584 IntroductionHey there, young hustlers! You’re in your 20s and have just graduated from school. What’s next? As you begin your journey into the working world, we have a quick & easy guide for you to get started so you can make the best out of your money. The objective of this guide is to help you take your first steps with confidence, if you don’t have time or plain lazy to do hours of research. Note that everyone is in different situations, while this guide may help you to partially optimise your personal finances, fully optimising your personal finance decisions require more in-depth research on your own circumstances and matching the exact solutions. Level Up Your Earning Game (12 secs Huat Guide)This is your time to explore options, take some risks! With minimal financial responsibilities at this point, take the chance to explore different pathways and find your passion. Take calculated risks and don’t be afraid to switch industries or even start your own business. Remember, everyone progresses at their own pace, so avoid comparing yourself to others. Protect Your Moolah (12 secs Huat Guide)As you start raking in your first paychecks, put them in a bank account that rewards you for depositing your salary. Here are some of the more popular options in Singapore that give bonus interest for salary crediting and savings (not sponsored!):DBS Multiplier AccountUOB One AccountOCBC 360 Account Grow Your Wealth by Investing (12 secs Huat Guide)Inflation eats away at your purchasing power. To combat this, start investing early! Since you likely have fewer financial obligations now, it’s a great time to put some money aside to grow, as subsequent phases of life may require some significant outflows.Here’s a quick breakdown of investment options:Generally Safer: Robo-advisors, ETFs, and BondsGenerally Riskier: EquitiesWe cannot advise you on what you should invest in, but robo-advisors might be the best starting point as it is automated, highly diversified while also taking into account your circumstances & objectives. Spend Smartly and Earn Rewards (12 secs Huat Guide)Sometimes people forget that earning money is to allow spending on things we like! But when you do so, consider using a credit card to earn rewards for your spending. At this phase of life, it is unlikely you will hit the minimum spending required to capitalise on high cashback cards.For example, for 5% cashback, there is a minimum spend $800/month on OCBC 365 credit card, otherwise you only get 0.25% cashback. This means a 5% discount on all eligible spending, but if you don’t spend $800/month, you get 0.25% which means you are severely under-utilising your credit card rewards.Therefore, miles cards are definitely the better option. In general, try to go for 3-4 mpd on eligible transactions. Most high mpd cards cap at $1,000-$2,000 per month, meaning spending beyond the cap will get you back considerably lesser rewards (but really, the average 20-30 year old should not be spending beyond $1,000 on credit cards on a regular basis) Here are some popular picks:Citi Rewards Card + Amaze CardHSBC Revolution CardUOB Lady’s CardNote that these high mpd cards have exclusions, be sure to know what you are spending on before using the card! That’s 48 seconds!If you find this content useful, please share it with your friends. And if you have any specific content requests related to your situation, let us know in the comments!