The BasicsUnderstanding YourselfYour Family, Your Friends, Your CommunityNew ResponsibilitiesHandling Health CareManaging Personal Care AssistanceLiving on Your OwnExploring Your Options

Start Planning Now

Try It

    Start Planning Now

    New Responsibilities

    In addition to new decisions, as you get older, you also gain new responsibilities. When you’re younger, your responsibilities are often small, like doing your homework or chores. However, when you are older, you have to take care of important things, like finding a place to live and a job.

    Many of the new things you will have to take care of and make decisions about are things that your parents have decided in the past. These include extremely important tasks like managing your money, paying bills, handling your benefits, dealing with your health care, managing personal assistants, and all of the decisions related to living on your own. Here we’ll explore some of these issues and how to approach them.

    Managing Your Money

    We need money to carry out our day-to-day lives, but we also need it for the long-term. We have to be able to figure out how to meet our needs now, but also be prepared for our needs in the future. Thinking about how we spend our money now and how we’ll save money for the future is called money management and financial planning.

    The words money management may sound frightening to you. Maybe you think that you’ll never have enough money to live comfortably or independently, or that you’ll never be making so much money that you can save for your retirement. Don’t think that you have to have all the answers now. Your goal should be to continually learn more about money and how to handle it wisely, so that you can make good decisions about your financial needs and abilities for today and the future.

    Tracking Your Money

    One of the most common reasons people have money problems is that they don’t know how much money they have and how much they spend. Have you ever looked into your wallet and wondered, "Where did all my money go?" Sometimes it seems like it just disappears.

    Try this exercise to see how much you really spend:

    1. Think about all of the things you spend money on over the course of a month. Write them down and then write down how much you think they cost. Some of your expenses are only once a month, like rent or your phone bill; other things might be weekly, like gasoline or groceries; and still others are things you spend money on every day, like lunch. Keep the list in a place where you won’t lose it

    2. Write down all of your actual expenses for one month in a small notebook or calendar. Every time you spend money, write it down, including anything you buy and any bills you pay

    3. At the end of the month, compare the list of things you thought you’d spent money on with the list of things you really spent your money on

    When you know where you spend your money, you can control your spending by making better choices. Use this exercise to figure out what expenses are necessary and which ones you can cut.

    Paying Bills and Credit Cards

    Paying your bills is an important part of managing your money. Pay them as soon as you can, so that you don’t have to pay any extra fees or interest. Also, check with your bank to see if you can pay your bills online or automatically. This option can make taking care of your bills a lot easier and also ensure that you don’t forget to pay your bills. No matter what, you always need to make sure you have enough money in the bank to make your payments!

    Avoiding Debt

    If you spend more money than you make, you’ll probably end up in debt. Debt is dangerous! If you don’t do anything about it, your problem will just get worse and worse. Also, it’s really easy to get into debt, but very hard to get out of. You might be tempted to just ignore your bills and stop paying them, but that’s not a good idea, because your debts will just grow.

    If you are in debt, take action now. If you feel overwhelmed by your debt and need help, click here to find a nonprofit debt counseling service. Click here to read more about choosing a debt counseling service.

    Poverty and Disability

    In 2008, 25 percent of people with disabilities aged 21-64 in the United States lived in families with incomes below the poverty line. In comparison, the poverty rate for people without disabilities in the same age group was just 10 percent.

    However, the situation is improving. Over the last few decades, people with disabilities have gained greater and greater access to the workplace, thanks to laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act. Learn more about finding work that can lead to financial independence in DB101's Finding a Job article.

    Dealing with Benefits

    If you qualify for public benefits, such as health care programs like Medi-Cal or cash benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and are under the age of 18, it’s likely that your parents or other adults handle your benefits applications and keep track of what benefits you qualify for.

    However, as you get older, benefits change a lot. If you didn’t qualify for benefits when you were under 18, you may begin to qualify when you turn 18. And if you do qualify, you are now the person responsible for making sure that you get your benefits and comply with any rules. Benefits for Young People is a great article that will help you understand your benefits.

    Financial Planning

    When you get a job, you can start to save up some money. If you’re on public benefits like SSI, read the Benefits for Young People article, which discusses how you can begin saving money without losing benefits through programs like Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and Plans to Achieve Self-Support (PASS). If you aren’t on public benefits, there are additional types of savings accounts that you may find interesting, like Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans, which are retirement accounts.

    When you save money, your money begins to grow on its own. That’s because it earns interest or makes profits that over the long-term will mean that you end up with a lot more money than you initially saved. Just by putting away a little bit each month, you can slowly accumulate enough money for major expenses, such as your education, a home, or even your retirement. The Youth Transition Toolkit gives one example of how saving a bit for retirement each month can add up to a lot of money.

    Read more about managing your finances in the Youth Transition Toolkit.

    Learn more

    Getting a Higher Education

    Learn about education options, your rights, ways to pay for school, and more.

    Finding a Job

    Get ideas on how to find work.

    Benefits for Young People

    Find out how benefits support young people who work.