How To 'Adult' With Money

Being an adult isn’t easy, suddenly you have to know how to do a million and one things that you weren’t taught in school. For a while you’re in that horrible stage where you are an adult, having to understand the adult world yet you can’t buy a beer. But worry not - here are some brief explanations on how to get your head around some money situations you are going to find yourself in over the coming years.

Taxes

Schools really should cover this in class. Because doing your own taxes isn’t something that comes naturally to anyone. More than 43.6 million Americans filed their own taxes in 2013, and the figure has been steadily rising. How did they learn to do it? The internet. Like everything in this day and age, the web holds all the answers to your questions - and some answers you really didn’t need to know. Businessinsider.com lays out what taxes are and why they are so important. Basically ‘tax’ is a percentage of your income which goes back to the government. It pays for public and emergency services.

Loans

Applying for a loan can be a foreign concept and make you feel like you can’t even understand your own language anymore. After you have double checked you’re in the right country, break the information down. Often websites will have a frequently asked section, and banks will have people on hand to explain things to you. Online forms should be designed to be as straightforward as possible as there is no one with you to explain them. There are many different loans from student to personal, and they all come with their own interest rates and contractual commitments. Before applying for a loan, check out sites like personalloan.co (if you’re looking for a personal loan) to figure out if you are getting the best deal.

Budgeting

You might have done this throughout college, or you might have touched on it with your parents. And starting young is always the best. If you start budgeting and keeping track of your money when you only have your phone bill and your Netflix subscription, it becomes a lot easier when you have to start adding on more and more things. Think about it like sliding into the pool rather than jumping into the deep end. Budgeting templates and tools are out there to help you to get started, Office.com have thousands of templates where you just fill in the relevant areas, whereas others help you to build one from scratch.

Accounts

Opening an account at the bank is easier than ever before. With online banking, all you have to is click a few buttons. But just opening a savings account or a cash ISA isn’t enough - you need to do the research. You want a high-interest savings account, but a low-interest overdraft. Go into different banks and see what they can offer before opening anything new.