You must Crawl to Walk

Financial Advice for EVERYONE

You got the job, the first paycheck hits, and suddenly your money disappears like socks in a dryer. Not today. This is the simple, grown-up playbook that keeps you out of payday panic and puts your cash to work—without spreadsheets eating your weekend. Momentum beats perfection. Small, automatic moves win.

0) Ground Rules (read once, remember forever)

• Pay yourself first. Automate it so willpower isn’t part of the plan.
• Keep costs low. Fees quietly steal decades of growth.
• Stay consistent. Boring > flashy. Every paycheck, same moves.

1) Build Your Money Buckets (today)

• Checking (daily spend): Bills and regular life.
• High-Yield Savings (emergency fund): First $1,000 fast, then 3–6 months of essentials.
• 401(k)/403(b): Contribute at least to the employer match (that’s free money).
• Roth IRA: If eligible, tax-free growth later = clutch early in your career.
• HSA: On a high-deductible plan? Triple tax advantage—use it.

2) Automate a Simple Flow (one hour, set and forget)

• 10% to retirement (match first; work toward 15% total).
• 10% to emergency fund (until full).
• The rest covers bills, goals, and fun—on purpose.

Need training wheels? Try 50/30/20: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% saving/debt.

3) Kill Bad Debt (without killing your motivation)

• List balances, APRs, minimums.
• Pick a method:
  • Avalanche: Highest APR first (fastest mathematically)
  • Snowball: Smallest balance first (fastest psychologically)
• Pay minimums on all, throw extra at your target, repeat.

4) Build Credit the Grown-Up Way

• Autopay on time—no exceptions.
• Keep utilization <30% (goal <10%).
• Don’t close your oldest card.
• Pull free credit reports annually and fix errors.

5) Benefits & Taxes (the unsexy stuff that matters)

• Fill out your W-4 so you’re not loaning the IRS your money all year.
• Enroll in health/dental/vision; add disability and life if someone relies on you.
• Early career? Roth often makes sense. Higher bracket or need the deduction? Pre-tax.

6) Investing (boring on purpose)

• One-and-done: a Target-Date Index Fund in your workplace plan.
• DIY: a 3-fund portfolio (US stock index, international index, bond index).
• Contribute every paycheck. Don’t time the market. Ignore noise.

7) Lifestyle Creep Guardrails

• Every raise/bonus: send 50% to savings/investing before you see it.
• Audit subscriptions quarterly.
• Use a 24-hour rule on non-essential buys.

8) Red Flags (hard pass)

Payday loans, rent-to-own, high-fee advisors, “whole life as an investment,” BNPL spirals, day-trading/meme coins as a “strategy.”