5 things to do at 18 to set up your finances

here are five 18 to finances coming from a 27 year old with a six figure net worth. Welcome to added value where we go over the money basics you never learned. So first, if you haven't already, open your own checking and savings accounts. A checking account is a bank account designed for everyday spending and payments. You can deposit, withdraw, pay bills. This is the account that's connected to your debit card. A savings account is a bank account designed for holding/saving money you don't plan to spend right away, but I want to keep my savings in there. So the next step would be opening a high-yield savings account. This is a savings account that offers a much higher interest rate than a regular one. This is made for saving and growing money, not daily spending. So this is where I'd keep my emergency fund, short-term savings, like a vacation, a down payment, things like that. Once you open this account, I would start building your emergency fund. You don't need to add thousands right away. You just need to start the habit. I would get a credit card. Credit cards are not bad, but how you use them can be. My 3 step credit card guide: 1. Get a credit card. 2. Use it for small purchases. 3. Pay it off completely + on time. So I can build credit without paying interest and not go into debt. If you don't pay it off completely, you start paying interest and you lose money. It's typically safer to pay with your credit card rather than your debit card. You can earn points or cash back on money you were going to spend anyway and build credit. Then you're going to open up a brokerage account. This is where you can buy and sell investments like stocks, index funds, ETFs. You deposit money in and then choose what to invest your money in so your money can grow over time. This is for building long-term wealth. So the earlier you start investing, the more time your money has to grow, even if it's just $5 or $10. Since you already opened up a brokerage account, I would open up a Roth IRA there and start learning more about it. A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account where you can invest your money now and it grows tax-free for your future. So you're going to open an account, add money up to the yearly limit if you can, and then invest that money inside. You're going to try to max it out every year. Leave the money in there and then future you can take it out tax-free. I would start and then we keep going from there.