Encompassing a broad range of money topics—from balancing a checkbook to developing a household budget and planning for retirement—financial literacy shapes how we view and handle money.

The nonprofit 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Money Management International, a provider of financial education and counseling services, has created a 30-step path to financial wellness. To help you get started, we focus here on five financial improvements from that list, suggesting some of Investopedia’s best articles to jump-start your journeyܫ to financial literacy.

Iꦯnvestopedia’s Top 5 Financial Literacy Articles

These are the titles...

• “🔜澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Why Knowing Your Net Worth Is Important”
• “澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Five Rules to 🎉Improve Your Financial Health”
• “澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Beauty of Budgeting”
• “澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Digging You🍒r Way Out of Debt in 8 Steps”
• “澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Best Retirement Plans”

...and here’s what they can help you do.

1. Identify Your Starting Point

If you don’t know where you are financially, then it can be challenging to plan how to get to where you want to be next year, five years from now, or decades down the road in retirement. That’s why it is important to identify your starting point.ꦿ

Calculating your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:net worth is the best way to gauge both your current financial health and your progress over time. Net worth is basically the difference between what you own and what you owe—i.e., the difference between your assets and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:liabilities. It can provide a wake-up call 🌺that you areౠ off track or confirmation that you are doing well.

“澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Why Knowin𒀰g Your 💮Net Worth Is Important” explains how to calculate net worth and pr𒅌ovi♍des tips for building it. 

2. Set Your Priorities

Creating a list of needs and wants can help you set financial priorities. Neꦫeds are things that you must have to survive: food, shelter, basic clothing, healthcare, and transportation. Wants, on the other hand, are things that you would like to have but that aren’t necessary for survival.

Knowing the difference between the two, and being mindful of the distinction when making spending choices, go a long way toward achieving financial wellness. You’ll need to rank your needs as well as your wants to clearly define where your money should go first. This applies not only to your current expenses but also to your goals—which can, in turn, fall into the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:categories of wants and needs. Needless to say, saving for a tropical vacation falls into the wants column, while 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:stashing cash for retirement is a definite need.

“澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Five Rules to Improve Your Financial Healtღh” covers a quintet of broad personal finance rules that can help you s♍et your priorities and achieve financial goals. It also pinpoints a variety of areas where you may be losing money without realizing it.

3. Document Your Spending

Most people could tell you how much money they make in a year. Fewer could state how much money they spend, and fewer still could explain how and where they spend it. One of the best ways to figure out your cash flow—what comes in and what goes out—is to create a budget or a personal spending🌜 plan. Pairing your budget with an expense tracking app can give you real-time feedback on your spending habits.

A budget forces you to put down on paper all of your income and expenses, and this can be an indispensable tool for helping you meet financial obligations now and in the future. As an added bonus, a budget can be a real eye-opener when it comes to spendin🔥g choices. Many people are surprised to find out just how much money they are spending on superfluous goods and services.

“澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Beauty of Budgeting” explains why it’s important to develop a budget and p꧂rovides guidance for creating your own annual spending plan. 🍎

4. Pay Down Your Debt

Most people have debt—a mortgage, auto loans, credit cards, medical bills, student loans, and the like—and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:some of that debt 𝓀actually may be good for them. However, as a rule, debt is not good, and what makes living with debt so costly is not just the interest and fees; it’s also the fact that it can prevent people from ever getting ahead with their financial goals. ꦜUltimately, it can become a drain both fiscally and emotionally on individuals and families.

While the best strategy is to avoid getting into debt to begin with (by making practical spending choices and living within your means), that isn’t always possible. Most people can’t go to college without 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:college loans, for example. There are strategies to pay down and get out f🍷rom under debt that you may hav💃e already acquired. 

“澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Digging Your Way Out of Debt in 8 Step𝄹s” demonstrates what you ꦺcan do to get out of debt—from acknowledging any financial missteps and checking your credit report to finding the money to help pay down your accumulated expenses. 

5. Secure Your Financial Future

Due to dire financial circumstances—the most recent being those caused by the effects of the recent economic crisis and lockdowns—many people adopt “I’ll never retire” as a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:retirement plan. This approach has several major flaws.

First, you can’t always control when you retire. You could lose the job that you’ve held for decades, suffer an illness or injury, or find that you need to care for a loved one—any of which could lead to an unplanned retirement. Second, saying that you won’t retire can be just an excuse to avoid spending the time and energy to developജ a real plan—or it could be a sign that you are in really difficult straits that you need to confront. Or maybe you simply don’t know how to plan.

Learning more about your retirement options is an essen𝓡tial part of securing your financial future. Even if you can’t save much, every bit helps. Once you’ve developed a plan, you could end up 𓃲making better spending choices, given that you have a goal in mind.

“澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Best Retirement Plans” covers a variety of plans (including indi𝄹vidual retirement accounts [IRAs] and employer plans),💧 contribution and income limits, company matches, and other factors to take into consideration when planning for your retirement. 

The Bottom Line

Even if you didn’t learn money skills at home or at school, it’s never too late to catch up. Be proactive about developing your financial literacy. Realigning your focus a𒁃nd adjusting your finances now will make all the difference for your future. These five articles will help you get on the road to financial health.