
Generally speaking, you should look to pay down debts with the highest interest rates first such as credit card and personal loans. Whilst you have debts it will be harder to be financially independent as it requires an income to make the repayments. Successfully managing your debts is essential to becoming financially independent. You may also find the following articles useful: You can download our free budget planner here.

Once you have that transparency it will become clearer where you need to make adjustments or put more energy towards improving.Ĭreating a budget is a great place to start. You can do this by creating a picture of your current financial position that includes your income, expenses, debts, savings, investments and even your super balance. To gain control over your finances you first need to have transparency of your finances. You may also be interested in joining our 10-week money bounce back program which provides you with free tools and weekly activities to help get your finances in order. Why didn’t they teach me this at school?.

We recommend a few of our favourites below. So how can you improve your financial literacy? There are now dozens of great podcasts, books and websites that discuss everything from budgeting. Researching into things like super, long term investments and even basic budgeting can put you on the right path to becoming financially independent sooner. You may learn these skills from a relative or through a bit of DIY but taking the time to educate yourself financially can make a huge difference to your finances for the rest of your life.

While the current school curriculum may teach us many things including maths, there is still sadly a gap when it comes to financial literacy and how to navigate basic finances as an adult.
