It’s never been harder to be a young adult as it is now, with the cost of living v earning worse than ever. Here are our top tips to get your finances in check…

Financially speaking, it’s arguably never been harder to be a young adult. The cost of living is rising while wages seem to be staying where they are, every decent job has about 1,000 applicants and people have started to question how much an expensive university degree is actually worth.

Enough of the doom and gloom, the point is Millennials and now Generation Z have to be smart with their finances in order to stay afloat, but they’re not exactly teaching how to do that in school. If you’re still pondering on best financial practice as an adult, here are a few tips that might help.

Track your spending as a bare minimum

Creating a proper budget is a really good idea. Sitting down and figuring out all your incomings and outgoings on a monthly basis, understanding your excess for the period and identifying areas to tweak your spending are all horrendously useful.

If you can’t be bothered or don’t feel confident doing that, at least track your spending. Keep regular tabs on where your money is going and how much and how often. Modern online banking and payment apps like Monzo have made this process easier than ever, so there’s no excuse to avoid doing it. Something as simple as monitoring your spending on an app might help you identify a few areas to cut back on to help boost your savings.

Invest in yourself

If you have managed to figure out your monthly budget and what money you have spare, you’ll do well to get as much of it as you can into a savings account. While it’s not exciting, it will help set you up for key purchases in the future — be it a new car, a house or bracing for family life.

It’s all too common for young adults not to have any savings — try not to be one of those people who aren’t prepared for a rainy day.

Credit control

Your credit score seems to be something you only become familiar with during your mid-20s yet is important for keeping your finances in check. After that, it seemingly starts to dominate your financial wellbeing.

Credit isn’t something to get too worked up about if you’re paying all your bills on time and are in a steady financial position – in that case it should take care of itself. However, if you have a few unpaid debts lingering or have missed a few deadlines in the past, it’s worth thinking about how you’re going to address a potentially damaged credit score alongside your outstanding debts, as doing both will help you no end in the future.

Whether it’s a getting a low ceiling, high interest credit card to make small monthly payments on or looking at a strategy to get rid of outstanding credit card bills, it’s worth establishing a practical method to rid yourself of niggling debt issues.

Remember: you’re not alone

One sure-fire way to not lose your financial sanity is to never get to worked up about it. There’s no doubt that you’ll face tough times money wise at some point but try and remember that you’re definitely not alone in the struggle. With the likes of Instagram telling us all about people’s amazing jet setting lives, it’s east to forget that in reality many people are building debt while enjoying a seemingly luxury lifestyle.

Remaining true to your own financial situation should be the only thing that matters. If times do get hard, there are always alternative financial options that can help you out in the short term, like a loan or a credit card — or even the bank of mum and dad! These are our top tips to keep your finances in check.