Good habits pertaining to personal finance for someone just getting started?
If you are not working, I believe you would be getting some money from your family to meet your expenses. In such a case, I would start with maintaining a Cash A/c which would list your monthly expenses and the money you received, which is what I used to do at your age. You can maintain it in a notebook with pen/pencil or using online tools such as Google Sheets. Enter each expense entries each day as debits and entries towards any money you receive as credits. At the end of the month, tally them and see how much you have left. Also, this gives you a clear picture of where your expenses are what is that you can avoid. On longer term, this can help you form an annual budget for your personal finances.
I started a company that's in the process of trying to become an SEC approved funding portal as defined by this Act.  That being said, I obviously think it was a good thing overall. It's going to be much easier for companies to raise money. However, I think it's also going to be much more difficult find good investments. There's a chance that it might fuel a bubble similar to the Dotcom bubble in the late 90's/early 00's. That's *if* it takes off. I have some doubts that it will really change the landscape a whole lot. Even though it's now legal, you still don't see startups, hedge funds, etc. soliciting investments. At least I don't.  Some of the relaxing of SOX requirements is interesting, but I don't think that really does anything but just defer the inevitable. There are quite a few private companies that are already SOX compliant simply because if they go public or get purchased by a public company, that can be a big advantage.  The increasing of shareholders of record from 500 to 2,000 is irrelevant really. One shareholder of record can sell portions of their interest to as many people as they want (See: Goldman Sachs and Facebook).  Making equity investments in startups available to regular Joe's is a good thing overall. It allows the possibility that someone making $50k per year to invest in a company that could, in the long run, boost them up a tax bracket or two. The flipside of that is that I still believe most of the US to be financially illiterate. There's a possibility of abuse. The SEC is currently writing rules to try and stem that, but there will still be people who do it. Hopefully it's not too bad.  Lifting the ban on general solicitation is, in general, a good thing. For startups I think this might be advantageous, but won't be used very much. Part of the reason startups choose the investors they do (if they're smart) is for what value that person or people bring to the table besides cash. If I'm a startup and I need some money, I'm giving up a portion of my baby to someone. I want to make sure that person is smart and on the same page with me. I'm not going to settle for just anyone. It's important to remember that even if that person has one share, they still get a vote and a say in how I run my company.  **TL;DR** - Overall I think it's going to be good. It's not going to be quite as radical as most people think. There will be some abuses of the new laws and regs, but that comes with the territory. I would say start now, its never too early! It does add up over time and even if it is just a tiny amount, just getting in the habit of setting aside money is great. Looking back i wish i had started earlier instead of pushing it back. There will always be something to spend it on  pushing it back whether its college or a car ect.  Start now and thank yourself later. Just a thought because this is a really good question: Would the buying and selling of blockchain based digital currency,   using other blockchain based digital currencies, be subject to like   kind treatment and exempt from capital gains until exchanged for a   non-blockchain based good or service (or national currency) Suppose someone sells 1 bitcoin to buy 100 monero.  Monero's price and bitcoin's price then change to where the 100 monero are 3 bitcoins.  The person gets their bitcoin back and has 66.67 monero remaining. This scenario could be: Suppose someone sells 1 bitcoin at $1000 to buy 100 monero at $10.  Bitcoin crashes 80% to $200 while monero crashes to only $6 per monero.  $6 times 100 is $600 and if the person gets their bitcoin back (at $200 per bitcoi), they still lost money when measured in US Dollars if they move that bitcoin back to US dollars. In reading the IRS on bitcoin, they only care about the US dollar value of bitcoin or monero and in this example, the US dollar value is less.  The person may have more bitcoins, but they still lost money if they sell. "If one takes a slightly more expansive view of the word ""saving"" to include most forms of durable asset accumulation, I think the reason some do and most don't is a matter of a few factors, I will include the three that seem obvious to me: Education Most schools in the US where I live do not offer personal finance courses, and even when they do, there is no opportunity for a student to practice good financial habits in that classroom setting. I think a simple assignment that required students to track every penny that they spend over the period of a few months would help them open their eyes to how much money is spent on trivial things that they don't need. Perhaps this would be more effective in a university setting where the students are usually away from home and therefore more responsible for the spending that occurs on their own behalf. Beyond simple education about personal finances, most people have no clue how the various financial markets work. If they understood, they would not allow inflation to eat away at their savings, but that's a separate topic from why people do not save. Culture Since much of the education above isn't happening, children get their primary financial education from their parents. This means that those who are wealthy teach their children how to be wealthy, and those who are poor pass on their habits to children who often also end up poor. Erroneous ideas about consumption vs. investment and its economic effects also causes some bad policy encouraging people to live beyond their means and use credit unwisely, but if you live in a country where the average person expects to eat out regularly and trade in their automobiles as soon as they experienced their highest rate of depreciation, it can be hard to recognize bad financial behavior for what it is. Collective savings rates reflect a lot of individuals who are emulating each other's bad behavior. Discipline Even when someone is educated about finances, they may not establish good habits of budgeting regularly, tracking spending, and setting financial goals. For me, it helps to be married to someone who has similar financial goals, because we budget monthly and any major purchases (over $100 or so) must be agreed upon at the beginning of the month (with obvious exceptions for emergencies). This eliminates any impulsive spending, which is probably 90% of the battle for me. Some people do not need to account to someone else in order to spend wisely, but everyone should find a system that works for them and helps them to maintain some financial discipline." You sound like you are budgeting too much for food.  Try limiting yourself to $200 a month for food and take that out in cash.  When it's up, it's up.  It's a hard way to learn but if you can tackle that, then budgeting for other things gets easier.   In terms of your fear of doing a financial bellyflop, which is valid, it sounds like you may need to both sit down and learn a little more about personal finance.  Try mrmoneymustache.com or fivecentnickel, or any of the other frugal living blogs that are out there.  There are whole communities that can help you and give you tips to do more with less, and learn budgeting and finance and how to handle your money and your future.  And no worries, the fact you are concerned enough to look for direction now means you may be able to avoid your fear completely. "There are many tactics you can use.  If your biggest problem is regretting your larger purchases, I'd suggest giving yourself rules before making any purchases over a certain minimum dollar amount that you set for yourself.  For example, if that amount is $50 for an item, then any item starting at an average price of $51 would be subject to these rules. One of your long-term goals ought to be to become the kind of person who finds joy in saving money rather than spending it.  Make friends with frugal people - look for those who prefer games nights and potlucks to nights out at the club buying expensive drinks and dinners at the newest steak joint in town.  Learn the thrill of a deal, but even more learn the thrill of your savings growing.  You don't want to enjoy money in the bank for the purposes of becoming a miser.  Instead you want to realize that money in the bank helps you achieve your goals — buying the house you want, donating a significant amount of money to a cause you ardently support, allowing you to take a dream vacation, letting you buy with cash the car you always wanted, the possibilities are endless.  As Dave Ramsey says, ""Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.""" "Remember where they said ""Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?  That is the essence of this problem.  You have freedom including freedom to mess up.  On the practical side, it's a matter of structuring your money so it's not available to you for impulse buying, and make it automatic.   Have you fully funded your key necessities?  You should have an 8-month emergency fund in reserve, in a different savings account.  Are you fully maxing out your 401K, 403B, Roth IRA and the like?  This single act is so powerful that you're crazy not to - every $1 you save will multiply to $10-100 in retirement.  I know a guy who tours the country in an RV with pop-outs and tows a Jeep.  He was career Air Force, so clearly not a millionaire; he saved. Money seems so trite to the young, but Seriously. THIS. Have auto-deposits into savings or an investment account. Carry a credit card you are reluctant to use for impulse buys.  Make your weekly ATM withdrawal for a fixed amount of cash, and spend only that.  When your $100 has to make it through Friday, you think twice about that impulse buy.  What about online purchases? Those are a nightmare to manage.  If you spend $40 online, reduce your ATM cash withdrawal by $40 the next week, is the best I can think of.  Keep in mind, many of these systems are designed to be hard to resist.  That's what 1-click ordering is about; they want you to not think about the bill.  That's what the ""discount codes"" are about; those are a fake artifice.  Actually they have marked up the regular price so they are only ""discounting"" to the fair price.  You gotta see the scam, unsubscribe and/or tune out.  They are preying on you.  Get angry about that!  Very good people to follow regularly are Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey, depending on your tastes.  As for the ontological... freedom is a hard problem.  Once food and shelter needs are met, then what?  How does a free person deny his own freedom to structure his activities for a loftier goal?  Sadly, most people pitching solutions are scammers - churches, gurus, etc. - after your money or your mind. So anyone who is making an effort to get seen by you and promise to help you is probably not a good guy.  Though, Napoleon Hill managed to pry some remarkable knowledge from Andrew Carnegie in his book ""Think and Grow Rich"". Tony Robbins is brilliant, but he lets his staff sell expensive seminars and kit, which make him look like just another shyster.  Don't buy that stuff, you don't need it and he doesn't need you to buy it." I'm not a finance guy (at all), but I would think the saving habits developed over the past few years of down-turn would take awhile to break down again. Meaning people may be able to afford dinner out, but have gotten used to not spending the money on it. I would imagine many people's habits have changed.