>>1240185
Open a checking account, all else will stem from there.

4k is a decent emergency fund. Just keep it liquid in a chequing account

>>1240185
>How2AdultMoney for absolute morons

1. Get a job, how much you make from this job will affect all of the following. If you already have a job, proceed to the next step.
2. Figure out how much take home pay you make per year (if you get paid biweekly you generally figure this by multiplying your paycheck by 26). If you work for any sort of reasonable company you should automatically have enough money withheld for taxes so don't worry about that. If you get paid in cash or work for a sleazy company make sure to set aside enough from each check to pay your taxes. Whatever is left is your TAKE HOME PAY.
3. Figure out how much you can afford to spend on housing and a vehicle. In general you should spend no more than a third (33%) of your take home pay on lodging and no more than a fifth (20%) on your vehicle. That includes payments on the vehicle itself, insurance, and gas. If you are currently spending more than that amount on either of those things seek to adjust your housing or vehicle to match your budget, this may mean moving to a smaller residence or trading for a cheaper car. These are also upper limits. Ideally you will come in well below them.
4. Start saving an emergency fund. Your emergency fund should be equivalent to six months of salary. This will obviously be a long term goal so set aside 25%-33% of your take home pay every month to save towards it and just keep going for however many years it takes till you get there.
5. If your company offers a 401k you should take advantage of it, even if it doesn't offer a matching contribution. Start contributing at LEAST 3% of your salary to it but as much as you can tolerate. It's better to get into the habit and learn to live on the smaller amount than trying to find room in a budget for it later. Ideally, once you've got your emergency fund finished, this should increase to between 15-20% of your salary. If you want to retire, this is about what you need to save.
(cont.)

>>1240225
6. Take a look at what's left. This is the money you have left to buy groceries, house supplies (toilet paper and the like), misc things you will need, and have fun.
6a. How much you eat depends on how much of a fatass you are and if you cook just for yourself (you are going to cook because eating out is a good way to get poor). Try to keep your food budget to around $200 a month, but if you can get it down to $150 good for you. I don't recommend trying to live on $100 worth of food because then you are down to rice and beans.
6b. You will need random stuff to live. Just buy what you need for the first few months and keep track of how much you spend. Going forward use that as a baseline for how much you /expect/ to spend and set aside that much. Some months you won't use it all but you should rarely go over. In those months you don't spend your allotment go ahead and save that for the next month or spend it on having fun.
6c. It might be only $10 a month but set aside some money for having fun, otherwise you will go crazy. Spend this money on whatever you like: Vidya, dragon dildos, whatever makes you happy.
7. If you STILL have extra money left over, good for you. You can either accelerate your emergency fund or spend it on having fun, it's really up to you and the sort of person you are.
8. On the other hand, if you don't have enough money for all of this you might be inclined to take some from the savings pile to use for food, misc expenses, or fun. This is a trap. Always make sure you are funding your various savings BEFORE you fund your current living expenses. If your current living expenses are too high you need to downgrade them.
9. If you made it to this step eventually wealth and success will be yours.

>>1240225
>>1240232
disregard employment and life expenses in this equation. I'm proficient at budgeting for my monthly expenses. but still some are either paid for or heavily offset by parents and assets and insurance policies are under their name, basically as long as I continue education, which will end before long.
so I just want to do the best w this money short term, but also the best passive option.
>>1240188
which US bank/ institution you reccomend? does this cost money? what about savings+checking?

>>1240289
You are not going to make any appreciable returns on just $4k between now and the end of your education. Just save that in case an emergency pops up (late financial aid payments, a semester you have to pay your own way, etc). As for banks any bank should be fine. Pick something near to you. As you are a student most banks will happily set you up with an account that has no minimum deposit and no direct deposit requirements and that account will continue to work even after you graduate.

http://dropcanvas.com/zpf5p

read IWTY2BR

maybe watch money and business essentials, links under Pinchapooracingondesignatedstreets.txt