5 Smart Financial Moves Everyone in Their 30s Should Make

Your 30s are an interesting time. You’re no longer young, per se, but you aren’t old, either. You have to start thinking about saving for retirement and providing for your family in the long term. At the same time, though, you might still be dealing with student loan debt (especially if you’re in the United States) or want to keep some room in your budget for fun. At this point in your life, you really do need to pay closer attention to your finances. In particular, there are a few financial moves that you should make sure you’re taking care of once you enter your 30s. 

1. Truly understand your finances. 

Even if you had a job as a teenager, chances are you didn’t have a deep understanding of personal finance. In your 20s, you had the excuse of being young, of dealing with student loans, and learning how to manage a career and the money that comes with it. In your 30s, though, there’s no excuse. You truly do need to understand your finances. A good idea would be to start learning about student loan refinance companies to help you relieve some of that college debt.

Thankfully, there are resources to help you gain that understanding. For example, Wealth Rocket offers insights into countless financial tools like credit cards, debit cards, investing and savings accounts, and more. Let’s say you’re contemplating applying for a Momentum credit card, for example. Wealth Rocket can help you learn to navigate that application, figure out whether you’re a good candidate for that card, and whether the card is a good fit for you and your unique financial needs. 

Of course, this isn’t the only solution. You can use Wealth Rocket or other resources to figure out just what knowledge you’re lacking, learn about your money, and seek out the tools you’ll need to make the most of your finances in your 30s. 

2. Invest in your home. 

Whether you’re renting an apartment or you’re making a monthly mortgage payment, this is likely an excellent time to invest in your home. After all, college is well in the past—there’s no reason to be sleeping on a futon or using plastic shelving to house all your belongings. 

At this stage in your life, you should be really taking time and money to invest in your home, making it the place you want to be. However, that doesn’t mean you need to spend a ton of money. For instance, you can order free carpet samples to figure out the best flooring match for a particular room. Because these flooring samples are free of charge, you can find your best option in terms of texture, durability, color, and other features at an unbeatable low cost, then use your funds to purchase the perfect choice of carpet tiles without a doubt in your mind. 

Similarly, you can either get free samples or online imagery representing whatever it is you want to implement in your home. By using these images, samples, and other tools, you can get a vision of what you want your home to look like. Throw in a Pinterest board or other sort of inspiration and you’ll quickly have a space that you genuinely feel at home in. 

3. Wrangle your subscription fees.

In the modern world, subscription fees are a necessary evil. Between streaming services for entertainment, meal delivery services for sustenance, and the other subscriptions you pay for each month, chances are you don’t even realize just how much you’re spending on subscriptions. 

There are plenty of apps you can use to figure out just what it is you’re spending and even cancel any unwanted subscriptions in one fell swoop. However, if you’re still trying to adjust your subscription budget, perhaps the best way to control your subscription fees—and the expense they inevitably add to your budget—is to take advantage of free trials, coupons, and discount promotions.

With a bit of planning, you can use a free trial, cancel it before payment is due, and not have to pay a thing for that service. Whether it’s a show you want to watch that’s only on Hulu or a meal delivery system you want to test out, a free trial or particularly steep discount can help you do that while maintaining a low monthly cost as far as subscriptions are concerned. 

4. Invest in yourself. 

By your 30s, you likely have a health issue or two. Maybe you get migraines each month, or perhaps your heart is starting to show signs of wear. You might have inherited a genetic condition that’s rearing its ugly head. Or, you might just be taking preventive measures, rather than treating a specific medical condition. 

Whatever it is, this is the best possible time to start investing in you and your health and wellness. Sign up for that gym membership, or make that doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off. Fill that prescription your doctor recommends, or go to the store and buy those dietary supplements. By spending a bit now, you’ll avoid more expensive medical costs down the road while living longer, making the most of the rest of your life. 

To make medical expenses more manageable in the short term, you can turn to a resource like CanadaDrugstore, where you’ll find low-cost and generic equivalents of the same prescriptions you’d find at your local pharmacy. With tools like this, you can save money on the medication you need, improving your health and wellbeing, while avoiding unnecessary debt due to medical expenses. 

5. Pad your savings account.

All of these financial decisions are important ones, of course, but perhaps none are quite as important as “paying yourself first.” This personal finance adage considers the importance of paying towards your savings every month, rather than saving whatever happens to be left, if anything, after taking care of bills and other expenses. 

Instead, you should be saving up front, whether that’s an automatic 10% deduction from your paycheck or a manual transfer whenever you receive some income. However you have to make it happen, saving is a critical part of your personal finance journey. Truly, there is no money move you can make that is more impactful than ensuring you have something saved for the future. 

By the time you’ve reached your 30s, you probably know something about your finances, though not as much as you’d like. Consider meeting with an accountant or utilizing resources to learn everything you haven’t and start implementing smart financial moves. That way, you’ll be making the most of your 30s in a financial sense and setting yourself up for long-term success over the rest of your life.