Budgeting is as simple as making sure you spend less than what you earn. But that doesn’t make it easy. It’s an ongoing strategy, a regular maintenance task, like laundry (and maybe as tedious).

The key to elevating your budgeting game? Financial literacy. Before any attempt to budget, you have to get familiar with the dirty details of personal finance. It’s easy to mismanage money without the tactile interaction of exchanging physical money, and alternately, easy to fall victim to the illusion of financial insecurity, i.e., Money Dysmorphia. Understanding financial inflows and outflows, monitoring spending habits, and setting realistic goals will welcome conscious decisions to eliminate unnecessary expenses and prioritize essential ones, according to Forbes.

Below is a list of resources. These are tools that can be used to strengthen your grasp on personal finance and develop financial confidence and security.

#1- A BOOK: For those with a penchant for words.

Get Good with Money by Tiffany Aliche in itself is a guide to becoming financially whole. Aliche shares a ten-step process to building wealth in a sustainable way that isn’t over-complicated the way financial advice is often given. It provides checklists, worksheets, additional external resources, and advice from experts.

Short-term actions that lead to long-term goals: With this book, you’ll be able to determine your baseline budget in order to systemize your expenses, take a mini assessment that identifies whether your problem is not making enough money or spending too much money, take charge of your credit score, protect your beneficiaries, and learn to save for emergencies… or anything else that you want.

#2- A PODCAST: For those who’d rather listen.

Our first suggestion is Afford Anything with Paula Pant. This podcast is based on the concept of “you can afford anything, but not everything.” In these episodes, Pant brings in expert guests and discusses the ins and outs of mastering personal finance. From the general state of the economy, to retirement plans and rational investments, this podcast is the perfect financial guide for those who want to gain control over their financial situation, now and in the future.

DISCLAIMER: Get comfortable, because each of these episodes is over an hour of educational and supportive guidance though the world of personal finance.

Looking for something more bite-sized? We figured you might. The Money Guy Show is for you. “We help people fast-track financial freedom and lead more fulfilling lives,” they claim. Both hosts are financial advisors who produce educational (and entertaining) financial content that simplifies complex ideas and motivates people to find independence.

#3- SOCIAL MEDIA: For those with a love for scrolling.

In this day and age, we get most of our information from various forms of social media, specifically from niche content creators who share their insight into a specific field — finance is no exception. Real spending trends have been attributed to movements started on social media.

There are creators on Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram with the sole purpose of guiding their audience through financial struggles and achieving financial freedom. Graham Stephan, for example, talks about real estate investments and advises viewers on how to enter the field. There are also creators like Cassandra on TikTok, who aim to simplify financial concepts and help their audience make wise financial decisions.

It’s the most convenient, but is it reliable? Seeing short individual videos makes it easier to digest information — but they may make it seem deceptively simple. This has become the most popular way of obtaining financial guidance, but there are concerns on the legitimacy and effectiveness of it, according to CNBC.

We don’t know whether they’re genuinely advising or promoting a financial product. “Finfluencer [Finance + Influencer] content often lacks sufficient disclosures, which can hinder the ability of consumers to evaluate the objectivity of the information,” says the CFA institute in a report. So as convenient as they seem, it might be best to take caution while listening to finance content creators.

#4- APPLICATIONS: From the wealth of resources that sit in our pocket.

Avid readers of our guides may already be familiar with a certain list of apps that will work wonders in getting your life together. For finance in particular, there are apps that you can download on your phone to track your budget, plan out your expenses, or even follow up on transactions that need settling.

DISCLAIMER: These apps are for tracking and implementing budgeting strategies. While they do sometimes have minor educational features, it might be best to strengthen financial literacy through other resources before using them.

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