10 Key Personal Finance Tips

1. Make the conscious choice to spend as little as you feel comfortable doing because you never know when it won’t be the luxury of a choice any longer
2. Make a budget, but ease yourself gradually into it and don’t feel chained to it (unless you have a bare bones kind of income where there’s no room)
3. Track all of your expenses until you feel that you are comfortable enough to not have to do so (I still do it, but mostly to analyze my spending habits)
4. Quality purchases on the true essentials is always better than the cheapest price (e.g. you wouldn’t want your roof to cave in 2 weeks after it’s been fixed!)
5. Save at least 10% of your income & you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes
6. Chase the highest interest rates on your savings; percentage points make a big difference (e.g. 1% versus 3% on $10,000 is already $200 difference)
7. Don’t get the biggest loans just because you can; you’ll probably spend it all of that money, and later, feel financially imprisoned by your choice to go into debt
8. Do your homework and if you don’t know, then ASK (e.g. before you agree to co-sign, buy a house, buy a car, take out a student loan, and so on)
9. Forget about spending to keep up with a certain image .. no one is watching you anyway, they’re too busy with their own lives to bother
10. Spend your money …responsibly – it’s why you earned it right? If you’ve saved up your money for a special vacation, then use it and enjoy what you’ve earned.

What are your tips?