Being in your early 20s is all about learning. Adulthood is exciting and frightening at the same time. Young adults are getting their first taste of the real world. After being told what to do and when to do it by their parents, this demographic wants to leave the nest and spread their wings.
The problem is that the only way to learn about being an adult is to make mistakes. Far too often, these mess-ups lead to tough financial consequences. Some of these decisions are things that adults of any experience level or age commit. Others are specific to being a young adult and they have to take a step back and evaluate their maturity.
Getting a speeding ticket and insurance increases due to that infraction can be expensive for young people on a tight budget. We’ll talk about how young adults can stay calm behind the wheel, avoiding the police on their way to work in the morning.
We’ll also talk about other modern issues like the increase in housing costs and the spreading of too much personal information on social media. It’s hard to be young, but with a little help, it can be one of the most rewarding times in someone’s life.
Posting on Social Media
There are a lot of different tips that people get when they are searching for a new job. One of the most forgotten things is how important social media is to your reputation. Employers are very interested in what you post on the internet, and how you speak about the people in your life.
In many ways, your profiles online are an extension of your resume. They give a more intimate look at who you are to the people who are hiring you for a job. Try to keep work-related comments in your drafts.
It can be tough to avoid ranting about your boss or coworker after a horrible eight-hour shift, but it’s also necessary to maintain a good reputation. It doesn’t look good to call people names, swear, or reveal pertinent information about your workplace for everyone to see on Twitter or Facebook.
Social media should be for connecting with friends and family. It is the modern way to share your life’s joys and sorrows with others, which means that your career can bleed into these categories. Celebrating something that happened related to your job is definitely fine. Going down the opposite path that we talked about above could just cause you to get fired.
If you want a good baseline for how to post without getting in trouble, ask yourself whether you would approve of your social media page if you were the manager of a company. Most of us have pretty good intuition and social media savvy nowadays, we just don’t want to use it.
Getting a Speeding Ticket
We all get a lead foot sometimes behind the wheel when we are late for something. Getting to work on time can be hard. Young adults often feel more inclined to go faster on the road than their more experienced counterparts.
Be careful when you decide to make up for the lost time by going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. Getting a ticket for a speeding violation can have negative consequences beyond the fine.
Your insurance company also will not like seeing a speeding violation on your record. This will indicate that you are a risk to their company, and young drivers already have a reputation for being expensive. Speeding tickets will compound an already precarious relationship between under-25 new drivers and their insurers.
Try to leave for work a little early so you are less inclined to speed. Drive on side roads with fewer cars so that you aren’t frustrated with the flow of traffic. You will be thankful to avoid the fines for speeding and the price hikes on your auto insurance.
Moving Out Too Soon
Leaving your parents’ home is the ultimate indicator of adult freedom. Nobody can tell you when to come home after a night out. You get to decide when you want to do chores. You know, all of those adult things.
But with moving comes an enormous amount of responsibilities. Young adults often don’t realize how much their parents pay for their necessities and their entertainment. Rent, food, water, utility bills, insurance premiums, emergency expenses, and so many more things crop up out of nowhere.
If you don’t budget what you are going to spend before you move out, you could be left financially traumatized. Many young people even have to move back home shortly after leaving, something that occurred a lot during the early stages of the pandemic in 2020.
Don’t let society shame you into leaving your childhood home before you are ready. Think about sharing the necessary expenses with a roommate when you do decide to move out. Careful deliberation and preparation are the best way for young people to make sure they can keep their heads above water.
And don’t be afraid to ask your family for a little help if the going gets tough. Becoming financially mature is a process, but going through it too quickly can have lasting consequences.
Buying a Car
One of the biggest purchases a young adult makes is on a vehicle. Just like moving out, a car is a symbol of freedom from your upbringing. It means you are financially able to take care of yourself. And exactly like we talked about in regards to living situations, buying a car should be something that is carefully planned for.
If the vehicle you drove while in high school is still reliable, there is no reason to give up on it right away as an adult. Your parents may still pay for the insurance and the maintenance of the car, especially if it’s a vehicle they owned before you learned to drive.
If you were never given access to a vehicle while living at home, then this discussion changes. Buying a car becomes a much bigger necessity. Try to figure out ways to create extra income so that you can buy some transportation.
This could range from selling something on the side to becoming an online creator. The remote working world has become quite varied during this time, after all. This would help you in other areas of your life too, like paying bills and rent costs.
Young adults should feel empowered to move on from their childhood and take their 20s by storm. Making sure that you have the resources to do so is incredibly important, though. If you try to become an adult before you’re ready, you may just risk being a child forever.
Shawn Laib writes and researches for the auto insurance site, AutoInsurance.org. He wants to help warn young adults of the potential financial pitfalls that await them in the insurance world.
