If you felt that you weren’t necessarily achieving your financial goals in your 20s, you’re not alone. Many Millennials found it took longer to jumpstart their career as compared to generations before them, and even Millennials in their 30s are still paying off high amounts of student loan debt.

Despite the things working against you, the economy has shown signs of strengthening and by the time you’re in your 30s you’re likely more settled in your career. You’re probably also thinking about the major milestones like buying a home or starting a family if you haven’t already done so.

If you want to stay on track in your 30s, the following are some important personal finance milestones you should make a priority during this decade of your life.

Finding Your Career Job

If you’re not already in a job that see you as a career for you, it’s time to start seriously thinking about it. Generations before tended to land in their careers right after graduation, but today because of different lifestyles, more education, and a weaker job market, many young people take some zigs and zags before they really land their first job they would see as a “career.”

If you’re still not there, first and foremost put your energy into getting yourself to where you want to be, or at least on the right path.

Expand Your Emergency Savings

When you were in your 20s you might have felt like you could get by without even having emergency money set aside, but when you’re in your 30s and you either already have a family or are moving in that direction and you also have more expenses, it’s important to have emergency money set aside.

Make it your goal in your 30s to have about six months’ worth of expenses in savings.

Diversify Your Investments

If you’re in your 30s, you may already have a retirement plan in place, and it’s most likely offered through your employer. This is great, and you should certainly ramp up your contributions, but your 30s are also a good time to start investing outside of your retirement plan as well.

The most financially secure people tend to spread their money around, and their investments include everything from low-risk money markets to higher risk stocks.

Create a Will

You may be wondering why you need a will when you’re still young, but creating a will and an estate plan are an incredibly important component of a sound financial plan. This is particularly true if you have a spouse or a family, but even if you don’t, you still want to be able to determine where your assets go, even if you haven’t accumulated that many yet.

You should also think about things such as power of attorney in the event you’re in an accident and can’t make your own financial or medical decisions.

These certainly aren’t the only financial milestones you should try to achieve in your 30s, but these are some of the most critical. If you can get the above steps completed in your 30s, you’ll be setting yourself up for a better financial future.

Categories: General