If you’re curious about the spending/saving trends among our generation, check out the 6 steps you can take right now toward your financial goals

The goal: Long-term saving

“It’s like taking care of your physical wellness and fitness – take that step and start today. If you weigh yourself every day, you’re much more likely to stay fit because you’re monitoring. With online tools now, you can manage your day-to-day finances, set your budget, pay bills, monitor investments; everything is right there in your hand.”

Try this:

• If you’re not in the habit of putting way savings, it’s okay to start very small. Can you put 1% of your take-home pay into savings this month?
• Look back at your transactions and count how many times you ate out for lunch in the last two weeks. Can you subtract that number by 3 in the next two weeks?
• If you’ve already set a budget, it it realistic? Check in on spending from the past two months to see where you might need to adjust.  

The goal: Buying a house

“I’ve spoken with millennials who are in the process of buying a first home and had no idea where to start. They were overwhelmed with the volume of information available online. My recommendation is to complement online research with a conversation with a mortgage specialist. When contemplating a big ticket purchase like a house, it’s important to get advice in person and talk through options and questions. After all, millennials are doing this for the first time themselves. A lot of them have parents who bought homes, and they probably weren’t part of the process.”

The goal: Continuing your education

“I took out student debt to go to grad school, and it’s the most worthwhile investment I made in my career. Understand your loan options, and learn about the different repayment plans. … Then make a plan to offset day-to-day costs like eating out all the time, carpooling or using mass transit.”

The goal: Preparing for kids

“I’ve read between birth and college it costs $250k per child before college with feeding, clothing, etc. How many are you thinking of having? How many years before you start having them? What are your education preferences? … You need to be thinking about your budget, how much it costs. Think about life, health, disability insurance, think about what your employer provides. Think about a safe plan, too. What happens if you get sick or even die? It starts with educating yourself — it’s an important step.”

The goal: Educating your kids

“Only 25% of millennials had open dialogue about finances with their parents, and that’s shifted to 50% talking to their own children. It’s all about including them in the family economy. Is there a bill you can make them responsible for? I recommend that kids have responsibility for something in the family budget. Challenge them – see if they can figure out ways to save money, like reducing the power bill or finding deals online.”

The goal: Living a balanced life