Determine Where You Are Financially Before you can make any financial plans, you need to know your starting point. With this figure, you can track your progress over the years. If it s not a positive number, don t worry. It s not uncommon at this point to have a negative net worth. Take extra time to think about your plans since these goals will set the direction of your financial life.
Cars break down, ankles get sprained, and jobs are lost.
Experts suggest you set aside 3-6 months living expenses as a regular reserve. In addition to saving for unexpected problems, save for future plans. Maybe you want to buy a car, eventually go back to school, or take a trip. You ll need to save for these. One way to make this easier is to have money automatically transferred from your paycheck to a savings account.