7 Financial Tips for Young Professionals

Takeaways: Budgeting, Saving and Building Credit as a Young Professional

• Adults new to the workforce face higher costs for housing, car insurance and other items when compared with previous generations, adding to the challenge of learning to manage their finances.
• If you're a young professional, essential skills include budgeting your new income, saving for immediate and future wants and needs, and building credit.
• Tips include establishing your personal money goals, investigating benefits offered by your employer, creating a strategy to repay debt and contributing to an emergency savings fund.

Balancing Your New Income With Future Plans 

Starting your career can be exciting and overwhelming — and that's before you even start thinking about money.

So first, the good news: According to a Bank of America survey (PDF), young professionals enjoyed slight wage growth last year.

Yet young people just starting in their careers face serious economic headwinds, too. Their concerns include planning for the future, affording large purchases and the overall economy.

According to a 2025 Experian report and survey, financial pressures include increasing car insurance premiums, higher rent and home purchase prices in many markets, and low homeownership levels (compared with earlier generations at the same age).

Young professionals are spending their increased income on more discretionary purchases in addition to necessities, the Bank of America survey notes.

We assembled seven tips and asked a few BECU employees to share their experiences to help you navigate new financial waters as a young professional.

1. Start an Emergency Savings Fund

An emergency fund can help cover unexpected expenses such as a car repair, job loss, vet bill or other challenge — without requiring you to rely on credit cards. Only 38% of Gen Zers have emergency cash savings, according to a 2025 report from CreditOne Bank.

The amount you save depends on your income and expenses — but BECU lead financial educator Stacey Black suggests saving enough to cover three to six months of essential expenses.

To Do Today: Open a savings account dedicated to emergency savings. Set up automatic contributions — even if that's just $5 a week.

2. Set Future Money Goals

Setting money goals for your future can help you be intentional about your money habits today. Your financial goals can be as individual as your experiences. You might want to go back to school, buy a new car or even go on a round-the-world trip by age 30.

A 2024 Bank of America survey (PDF) of affluent younger professionals noted they felt good about their progress toward current and future financial goals.

For these young professionals, goals included:

• Living within their means.
• Earning enough to provide for themselves and their family.
• Managing debt.
• Balancing investing while still enjoying life.
• Living their best lives.

Most (83%) of these same respondents said they'd experienced past financial hardships, which later influenced their money habits. Hardships included job loss/unemployment, struggling with debt or having parents who struggled to make ends meet.

As a young professional, Sarah's goal was to buy a home, after saving up for emergency expenses. She made contributions to saving for big purchases and bought her first home in 2017.

A Wharton survey pointed to additional goals that millennials name as important, including emergency funds and future retirement. But millennials also list:

• Buying a home.
• Paying down debt.
• Creating and sticking to a budget.
• Improving credit scores.

If you're in your first professional job, your employer might offer significant benefits that can help you save money. Learn more about how these benefits work. According to the 2025 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey (PDF), common benefits employers offer include:

• A health insurance plan, often including a Health Savings Account option with matching contributions.
• Employer match for retirement contributions.
• Paid vacation, holiday and sick leave — and jury duty.
• At-home office technology.
• Professional memberships and college courses.

The last item can be particularly helpful for young professionals. Nearly 40% of Gen Z and millennials say financial constraints have left them unable to pursue higher education, according to a 2025 Deloitte survey.

BECU senior program manager Sara R. is 39, and over the years, has used BECU's employee tuition reimbursement program to achieve professional goals.

4. Learn To Budget

Having a budget can help you understand how far your paychecks can go. Budgets help you avoid overspending on nonessential items and save for long-term goals.

According to the Deloitte survey, 52% of Gen Zers and millennials live paycheck to paycheck. Managing the rising cost of groceries and other goods often requires a dedication to budgeting.

Various budgeting methods exist, including percentage-based budgeting such as the "60% Solution" or the "50/30/20 Plan."

Ryan uses the zero-based budgeting method.

With the zero-based budgeting method, "you give every dollar a job," Ryan explained. "If you overspend in one category, you must take it from another. This type of budgeting also helps you prioritize savings and investing."

He uses the YNAB app, which "has been one of the most valuable aspects of my financial health."

Ryan's budget categories are similar to the budgeting envelope method, he noted. He tries to ensure every dollar of his income is being put to its best use: "Envelope budgeting forces you to tell your money what to do."

To Do Today: Try out a few different budgeting apps — most offer a free trial period. If you're a BECU member, you can try out BECU's Money Manager to see how you've been spending so far and create a budget.

5. Pay Off Student Loans and Other Debt

Calculate student loan and other debt payments, then choose a strategy like the debt snowball or debt cascade to shrink or eliminate balances. Then, you can use your new, higher earnings and the money you used to reserve for debt payments to save for bigger goals.

According to an analysis by the St. Louis Federal Reserve (PDF), a significant proportion of Gen Z (almost 8%) and millennial (7%) borrowers had student loan balances of over $50,000. Gen Zers are more likely to hold student debt and have higher balances.

Student loan repayment may become more challenging in the next few years, as the government rolls out new student loan repayment plans.

Sarah targeted quickly paying off her 7.5% interest rate student loan debt. "Any windfall or side-job income went toward my student loan as long as there wasn't a more immediate expense I needed to cover," she said.

In addition to student loan debt, consumer debt is another source of pressure for many young professionals. The New York Fed's 2025 data shows debt balances increasing across all age groups, including for younger people. Experian's 2025 data shows Gen Z's debt growing as well — by about 30% — as they age into qualifying for loans and other credit. 

However, it can be challenging to balance paying off debt with building your savings. Sarah adjusted her debt repayment with savings strategies based on her regular income and windfall income, and her immediate and long-term needs.

To Do Today: If you're a BECU member and your debt-versus-budget-versus-savings goals don't seem to align, request an appointment for a BECU Free Financial Health Check.

Yet the USAA survey also found that young people, in particular, are interested in raising their credit scores — and perhaps even achieving a perfect credit score.

To Do Today: Check your FICO score for free. Many financial institutions, including BECU, provide access to this information to account holders. Then, learn more about how credit scores are calculated and learn how to raise your score.

7. Make the Most of Employer Retirement Plans

Many employers offer retirement plans and match a percentage of employee contributions. Contributing to a retirement plan early in your career gives your money more time to grow. An employer match maximizes the effect of your savings.

As of the most recent U.S. Census data, about half of millennials, ages 24 to 39, owned at least one type of retirement account.

Less than 8% of Gen Z, ages 15 to 23, owned a retirement account, but these numbers echo past statistics — and many Gen Zers are still in college. Few millennials had accounts in the past, but as they grew older and gained work experience, they opened and contributed to retirement accounts.

Sara currently contributes 17% of her paycheck to her 401(k). But that percentage didn't happen overnight. She ramped up her contributions slowly over time, starting with 6% to take advantage of her employer-match benefit.

"A colleague told me that he always upped his contribution in March, when BECU pays annual merit increases, so it doesn't feel as impactful. You pay yourself first," Sara said. "I adopted that habit and increased it by 1%-2% each year to see if I noticed the difference. I don't miss the money I don't see."

In the past few years, Sara worked with a financial advisor who suggested increasing her contribution to gauge comfort. "If it didn't work for me, I could lower my contribution easily," she said. "I've kept it at 17% and make sure a large percentage of any bonus goes into it, too. My goal is to consistently max out the contribution limit while I'm able."

To Do Today: Learn about the percentage provided by your retirement-plan match. Then calculate how much you could contribute per paycheck.

Big Picture for Young-Professional Money Management

Embarking on your professional career can be exciting, scary and fun. You'll learn a lot on the job — and you'll discover plenty in your off hours if you pore over employer benefits, compare student loan repayment plans and start automatic savings or retirement contributions. Use these young-pro suggestions to gain financial agency as you navigate new economic waters and prepare to achieve future money goals.

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