10 Simple Financial Tips that

Helped Me Improve My
Relationship with Money
Since graduating college, it seems like I have been engaged in a
very intense game of hide and seek with my money.
My birthday passed recently, and it made me realize I have
essentially been living paycheck to paycheck for the last 3 years.
Because of this, I have committed myself to gaining more
financial intelligence in any way I can.

I’ve gotten money management and savings tips from Youtube

channels like The Financial Diet, restructured the way I look
at income and earnings through reading Rich Dad, Poor
Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and even spoken to a financial adviser
about retirement and credit.

(I won’t add any links because I do not mean to endorse

anyone, this is just what helped me. And please keep in mind
this is just a condensed list of sources I drew from.) Through
these sources, and my own trial and error, I have come up with
a few actionable tips that have helped me improve my
relationship with money.

I realize that many people will look at this advice as elementary

level, but think of it as a beginner’s guide to understanding
financial literacy. We all had to start somewhere, and if you’re
like me, you literally can’t afford to be passive about your
finances any more.

Decide if you value Financial

Independence, Wealth, or both
In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert doesn’t spend much time making
a distinction between financial independence and acquiring
wealth. This, of course, is understandable since he is rich, after
all. But for me, the book helped me tap into what I want
specifically.

I value the opportunity to one day make a living from writing

and production.

I want to make enough money through freelancing that I am

able to set my own schedule, and work for causes I truly value
like nonprofits and social justice focused organizations. That is
financial independence to me, and that is what I want.

Have multiple sources of Income

Virtually every entrepreneurial video on Youtube stresses the
importance of having two or more sources income.

More importantly, you want to guarantee at least one of these

sources garners “passive” income, money you don’t have to
work for.
Potential streams of passive income include investments, real
estate, and even affiliate links online. I’m personally hoping to
receive passive income from blogging on sites like Medium,
Youtube, and my own website (currently building) one day.

Assets should outweigh Income and

Liabilities Eventually
Something I didn’t quite grasp until reading Robert’s book is the
importance of assets.

Essentially, you want your assets like investments, real estate,

and stocks to outweigh the money you’re spending on bills,
your liabilities.

In fact, eventually it would be great to have assets out earn your

daily income from a job, because that would mean you could
leave your 9–5 and focus on building different sources of
income. A boy can dream right?

Cash-flow charts from Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Create at least 2 separate accounts

for expenses-Rent/Spending money
This tip from Chelsea Fagan at the Financial Diet on Youtube
has been an absolute Godsend for my personal finances.
I now have 3 accounts that I split my income into.

One checking account for everyday spending, one for rent, and a
savings account for money I don’t need to access more than
once a month. Although I “see” less of my money from each
paycheck, I find that I’m not scrambling to get rent together at
the end of each month because it’s already put aside.

Taxes are WAY more complicated

than I ever imagined
Yeah, not much advice here. But from all the research I’ve done
I’ve come to realize that the more money you make, the more
complicated taxes become. Do yourself a favor and get an
accountant if you plan on claiming multiple deductions or
buying and selling a lot of property. Because the IRS stays
ready, trust me.

You don’t need actual money to buy

Real Estate
This tip is a little bit higher level and it’s something I’ll have to
research more, but it comes directly from an old landlord
surprisingly.

Essentially, it’s possible to purchase property on the “promise”

to pay the money back.
By getting a lender to pay the deposit, you purchase the
property without putting your own money down. You then take
the money earned on the property through rent, pay the lender
back and eventually sell the property for a profit. Again, this
one is more complicated than I have laid out, but it’s nice
to know that you don’t have to be rich to start acquiring real
estate. That definitely gives me a little hope.

Sometimes Mutual Funds are too

Safe
I’ve come across this advice on mutual funds many times. The
Youtube channel, The Financial Diet points out the fact that
many people’s main method of investing will not build much
wealth. Mutual funds and bonds are generally more safe than
higher stakes investments, but it’s harder to walk away with a
sizable gain. Still, in most cases, theses investments are better
than no investments at all.

Credit cards are both good and bad

I don’t know about you, but I’m mostly lost when it comes to
building credit. My parents always preached the evil of credit
card companies and instinctively passed that fear down to me. I
have built a little bit of credit through other purchases like my
car and school loans, but it doesn’t seem like enough.
I spoke with a financial adviser about the importance of credit
cards, and she informed me that cards DO NOT automatically
help your credit score. It’s the length of time that credit
lines are open that matters most. She advised me to get a
secure credit card, make small purchases, and eventually raise
the limit over time. Oh and NEVER purchase anything on the
card that you can’t actually afford.

Evaluate how much Money you really

bring home
This tip might seem a little weak but stick with me for a minute.
Going into my current job, I didn’t pay too much attention to my
salary number. I had been working a temp job that paid below
minimum wage (yes this really happens) up until that point and
was just happy to have a full time gig.

It wasn’t until we received a company-wide raise that I

realized I was bringing home a LOT less than I had realized.

And when I say a lot, I mean 10–15k less than what I thought.
Suddenly it made total sense why I couldn’t afford to save up for
a new apartment or travel on my salary. The point is, do yourself
a favor and closely evaluate your net income before beating
yourself up for not saving up enough.
Stop saying “I can’t afford this” and
think about HOW you can afford it
This was my absolute favorite line from the book, and it was
right at the beginning.

Robert spoke about the fact that his “Rich dad” would always
tell him to focus on how he could save up, invest, and work
harder to be able to afford something, as opposed to just
writing it off as impossible.

This piece of advice can be applied to anything in life really. I’ve

stopped thinking about how impossible it is to become
a full time writer, save up for a new car, or move to a new
city, and I’ve started focusing on what steps I need to
take to reach my goals. This advice has truly changed my
outlook on life.