Blog — Integritas Financial Planners

Smart Financial Tips to Secure Your Future in Your 30s

Written by Mark Johnson | Feb 17, 2025 3:41:08 PM

Heading into your 30s is a big moment in life, with it usually being around this time that you start getting serious about securing your financial future. Your career path is likely taking shape, and you have a good idea of where you’re headed professionally, and now is the time that financial tips for young adults from a financial advisor in Derby will be most useful.

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Basic financial tips for the 30s include setting clear goals, tackling any debt, and building a solid financial cushion for the future. These are all part of laying a foundation for the decades ahead. Here we’ll talk you through a few practical steps to help you make the most of this pivotal decade.

Setting Realistic Targets

Clarity is key. Start by listing your short-term needs alongside your long-term goals. A new car? That’s short-term. Retirement savings? That’s the long game. Once you know what’s important, prioritise your spending and saving accordingly.

Tools like ISAs offer a simple, tax-efficient way to grow your savings, while pension plans provide government tax breaks and employer contributions that can add up significantly over time. The earlier you get started, the more achievable those targets will feel.

Paying Off Small Debts

Debt can cast an ominous shadow over your financial and professional progress, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. Use the snowball method by focusing on knocking out smaller balances first while keeping larger debts under control. This approach provides psychological wins, keeping you motivated while gradually freeing up more of your income.

Small, steady steps can help you move away from the weight of debt and towards greater financial freedom.

Building An Emergency Fund

It’s possible that by the time you need financial tips for the 30s, you have yet to experience a boiler breaking down in the middle of winter. Such an unexpected cost, and others such as your car needing an emergency repair, can spiral into financial chaos if you haven’t yet built an emergency fund.

That’s why it’s crucial to save enough to cover three to six months of living expenses. This isn’t just about preparing for disasters; it’s about giving yourself peace of mind, knowing you’ve got a safety net if life takes an unexpected turn. Which, if you ask anybody in their 40s or above, it most certainly will.

Saving For Retirement

Retirement planning can sound so boring to younger people and seem like something that can be put off for a while yet, but starting now makes all the difference to securing your financial future. Even modest contributions to a pension plan can grow exponentially, thanks to compound interest.

Take advantage of government tax relief and employer contributions, as these are essentially free boosts to your savings. By acting early, you’re giving yourself the gift of flexibility and security later in life.

If you want to learn more financial tips for young adults and ideas for securing your financial future, request a consultation with Integritas Financial Planners today.

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