Did you know:

• Half of all Americans have less than 1 month’s worth of savings¹
• The average graduating college senior leaves school with $23,186 in debt²
• The personal savings rate at the start of the Great Recession was 1.3%³
• A majority of people live paycheck to paycheck – including those that make 6-figures⁴
• Only half of all current workers participate in a retirement savings plan⁵
• In the US, the average savings for someone that is 50 years old is $2,500⁶
• 97% of Americans that reach the retirement age of 65 retire with less than $100,000⁶

Do these statistics scare you? We certainly hope so.

Start planning now

Image from Stuart Miles

Most Americans don’t know much about managing their personal finances, much less managing investments and building long-term wealth in the market. But the truth of the matter is, with a little planning and discipline, it’s not that difficult to build up long-term wealth.

Think living it up now is more important than building up some money for your future? Hope you like working into your 70s, or even your 80s.

Here at Intigril, we believe that anyone can achieve financial independence through the use of options. But before you can start trading, you need to know the basics of managing your money – which is really as simple as saving a little bit and making sure you have enough to cover your expenses. To give you a hand, we’ve created a 8-step guide for getting your personal finances in order. If you read through these tutorials, and then slowly start investing with stocks and options, you’ll be well on your way to quitting that job of yours years before you thought you’d be able to.

Let’s get started.

Our guide to managing your personal finances

1. Plan for the unplannable with an emergency fund
2. Handle expenses with your checking account
3. Get rid of that nagging debt with some simple planning
4. Use your credit cards for everything – wisely
5. A different take on some of those big purchases
6. Insure yourself properly
7. Turn today’s income into an early retirement by growing your money
8. Wrapping it up with your five step financial plan

¹http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090825005344&newsLang=en
²http://www.finaid.org/loans/
³http://www.mydollarplan.com/effects-of-the-recession-on-americans-personal-finances-how-long-will-they-last/
⁴http://www.cnbc.com/id/32862851/
⁵http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0539.pdf
⁶http://www.smartmoneyadvice.com/retirement-statistics.html