This week, I attended a Levo League event, which was cosponsored by Ladies NYC and featured a presentation from LearnVest. If you aren’t familiar with LearnVest, it’s a startup with a mission to empower people everywhere to take control of their personal finances so that they can afford their dreams. I love that. Who doesn’t secretly stress about money or want to learn how they can better financially prepare for their future? LearnVest offers a mobile app, daily newsletter, courses, bootcamps, and financial planning–many of which are free. After returning home from the event, I downloaded the free app and cannot wait to start using it. The app is like a personal finance center at your fingertips that allows you to keep track of bank accounts, bills, financial goals, and much more. See some sample screenshots below.
- Track which areas of your life receive the most spending, then make sure they align with your priorities
- Either download the LearnVest app or use another system to keep track of your finances in one place
- 50% or less for rent/utilities/etc, 20% for debt and savings, 30% for fun
- To try and achieve this balance, negotiate some of your living costs (i.e. cell phone or cable bill)
Save for the future now
- Use automatic transfers to save a certain amount of each paycheck and gradually increase that amount
- Make sure you’re contributing to your 401(k)–again, start with 1% and gradually increase
- Have an emergency savings fund
- You never know if you’ll get laid off or have some other unexpected event happen in your life
- Ideally, you should have six months of your net pay saved for emergencies
- Don’t skip health insurance, because you never know when you’ll have a medical emergency
- Also consider renters insurance, life insurance, and disability insurance–they’re all important!
