Tips For Getting Started

Hello All,

Since Miel and I are bloggers, we spend a lot of time thinking about personal finance. Sometimes we forget that not everyone focuses on wealth to the extent we do. For those of you that are just getting starting in personal finance, we wanted to offer some pointers. Everyone’s financial situation differs, but this advice is pretty rock-solid and should serve you regardless of your situation:

1) Dump your credit card debt.

If you’ve got any credit card debt, pay it off as soon as possible. There are a number of reasons why you should do this, but the main one is that the consumer credit lending industry has become is inherently exploitative. How the exploitation works has been better described elsewhere, so I won’t go into it here. Pay off your credit cards and switch to using a debit card.
Don’t argue, don’t equivocate, just do it.

2) Get Educated.

Personal finance is not a mysterious topic. You don’t have to be a genius, or even all that smart to be financially successful. But, educating yourself about how money works and how to best navigate among the options you have will serve you well. This does not need to be extensive, just pick up a basic book or two on personal finance. We recommend Personal Finance for Dummies 3rd edition. The author is Eric Tyson. Tyson makes complicated concepts appear clear, accessible and unambiguous.

I hope some of this helps. Making yourself financially fit can be challenging, but the long run rewards are really quite substantial.

Best,

James