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Things a Financial Advisor Says to Do with Your Money Before 30 Even if your retirement is decades away, you’ll want to start financing it now if you expect to enjoy it. It’s easy to put off things like funding a 401(k) account when you’ve got bills, student loans, and other daily expenses to fund first. No matter your situation, there are steps you can start taking to set yourself up for a financially sound future. Here are seven things financial advisors recommend doing with your money before you turn 30. Set clear goals for your money. Goal setting is important in all areas of life where you’re looking to succeed or improve, and it’s especially helpful where money is concerned. Sherri Anderson, a director and region executive director at Bank of America, says your 20s should be a time of reflecting on both short- and long-term financial goals. Do you want to own a home by your 30s, for example? Now’s the time to “build out an actionable plan to begin achieving these goals, including

This Is How Many Credit Cards You Should Have, According to Finance Experts You’re reading through yet another story on credit card point hacking, wondering how you can book your first-class tickets to Japan. Or you’re listening to a TikToker explain how they’ve leveraged one credit card for groceries, one for restaurants, and they’re raking in the cash-back points and bonuses. Before you know it, you’ve got one tab open with a credit card application and another with a search for whether it’s good to have multiple credit cards.  “Multiple credit cards can offer the flexibility of various spending options, rewards, and the opportunity to build a credit history,” says Shonnita Leslie, personal finance content creator and side hustler at Noir in Color. But multiple credit cards also come with a crash course in money management while you’re keeping track of statement balances, minimum payments, and due dates. Wondering if it’s worth it? Here’s what the finance experts have to say. Is it g

Big Reasons Renters Aren’t Buying Homes Despite steadily rising home prices and brutal seller’s markets in some areas, America’s homeownership rate has been inching back up from its 2015 lows, reaching 64.2% in January. That leaves more than a third of American households renting their homes — thought not all of them want to be. Many renters are quite content living lease to lease — especially after the foreclosure crisis laid bare the fact that owning a home isn’t for everyone and can sometimes cause more financial problems than it solves. But according to NerdWallet’s 2018 Home Buyer Report, they’re in the minority: Only 17% of Americans surveyed prefer renting to homeownership. And their top reasons for renting suggest that the choice is sometimes rooted more in financial reality than lifestyle preferences. Reason No. 1: Don’t Have the Money to Buy More than half (56%) of those who said they prefer renting to buying said they lack the funds to buy a home. Whether this means they hav

The Most Clever Tips Real Estate Agents Have Shared With Us When I was buying my first home, my mom nudged me to put in a significantly lower bid on a townhome I really wanted. “Do that, and you’ll lose out on this home,” rebuffed my tenacious real estate agent, who was intimately familiar with the comparable properties in my neighborhood. Mom, as it turned out, didn’t know best in this instance. But my real estate agent did, and my offer was accepted.  Great real estate agents are like the captains of your home-buying team. If I had lowballed the offer, I would have probably lost the house — and done so in an attempt to save about $10 to $20 a month over the life of a 30-year loan.  At Apartment Therapy, we interview a lot of real estate agents on topics that range from TV placement to tips for first-time buyers. Here’s some of the best advice they’ve shared with us over the years. On Home Finance and Budgeting Your home loan could fall through if you open additional credit accounts w