How to Start Managing Your Money | 6 Steps for Complete Beginners
If you’re trying to get better with money but don’t know where to start, this is the financial system I would build first. Before you worry about optimizing credit card points, opening multiple investment accounts, or creating passive income, you need three things: visibility, stability, and a repeatable system.
In part one of my Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Personal Finance series, I’m walking through the six financial basics everyone should focus on at the beginning of their money journey: understanding your income and expenses, tracking your spending, building a realistic budget, creating a starter emergency fund, paying off high-interest debt, and beginning to invest for retirement.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
👉🏻 Basic Budgeting Template: https://breakyourbudget.com/basic-bud...
👉🏻 Personal Finance Dashboard: https://breakyourbudget.com/personal-...
👉🏻 SoFi High-Yield Savings Account: https://secure.money.com/pr/pa5344bfc4f2
👉🏻 Checking Account I Use: https://secure.money.com/pr/o47036421aef
👉🏻 My weekly expense-tracking routine: • The Weekly Money Habit That Changed My Fin...
👉🏻 Try Monarch Money: (my fav budgeting app):
https://secure.money.com/pr/rf6c9428542d
👉🏻 Other Budgeting Apps to Explore: https://secure.money.com/pr/q09ff39dec1f
GET THE NEW PRODUCTIVITY PLANNER!
👉🏻 https://breakyourbudget.com/productiv...
Subscribe to the Beyond Your Budget Substack:
https://breakyourbudget.substack.com/
Personal Finance Starter Kit:
https://breakyourbudget.substack.com/...
BREAK YOUR BUDGET RESOURCES:
💸 Personal Finance Dashboard:
https://breakyourbudget.com/personal-...
💸 Basic Budgeting Template:
https://breakyourbudget.com/basic-bud...
💸 FI/RE Template:
https://breakyourbudget.com/fire-temp...
💸 Rent vs. Buy Calculator:
https://breakyourbudget.com/rent-vs-b...
💳 TOOLS I USE:
💸 Rakuten Cash Back (cash back on purchases you're already making): https://shorturl.at/w0PcH
💸 SoFi HYSA (my fave high yield savings account): https://secure.money.com/pr/pa5344bfc4f2
💸 Classpass (try it for a discounted first month): https://classpass.com/refer/UKLV6BN026
📚 MY BOOKS:
💸 Own Your Money:
https://breakyourbudget.com/own-your-...
💸 Own Your Career:
https://breakyourbudget.com/oyc-book
All Other Resources:
https://breakyourbudget.com/links
👩🏼💻 Inquiries: [email protected]
📸 Instagram (Break Your Budget): / breakyourbudget
📸 Instagram (Personal): / michela_alloccaa
📲 TikTok: / breakyourbudget
💸 My ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/shop/michelaallocca
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Why personal finance feels more complicated than it is
01:18 The three goals of a beginner financial system
02:11 Step 1: Know what comes in and goes out
04:23 Step 2: Track every expense
08:05 Step 3: Build a realistic beginner budget
10:03 My zero-based three-bucket method
12:17 Step 4: Create a starter emergency fund
15:43 Step 5: Pay off high-interest debt
19:42 Step 6: Begin contributing to retirement
22:18 What your beginner financial system should look like