I'm a recent college grad and, while I've been lucky enough to continue working through this pandemic, it hasn't been easy. I'm just now getting to a place where I'm financially stable. And like many people that have just graduated, I have no idea how to effectively manage my money. This is a skill that really should be taught to graduating students because many people, like myself, weren't taught how to manage money growing up.
Some people had the better advantage of being taught by parents, friends, teachers, etc. But now that I'm grown up, I'm really trying to learn more about things that I don’t know. I wish I had an accountant or some type of financial advisor that could teach me what I need to know about my money and the possibilities that it gives me.
For example, many people start trying their hand in the stock market once they start making some money. And though that could be a great thing, if you don't know what you're doing, you're kind of stuck. If I had someone who could teach me the ins and outs of the stock market and really what I need to know as an investor, I'd be able to make my money work for me instead of me constantly working for my money. For example, if I was to start trading in the stock market, I know there are various tax credits that you can get and I really need someone to explain all about trader tax status. All of that is really something that I don't have any experience in and like many others I would love to gain that knowledge.
Like any other higher profession, financial advisors spent years learning the ins and outs of their field. They work, they study, and they strive until they know exactly what to do for each different case they come across. We know better than to try and take care of ourselves when it comes to large diseases, so why would I not consult a financial advisor when it comes to cases that I may not know anything about.
Finances should be viewed as another field in which we consult someone for help. If we know better than to try and remove our own teeth when they need removing, or getting a shot when we need it, then we need to be comfortable enough going to a financial advisor to ask for their help. Though it has become very popular to go online for everything that we need whether it be medical, financial, etc., we need to go back to trusting the people that spend their time learning professions that are known to be difficult.
These days, it seems everywhere I look someone is telling me a different method of how to make my money last. There are countless advertisements online about how to invest so that you can retire young, but I don't know enough about finances to know which of these are genuine tips that will help me and which ones are scams that are going to bring me down.
I want to know how to make the rest of 2021 work for me I've tried to learn more about the stock market myself and more about economics, but to be honest it still doesn't make any sense to me. I can understand the rise and fall as the stock market is a living organism, but I don't understand how to track growth, so coming up with which stocks to invest in is a daunting task. If I had a financial advisor, maybe they could help me start investing and show me what to look for.
The biggest problem that I think a lot of people deal with is being ignorant of their own ignorance, meaning they don't know what that they don't know. A lot of people jump into things that they have no real training in and think they can be successful. The problem with that is they end up in financial ruin, in danger, or damaging their health or something. It’s precisely these stories that scare us from the beginning become completely unattainable goals because suddenly always here are horror stories. This is why consulting a professional is the best way to go.
