Your 20s might be the time to live it up, but the age of 30 is very tricky. Most people would have already set up their retirement plans while others would still be wallowing in debt and living from paycheck to paycheck. There are certain financial milestones that you are supposed to have achieved as it concerns your annual salary, savings and investment portfolio, retirement plan, emergency fund, insurance plan, etc. You can use this article as a checklist to help you set up your financial life. However, there are no hard-and-fast rules that say you need to do these things by 30.
1. Be debt free
Although, we can argue that age 30 comes with more responsibilities in terms of family, kids, social engagements, etc. But you definitely don’t want to carry over the baggage and financial mistakes from your 20s. Try as much as possible to pay off all pending loans, even if it means you will have to start saving up or even work 2 jobs at a time. Debt is an absolute no-no.
2. Have an emergency fund
It is an error to have zero savings by the time you clock 30. The essence of having a lockdown savings account cannot be overemphasized. No matter how pressed you are for cash, your savings should be declared untouchable. You should have at least 6 months of your salary saved up.
3. Have a diversified portfolio
There are a lot of lucrative investment options on the money market which include forex, index funds, treasury bills, corporate shares, stock market, etc. No amount is too small to start investing, you need to have at least 5 solid investments under your portfolio by age 30.
4. Set up an insurance fund
You are never too young to set up a basic insurance plan to cover your health and mortgage insurance. This will cushion the burden of attending to personal emergencies from your salary or having to tap from your savings. There are quite several trustworthy insurance firms, you could ask your healthcare facility for their insurance packages.
5. Have a profitable side income
You must have at least 2 revenue streams which could be part-time engagements, a side business, or dividend payments from your investments. There’s nothing more soothing than having some extra disposable cash besides your monthly salary.
There you go, so what financial milestones are you still working on?
