My money personality type is an Amasser. I don't like spending money. I prefer to do things that are free or inexpensive. Though I will spend money on big purchases that require me to save my money such as, electronics, a car and other things of that nature. I like to save and invest my money so that I end up with more money than I started off with. Though there are occasions in which I spend money on activities. I really enjoy seeing movies in the theatres and though that's expensive, I sometime splurge on going to see a movie because it's something I really enjoy doing.
Types of Financial Institutions
The above chart compares the types of financial institutions and their services. Chartered banks have offer a variety of services, including flexible saving, credit card services, investments and interests on savings. Credit Unions offer flexible savings, credit cards, investments and interest on savings. Trust companies offer locked in savings, investments and interest on savings. Investment companies offer locked in savings, credit cards, investments and interest on savings. Depending on the types of services that you'd like, there are a variety of institutions for you to look into. If you're looking for investments, you could go with an investment company. They give you 0.85% interest on savings, much more than any of the other institutions offer but do have a $145 fee, so if that isn't ideal for you, you could go with a chartered bank or credit union which have no fees. It depends on what you'd like to get out of the financial institution and you should weigh the pros and cons of each and chose according to what is the best option for you.
Budget
Credit and Debt
Credit is described as the ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future. What that means is when you spend money using a credit card or take out a loan, overtime you'll end up with a line of credit. A bad credit rating stays with you for up to 7 years so it's important to make sure that you pay your bills on time and keep a good line of credit or companies may not give you a loan because they don't think you're reliable. Dept is when you owe money to someone or a company. Having some debt is okay as long as you're able to pay it off in the time you've been given to do so. You just need to make sure you don't end up with too much debt or you could end up having your personal items taken away.
Making a Budget
To make a budget, you need to figure out how much money you make per month and then split that up into smaller sections based on what you plan to use your money for. The sections that are commonly included in a budget for teens are savings, cell phone bills, care insurance, gas money, clothing, entertainment and food. When making a budget, you need to take all of these things and more depending on your spending habits and figure out what amount of your money you are going to put into each category. Budgets are important because without one, you could overspend and end up not having enough money to do what you need so it's important to set a plan for how you're going to spend your money.
Financial Plans
Investments
You need financial plans to set money out for your future financial security. You can invest your money so that you make money off of the money that you already have. Investing is important because you can put some money in an investment account, let it sit there for 20 years or so and potentially have close to double your money by the end of it. If you start investing your money now, instead of when you're older, you'll eventually have more money than if you decided not to invest because you didn't want to have to leave it in an account for a few years. Though it can seem like a big thing to do, it will pay off in the end so if you can get past that, it will greatly benefit you in your future.
Avoiding Ripoffs
Sometimes you see deals that look too good to be true because they are! That's where ripoffs come into play. A ripoff is when someone pretends to sell you a great product for a great deal and it turns out that they just wanted to take your money or the product that you receive isn't the product that you bought. It's important to learn how to differentiate between a good purchase and a ripoff because you don't want to lose money to someone who's just scamming you. Though not all good deals are ripoffs, you have to make sure that the deal you're getting seems like it could be legitimate and you're not being scammed.
Taxes
Taxes are a necessary amount of money that comes out of your income to pay for things like hospitals, police and schools. Though it seems like you're losing money, it's really just being given to the government to go into things that benefit you. Without taxes, public schools wouldn't exist, hospitals wouldn't exist and many more of the services that we take for granted wouldn't be available to us. It's important to make sure that you pay your taxes because if you don't, for one, you'll get in to trouble if the government finds out and two, if you ever need services like emergency medicine, it may not be available to you if you haven't been paying your taxes because others may stop paying their taxes too and then hospitals and other government facilities that we rely on would cease to exist.