Going to college or even just going out into the real world can be scary for any teenager, but there are other issues at stake when you are a gay teen. Let’s face it — people are indeed going to look at you differently. You will need to make sure that you really go out of your way to ensure that you take care of things in a way that makes sense for your life and no one else’s. You don’t want to find that you can’t get into the apartment that you want or even the job you want because you don’t have money.
Thinking about your finances is something that matters because no one else will do it for you. In fact, a lot of people will assume that they can take advantage of you if you don’t have a specific plan — don’t give into this at all!
If you want to make sure that you are financially stable to the best of your ability, you’ll need to make sure that you build a plan that’s going to help you get that done. The last thing that you want to do is find that you have no plan and you don’t know of anyone that can actually. help you do that.
Here’s what you need to know.
If you’re going to be with someone, you should realize that they have no legal right to your money. Even if they say that they want to be with you and become domestic partners, that doesn’t mean that your money is suddenly their money. This is something that happens sometimes in the gay community, but it doesn’t have to happen to you.
If you are going to live with someone, you need to make sure that all of your expectations and guidelines are spelled out. If you try to just stick to the honor system, you will eventually find someone that will hurt you. That’s not a good thing at all, and you need to make sure that you focus on the bigger picture. No one is going to fight harder for you than, well, YOU!
When you don’t have any credit but you have a job, you shouldn’t be surprised to find that you will indeed find many credit offers circling around you. That’s not to say that they aren’t a good thing to check out. In case of an emergency, credit is a decent source to tap. It’s obviously not the best source to tap but it can be a good hedge in a hurry. It’s often better than payday loans, because the interest rate is a lot lower.
So, where do you go from here? Get a pen and paper and really write out the things that you want. Do you want a new car? Do you want a house? When do you want these things? The more detailed that you are, the more likely it is that you’re going to get the things that you want. There’s no reason in the world to think that you have to go without the things that matter to you — good luck out there and build the financial plan that meets YOUR needs!
