Financial Tips for Millennials to Help For Future Home Purchase

Financial tips for millennials to help for future home purchase comes from an NBC News article about saving tips for millennials.

According to the NBC News article, 51% of millennials surveyed find the amount of money they live on to be a major cause of stress in their lives, and 41% of them they were unsure of what they were doing when it comes to financial matters.

So, what can millennials do to alleviate some of this financial stress or lack of understanding about financial matters?

End wasteful spending. This one is very difficult, because you really need to track what you are spending and where – and discover where you can cut spending. It comes down to want vs need in order to start saving. Creating a budget can help!
Use technology to help. There are apps and programs that can help you track your spending, and figure out where you can make cuts. Jean Chatsky recommends programs called “Digit” or “Stash.” There is a mobile app called “Clarity Money” which can also help you track your expenses.
Learn how to manage your stress. Stress can often cause people to spend more when they don’t need something.
Understand that general money advice needs to be refined for your needs. Posts (like this one) are very general, and you need to refine it to make it work for your situation and needs. For example, if you are reading that 35% of your paycheck should be rent or housing expenses, and 15% transportation, but you live in an area where the cost of housing is more expensive, but you have lower cost transportation available to you, then adjust those numbers to fit your needs.
Save 15% of your monthly income. You need to start saving when you are young!
Set very specific goals. Understand what you are saving for. What are your end goals? To pay off student loans? Save up to buy a house? There are differences in how you save for long term and short term goals.
Save for retirement. Make investments – stocks – index funds, exchange traded funds, bonds – learn about them and figure out what may be the best mixture of investments for you.