Cash buy brand new car

 

[lglo]

@sweetascandy1990 U already know your problem, binge shopping. So what advice do u hope ppl give?

 

[fivesenses]

@sweetascandy1990 First thing you can do is to try to maximize your tax rebate as much as possible.

 

[sweetascandy1990]

Thank you so much for those that actually replied - and gave suggestions . It gave me some clear insight to actually save money . I’d definitely try to follow some , hopefully I will keep consistently doing it and not actually freaking out

 

[jassikm]

@sweetascandy1990 Rest in peace inbox

 

[worshiper1994]

@sweetascandy1990 Time to adopt a financial management system. There are plenty out there; the key is finding the one for you and sticking with it. The one I started with before creating my own is T Harv Eker’s JARS Money Management System (you can look it up on YouTube).

Good luck!

 

[pheebs89]

@sweetascandy1990 -Uninstall Shopee.

-When you get back from work, go straight home instead of malls to avoid impulse buying.

-Snacking/cafe is fine but limit yourself to e.g. 2 times a week.

-Set a budget for your wants/shopping, don’t spend more than the allocated amount.

-If you want to save for travel, put aside some money in different acc e.g ASB so you can track it/motivate you

 

[derekh]

@sweetascandy1990 just put the amount you want to spend that week as cash. Never use more than that.

 

[sweetascandy1990]

@derekh This is actually a good idea back to the beginner when we don’t have online banking - no wonder I saved a lot back in those day haha

 

[kd1616]

@sweetascandy1990 https://old.reddit.com//r/personalfinance/wiki/index

I would recommend reading some wiki as a starter.