seeking advice on being good with money
hello! i am 19 and my immediate family has been on or below the poverty line for my entire life and generations before that. i am now on my own, i have a decent job with good insurance, working 30-40 hours per week at a little over $20 an hour. i am currently living with my boyfriend’s family (not necessarily by choice, my mom recently moved to another country) and i do not pay rent, nor do i have a car.
i went through some difficult financial hardship at the beginning of this year before i moved into my boyfriend’s, so i only have about 5k in my savings. i haven’t been able to get a credit card, but i have credit building through koho, and my equifax credit score is 715. i have no debt. i bank with tangerine, and i track every cent i spend.
now that i have a decent job and very limited financial obligations, i’d really like to take this opportunity to be as smart as possible with my money. i haven’t really been taught what to do regarding finances, but i don’t want to spend the rest of my life struggling or in debt.
here are my questions:
should i focus on saving, or investing? what is the smartest thing to do with my leftover money?
what even IS investing? how do i do it?
what percentage of my income should i be saving every month? since i’ve moved in with my boyfriend, i’ve been able to keep about 40%, should i be saving more? i still pay a decent amount for my phone, medication, and therapy, but i fear i also buy a lot of stuff that i don’t need
i just have a savings and a chequing account. is there a different account that i should be putting my savings into, something that would give me higher interest?
should i get a credit card? is that necessary, and how do i go about being smart with it?
if you are only able to answer one or two questions, or even have advice that i haven’t mentioned, please do! i greatly appreciate any help, thank you :)