While far from it, turning 30 is often portrayed as the beginning of the end. Sure, things begin to get more serious: people start or grow their families, further establish their careers, and find that there is less time to sit in their favorite coffee shop with best friends.
But despite how Joey felt on his momentous 30th birthday, we often look at this exciting decade as just the beginning. The significance and quantity of major life changes can certainly be overwhelming, but there is much to celebrate. Time is also on your side – you still have a long time until retirement, with many milestones in between to begin thinking about and planning for.
That’s exactly what makes your 30s such a good time to build your first financial plan. Not to have all the answers, but to start early and set yourself up for future success. The goal is to expand your options, not lock you into any one decision.
What are some common areas for someone in their 30s to tackle?
As you’ll see from the list below, most of these items don’t require you to have a spouse or children, nor do all need to apply to you.
Debt management
Whether it’s student loans, credit cards, medical debt, or a mortgage, we often guide people on the best strategies available to help pay down their loans.
First home purchase
We discuss how to save, how much to put for a down payment, if buying or renting is better for you, among other topics.
Insurance and employee benefits
We can review if life insurance would be useful at this stage of your life (and if so, how much), disability insurance, and if any adjustments should be made to your current home and auto insurance policies.
Planning for children
Saving for college and planning for the cost of daycare are two things we discuss most often with clients. As your children grow older and start their first jobs, we can help them start saving early too, giving them a head start and making their own first financial plan feel a little less daunting.
How much to save and in what accounts
The goal here is to keep your options open and allow the markets to help grow what you’ve saved. The handy “Rule of 72” can be a quick, rough calculation to see how quickly your money can double in value. Assuming a 7% return, your money would double in just over 10 years. The exact time frame matters less than the underlying idea: the earlier you start, the less you need to save.
What a financial plan is and, importantly, isn’t
We often break the process into three meetings, starting with a conversation focused on getting to know you. What do you want your life to look like? What matters most right now, and what are you working toward? In financial planning, there are no universal right answers to these questions. The goal isn’t to save as much as possible at the expense of living your life today. It’s to find the right balance between enjoying the present and building toward the future.
The second meeting is more about the data. We collect information about your salary, expenses, insurance, and anything else that has a dollar sign attached to it. Between meetings two and three, we use this information to build your financial plan.
Meeting three is when we present the first iteration of your financial plan. Think of it as a living document, one that will evolve as your life does. At this stage, the focus looks different than it would for someone in their 50s or 60s. Retirement is on the horizon, but it’s not the centerpiece just yet. Instead, we tailor your plan to shorter-term goals as well as how to begin making progress toward your mid- and long-term goals.
After the third meeting, we follow up with a prioritized checklist of action items so you always know what needs attention now and what can wait.
The Bottom Line
In short, it’s important to understand that your first financial plan is going to look dramatically different from what it will look like in your 50s, and that’s okay. We plan with this in mind. Beyond addressing any immediate needs, the main purpose is to build a foundation that keeps your options open as your life unfolds, allowing you to feel more like this confident version of Joey:
Ready to build your first financial plan? Our team works with young professionals in their 30s to help them navigate the big decisions and set themselves up for what’s ahead. Reach out to get started.