How to Financially Plan in Your 20s

Making the right financial decisions in your 20s can long-term give you a great lifestyle for the rest of your life. The following are some tips I've learned through seeking out people who were older and wealthier than me:

1) Find a mentor who is good with money.

You may have someone in your family who always seems to have money under control. This doesn't happen to people by accident. Take the time to listen to what they have to say.

2) Read books that increase your financial knowledge, including those traditionally geared for older age groups.

After awhile, you'll begin to notice trends that keep coming up over and over. You may not want to take the advice of every book at face value, but it gives you a great starting point to thinking for yourself.

3) Learn the concept of delayed gratification.

Short-term sacrifices can become huge long-term gains. Most people in society want things immediately, which is why most people are in debt their whole lives. Rich people often do things that average people find uncomfortable. If you take the time to live below your means and eliminate your debt in your 20s, you can easily be a millionaire by retirement (and retire younger) just by saving what you'd be paying banks in payments. At the very least, learn to stop borrowing money as a solution to your problems. It's not always easy, but it's worthwhile.

4) Find ways to increase your existing income.

Most people are raised to be employees, but it's not your only income option. Investments are good as well, with the realization that they usually only work long-term (5 years+) as opposed to short-term. Never invest in anything you don't understand. If you have no debt, a matching 401K through your job or a Roth-IRA are a good place to start.

5) Part-time businesses are also great to explore in addition to your job and can be transitioned into large income sources.

There are a lot of great businesses out there that take very little money to start-you just have to be willing to do the work and get things to the point your physical presence is not required for the business to work. There are general business books that can show you how to do this.

6) Don't be afraid of making mistakes.

I don't mean go out and do stupid things on purpose. It's just sometimes things happen that you thought would work out right but they don't. Instead of letting it bother and discourage you, learn from it and move forward.

Additional Tip:

• If you start several small businesses that bring in repeat income, you can see how those incomes can be "stacked" to create wealth. This is also known as residual or passive income, which can produce you both time and money if you're willing to do a few years of intense initial work. From a personal standpoint, this is what is helping me retire before I'm 30. I can't tell you what's on TV every night, but at this point I really don't care. Getting to do the fun stuff yourself instead of watching other people is great!

How to Make Extra Income

When you train your mind to look for opportunity, it is amazing how much income you can make solving the problems of others. There are a lot of great ways out there to make money, both short-term and long-term. The Internet in general has opened up the ability for an average person to do really well, and fast-paced lifestyles have opened up the opportunity for other people to fill new needs in service-based side businesses.

Here are what I believe to be some of the fastest and easiest ways to make money. Not all of them are glamorous, but they can help you gain extra income for a better life:

1) Sell Online:

Whether it's Ebay, Amazon, or your own site, the ability to have a store that never closes is why this appeals to a lot of people. You can make extra money while you're physically at work or even asleep. They do take work, but they're flexible enough to fit into most people's lifestyles. Just do some research ahead of time so you know you are selling something in demand.

2) Start Your Own Writing Business:

You can do this more than one way, based on your skills and background. There's article writing for sites such as Ehow.com, Helium.com and Associated Content. There's also the option of e-books if you're an expert in almost anything. I personally do both and enjoy it. You can find resources on how to do this for free at Web Writer Central.

3) Clean Houses:

I know people who make great money doing this. Basically you can do this by word-of-mouth and build up as many clients as you can handle. If you're willing to do the work and build a reputation, you'll never have a shortage of customers.

4) Paid Surveys:

I used to do these quite a bit before I transitioned into other things, but they're good for $5-10 a survey. It just takes time finding sites that are legitimate and worth doing. I know Pinecone Research is probably the best one I've ever came across, but I'm sure there are others as well.

5) Mow Lawns:

This is more of a summer side job, but again it's something you can build up into a steady stream of income if you have enough clients. This is assuming you have your own mower or have the ability to use one belonging to the home owners.

6) Have a Yard Sale:

My husband and I did this when we wanted to jump start getting out of debt. It's amazing the stuff we all have and rarely use. Certain things you may want to try looking up on Ebay first, just because it may get you more money. At yard sales, you have to assume that people are there to get a bargain. This is mainly to make a little extra cash and clean at the same time.

7) Babysit:

Most of us have friends with children who would like to have a break every once in awhile. They would most likely rather have someone watch them that they know as opposed to someone they have to screen. Just let people know you're available and charge a reasonable rate.

8) Offer to Teach Something You Know:

I've had some wonderful older people ask me if I would teach them enough about personal computers to get them caught up on how to send e-mail, download photos from a digital camera, etc. If you have any type of skill that's in demand (computers, foreign language, music, etc), you may be able to turn it into extra money.

9) House sit/Pet sit:

Pick up people's mail and take care of their pets while they're traveling. This can be fun and pay well.

10) Build Web Pages for People:

If you have this skill and do it well, it's another field that has a lot of demand. You can do it on your own time and charge a rate based on the complexity of the web page. You can market this to individuals, churches, businesses, schools, and other community organizations.

11) Build a Web Page for Yourself:

Design a site about something you're passionate about and sign up for affiliate programs such as Google Adwords and Amazon.