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 Have a Debt-Free Wedding

Money is the number one cause of fights in a marriage and the number one cause of divorce. More and more people are realizing the importance of starting a marriage off on a solid financial foundation. In this article, I will address ways that you can save money and still have a beautiful wedding. You may have to do things a little different than most people, but it can be well worth it.

1) The first thing you need to do is start planning as early as possible.

This will ensure you don't have to make impulse decisions. You need to decide the size of the wedding you want to have and start figuring out basics such as location, number of guests, reception location, etc.

Unless you're totally fixed on a certain location, try checking with several. My husband and I checked with the church we were attending while in college--they let us rent out the church, provided a wedding organizer and sound engineer, and gave us access to their lobby for a reception. Total cost--$150. We couldn't believe it. All you have to do sometimes is just ask.

2) For us, my dress was the most expensive single purchase of the wedding.

I found the perfect one at a bridal shop, and not knowing any better I just thought it would be fine to get my accessories there as well. I knew the dress was pretty expensive, and I was honestly caught up in the moment when they rang everything up.

By the time we got home and looked at the receipt, I realized that over 1/3 of the total price had been for a pair of shoes and a veil (basically consisting of thin mesh with a few sparkles thrown in)! We went back to the store, which said "sorry, no cash refunds--only trade credit." Fortunately we were able to use the money to get an entire dress for one of my bridesmaids. I later ended up getting nearly the same items for about 10% of the bridal shop accessories.

My husband decided to rent his tux, and the company we went through gave us a package deal where he got his free because we had 3 groomsmen and a ring bearer. They were really reasonable on everything.

I liked my dress, but I wouldn't have considered it wrong to rent one either. I was originally going to sell mine afterwards, but the market is saturated with a lot of women trying to do the same thing. I later decided to keep it.

3) Consider ordering some of your things online directly from manufacturers.

I mainly mean your invitations, party favors, cake decorations, cake cutting utensils, glasses, etc. If you save money on these items, it gives you more room to splurge on other areas.

Do some shopping around with your rings, photography, flowers, and catering. Music can be done live or on a CD mix that can be ran through most speaker systems. Talk with friends and family and get recommendations from them. This is why it's so important to give yourself plenty of time.

4) Have fun with the process.

We actually enjoyed being involved more in the process as opposed to having everything done for us. On the day of the wedding, we were the least stressed-out of everyone in the church. We had a beautiful wedding. Everyone thought we'd spent a lot more than what we actually did, and more importantly everyone had fun.

As a general bit of last advice, make it about each other and the event. Keep it simple. The less distractions you have, the better the wedding will go for you.

I wish you the best in your marriage and in life!

More Tips:

• Check with your local college's broadcasting or media department. You may be able to get some students to do your wedding as a project to film and edit. Something that would cost you thousands from a production company can be done for a couple of hundred that way. It's a win-win situation for everyone. The same can happen with still photography as well.
• Don't let people pressure you into spending more than you've planned. It's the hardest thing to resist in this whole process.