8 Extremely Important Money Lessons You Should Have Learned

This is a sponsored post from CreditRepair.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 8 important money lessons you should have learned from school or your parents.

1. Credit Cards Can Be Dangerous

Credit cards are an important tool to build credit. However, they are the worst debt to carry. The biggest money lesson about credit cards is that you should NEVER carry a balance. Interest rates on credit cards are ridiculously high averaging somewhere around 15%.

You never want to get stuck in a trap where you are only paying the minimum balance. This is a money-maker for credit card companies and you will be stuck on the hamster wheel forever trying to pay it off.

If you are opening a credit card you must be responsible. Start out small and make sure you are able to pay off each bill. As long as your responsible credit cards can have some great benefits like cash back, miles and building credit to name a few.

Money Lesson: Credit cards are a great tool to build credit and earn rewards. However, you should only spend what you can pay off immediately.

2. Live a Frugal Lifestyle

Being frugal is definitely a lifestyle we want to help more people live. Making small daily or weekly changes to your lifestyle can have huge effects on your personal finances.

I think when people think of the word frugal, they think cheap. There is a huge difference between being frugal and the TLC show Extreme Cheapskates. We are not telling you to live on candlelight and hang out by dumpsters of restaurants and wait for them to take out the trash. That’s just disgusting.

Being frugal is being intentional with your money and always get the best value. You can live a frugal lifestyle that isn’t extreme.

Start out small and reduce the number of coffee stops you make in a week then a month than a few months.

Stop eating out so much! Get over having to have name brand items. We do most of our grocery shopping at discounted stores like Aldi, PriceRite, or Walmart. Comparing the ingredients to the name brand ingredients they are often identical and significantly cheaper.

Money Lesson: Living frugally is living intentionally with your money. Save in areas you can so you have financial freedom in areas that really matter to you.

3. 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. Learn the difference between wants and needs.

4. Negotiate Everything

According to Kelan, “Everything is negotiable!” I, on the other hand, do not fully support that statement, but it does hold a lot of truth.

If you are headed out to the grocery store a gallon of milk is not negotiable (Kelan would say different). However, something like buying a used car is completely negotiable.

Being able to negotiate is definitely a skill. Thankfully 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.

Kelan does all of our negotiating. We do 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. Negotiating is a battle, be prepared.

Savvy side note:  If you’re just not good at negotiating, or are too scared to try, consider using a service such as Trim to do the negotiating for you! You can read more about their services, here. 

5. Stay Away From Debt

Stay away from debt as much as possible! In some cases, debt is unavoidable. If you need a loan, be smart about it and shop around for the best rate. Consider other options for school, 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 avoidable. 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 for our first two years. Consider if living on campus and getting the highest priced meal plan is the best decision for you in the long run.

It is so hard to think about life after college. However, it will be over before you know it and then the debt you accumulated will sink in. To quote the best: “Attack debt with a vengeance,” said Dave Ramsey.

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

Money Lesson: Try to live as debt-free as possible. Do not carry any type of debt unless it is unavoidable!

6. Be Knowledgeable of Your Credit Score

Many people have the misconception that if they check their own credit score it will negatively affect their credit score.

This is not true at all. By checking your own credit score you are doing yourself a favor by knowing where your credit score falls at all times.

What affects your credit score is when an outsider does a hard inquiry check on your credit history. This could be a new credit card company, mortgage company, auto loan, rental application, etc.

We recommend looking into CreditRepair.com if you need help improving your credit score.

Money Lesson: Knowing your credit score is only going to help you stay focused on your goals, not hurt you. Only others pulling on your credit history can do that.

Is credit repair right for you? Take this quiz to find out!

7. Start Saving For Retirement Early & Often

Retirement? Yes, you read that right! It is never too early to start thinking about retirement.

Actually, you should have started to think about retirement yesterday! Planning for the future is SO important and you do not want to wait to start planning and lose out on potential capital gains, compound interest, and company matching.

Make sure that you have a plan when it comes to investing in your retirement. Over at Kissmetrics Blog, they have a great visual (below) that gives life to the words “It is never too early.”

Money Lesson: Get a plan for retirement and start saving as soon as possible. What you put in now, will pay off in the long run!

8. Taxes Suck!

Growing up you do not learn a lot about taxes. This is unfortunate because we all will eventually begin to start filing and enter the 1040A, 1099 world.

Most college students can file for free. One of the biggest lessons to learn about taxes is what tax credits and deductions you can claim.

Another important lesson is to keep your tax papers organized. If you are filing alone or with a significant other a two-pocket folder is a great way to stay organized.

Kelan places his documents on one side, I place mine on the other and shared documents hang out in the middle. We have each folder color-coded to a year and this provides an easy location to look up any questions on previous year’s taxes.

Money Lesson: Stay organized with your tax documents and check to see what credits and deductions apply to your situation.

Bonus: Start a Money Making Side Hustle

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! 

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. 

Teach for VIPKID – If you love working with kids and have some teaching experience why not earn up to $22/hour teaching English online? 

Become a Freelance Writer – Freelance writing can be an incredible side hustle. Earn anywhere from $0.10-$0.20 per word depending on your experience. 

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. 

Become a Pinterest VA (virtual assistant) – Love being on Pinterest all day and all night? Why not help other online business owners market their business with your Pinterest skills? 

Flip Items on Ebay and Amazon – Love going thrift shopping and finding neat things to turn into cash? Start your own flipping business today! 

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. 

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

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