5 Important Money Lessons You Should Have Known Years Ago

This is a sponsored post from SurveyJunkie.com. All opinions are 100% our own.

I often catch myself saying, “Why didn’t I learn this in school?” This is ironic because I have not been out of school long and I am a former teacher!

What money lessons do you remember from school? Even as a millennial I feel like I left school not being prepared for the real world financially.

When I taught fourth grade, my students had a basic knowledge of money. However, as they progress through school, like I did, who is responsible for teaching more important money lessons? Parents … teachers … the internet … The Savvy Couple?

This is our list of 5 important money lessons you should have learned years ago. 

1. Budget Your Money

Here at The Savvy Couple, we stress how important it is to have a monthly budget.

Budgeting is a system that tracks your money in and out. After you get used to budgeting we recommend giving a purpose to every dollar. As children, we saw our parents spend countless hours making sure the “checkbook balanced.”

Luckily, millennials do not have to be old school anymore and balance checkbooks with paper and pen. We have all sorts of digital options, such as Mint or Personal Capital. It is very important to have control of your finances though.

Money Lesson: Categorize your spending and know how much income you have coming in to cover these expenses. Grab our simple monthly budget template. 

2. Have Multiple Streams of Income

After you are in control of your money vs. it being in control of you it’s time to start thinking about starting a side hustle. 

Any extra income you can create on top of your normal 9-5 job is going to have HUGE impacts on your financial future. 

Whether it’s taking online surveys for money, becoming a proofreader, starting a blog, or delivering pizza get your side hustle on! 

The fastest way to make some extra cash in your spare time is by signing up for Survey Junkie. 

Money Lesson: Don’t let your 9-5 job be your only source of income. Start a money-making side hustle asap! 

3. Negotiate Everything

Being able to negotiate is definitely a valuable skill. Thankfully my husband Kelan is great at it! You need to always do research on anything you are about to negotiate. This way you have facts to back up your negotiation battle.

We try to negotiate everything we can. Some include; house, cars, cable, internet, phone, insurance, Craigslist or garage sale purchases, vacation, and much more.

Two of the biggest things that we learned when you place a call to try to get a bill reduced is to always begin with the person’s name and asking for help. “Good afternoon to you too Sandra, I am wondering if you can help me today…”.

Using someone’s first name along with “Can you help me?” always give you the best chance of getting what you want.

Money Lesson: It doesn’t hurt to ask for a lower price on anything! The worst they could say is no. If you are scared to negotiate let a company like Trim help you! 

4. Stay Away From Debt

We all know living in debt is stressful, so stay away from it! If you need a loan, get savvy about it and shop around for the best rate. Consider other options for paying for college, or if necessary, consider refinancing if you’re already in deep.

Most of us as millennials have a large amount of debt after graduating from college, this can be avoided. Kelan and I went to a local community college for the first two years of our education. We made another smart choice to live at home and commute together to school.

Kelan and I were able to walk away DEBT FREE from our first two years of college. After we finished the rest of our college we attacked our student loans with everything we had paying off over $40,000 in a short amount of time. 

Using a tool like Sofi is a great way to see if refinancing your student loans would be a good option for you.

Money Lesson: Don’t finance your life away! Learn how to live debt free and refinace your student loans if it makes sense. 

5. Keep an Eye on Your Credit Score

Although Dave preaches your credit score doesn’t matter, we beg to differ. Your credit score is extremely important when making big purchases like a house. 

Having a good credit score can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your mortgage. 

But other than buying a house we agree with Dave. You don’t want to finance away your life with your student loans and fancy new cars. 

Money Lesson: Understand and track your credit score for big purchases like a new home. Grab your FREE credit score with Credit Karma now. 

Bonus: Start a Money Making Side Hustle

Take Online Surveys – The perfect side hustle while you watch tv, wait in the doctor’s office, or even sit on the toilet. Yes, you can make money while you use the bathroom. 

Start a Money Making Blog – It takes a lot of effort up front but once you start seeing the success the sky is the limit. Our blog brings in over $10,000 per month! 

Become a Proofreader – Love to read? Why not get paid to read others work and find spelling/grammatical errors. You can easily earn a few hundred dollars a month in your spare time. 

Start a Facebook Side Hustle – Want to make money using Facebook. There are plenty of small business owners in need of marketing help. The perfect flexible side hustle anyone can start. 

What are some money lessons that you think should be taught?