The other generations love to pick on us, but the unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in over 50 years, so it's good to be a millennial! We're barely 20 and already making money, here are the average starting salaries in 10 major US cities, according to an article by Denver.cbs.local.org:
San Fransico: $63,995
New York: $60,972
Boston: $59, 460
Los Angelos: $56,386
Chicago: $55,177
Philadelphia: $54,169
Minneapolis: $53,766
Denver: $53,010
Dallas: $50,743
Atlanta: $49,584
But even though we're finding jobs right out of college and making a decent income, life is still so expensive. Whether you're wanting to buy a house or a smoothie you'll find that prices just keep going up.
Here are 10 hacks to help you make and save money so you can afford to buy what you want!
1. Download Freebird
There are so many great financial apps today and since all things technological are "made for millennials" it's time you take advantage of them!
Freebird is an app gives you money back for Ubering to a restaurant! Freebird has a bunch of restaurants listed near you and it partners with Uber and Lyft, so if you chose to go to a restaurant listed on Freebirds and chose to Uber or Lyft there you'll find some money in your Freebirds account once you make it to your destination!
Freebirds links to your Uber or Lyft account so you don't need to put your card information in, all you have to do is hop a ride, grab a bite to eat and get some money back! Freebirds makes their money by advertising and parting with restaurants, Uber and Lyft so everyone wins!
2. Download Ibotta
Ibotta is another great money saving app, perfect for college students really pinching their pennies. Ibotta is an app that helps you earn money back from grocery shopping! It's like couponing, but better. Ibotta will show you a bunch of different grocery items that you can earn money back for after you've purchased them.
Once you check out you simply take a photo of the product's barcode, take a photo of your receipt and money will be put in your account. Over the course of a grocery trip you could save $10, and over a month's worth of trips maybe $40.
3. Download Acorns
Acorns is the holy grail app if you want to learn about investing. Connect Acorns to your bank account and every time you purchase something acorn will automatically round up and invest for you later.
For example, if you buy a drink from Starbuck for $4.50, Acorns will round up your change and put that extra .50 in an investing account, so your money is always growing. You can set up a force save where a certain amount of money is being invested every week or month.
This app allows your savings to adds up, and it's a great tool to use to learn about how you can better invest your money.
4. Check for referral codes
Check for referral codes! Uber, Lyft and Airbnb are famous for their refer a friend discount code but now more and more companies have jumped on the bandwagon to get their name out there.
If you can refer a friend typically, you'll both save money so keep an eye out for those!
5. Find a bank high yield savings
Join a bank that gets you the best interest rate for your checking and savings account. Look into this, don't just go down the road and sign up for a bank without doing your research.
Today there are banks that don't have physical locations and they cut the cost that way so you can have more benefits and higher interest rate for the money in your account. Click here for a list of banks with high yield savings, which means more money in your pocket!
6. Find a credit card with perks!
Credit cards are good to have so you can build your credit, as long as you use them responsibly. When choosing a credit card pick one that will give you perks that you wouldn't necessarily buy. Many credit cards have basic incentives like $200 immediate cash back, but you can earn that yourself.
Go for something bigger, like an airline that will give you upgrades to first class! If you're into travel, many airlines have their own credit cards so you can earn miles and awesome upgrades! But, large airlines like Delta are harder to move up in the ranks and rather for you to reap the rewards. Smaller airlines with cards tend to be the better way to go like Alaska Air. Alaska Air offers companion fair specials where adding another person is only $99, it doesn't get much better than that!
7. Cut back on your beauty services
Evaluate what beauty services you can do yourself or go without. A lot of us spend a pretty penny on beauty related items or services when truthfully, we can do them ourselves.
A bottle of nail polish will last you years and at home self-tanners are becoming more and more foolproof, just a thought!
8. Re-think your boujee gym
If you're looking to cut back on your spending and you work out at an expensive boutique-style center like Orange Theory, Pure Barre or Soul Cycle, just know that you're paying for the atmosphere, but you can do most of the things you do there at home or at a much cheaper gym.
9. Grocery shop smart
We should be shopping smart always, but especially at the grocery store. Buying groceries is a necessity so we often overlook the money we spend there, but really think about what you're buying before you checkout to make sure you're stretching your money.
A loaf of bread, carton of eggs and a bag of avocados is about $11 and that's breakfast for the whole week!
10. Host your own happy hour
But here's where all of our money is really going… on drinks! We all love to go out with our friends, but drink prices are outrageous and they're sucking our wallets dry. Suggest to your friends to stay in once and a while and host your own happy hour or brunch. You'll all still be getting together and drinking, but it will save you so much!
And if you really can't say no to a night out remember beer is always the cheapest alcohol you can buy!
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