I'm 30yrs old, I have no savings, no emergency fund and just landed a job that pays me $3k monthly. Where do I start for my personal finances?

One start could be here:

https://www.etf.com/etf-education-center

Keep Hustling! Good job on going back to University and getting a degree. Your first job is just the starting point, keep working hard, upskilling, learning skills that the job market values (and your boss values), and pretty soon, your salary will go up.

If you have time outside of work, find some additional jobs to quickly pay off your student loan.

1) Read up on Savings account. It should be the first thing you do. Eg. UOB1 / Ocbc. Get a higher tier interest. Credit your salary, credit card to pay your bills. However, don't expect much since your stash isn't gonna make much difference.

2)Manage your cash flow. Limit yourself to how much you spend each month. Food/ transport/ parents allowance/ insurance etc. Focus in earning more if possible. Be as kiam as you can but not to point of ppl say you kiam siap.

3)Pay off your debt first. Then save even more. Don't get to eager into investment, your small captal isn't gonna make alot difference , instead read up and build your knowledge base.

Hi
No worries, Everyone start somewhere somehow, never too early or late. At least started now.

Suggest you can read up in Seedly home page, under Content for Fresh Grad since your situation is smilar to that.

https://blog.seedly.sg/ultimate-personal-financ...

Where the 30/50/20 allocations with your salary.

So 3k salary less Employee CPF contribution 20% gets you $2400 take home pay.

Where :

(A) 30% to Savings = $720

1. Suggest keep $500 for emergency funds

2. $100 to $150 for Hospitalization & Surgery, then if you have extra, go for Term Insurance (Ref: https://blog.seedly.sg/working-adults-key-insur... and https://blog.seedly.sg/working-adults-4-frequen... . Where you can consider either MoneyOwl(formerly known as DIY insurances) to get only what you need without overpaying/buying)

3. $70 to $120 for savings future study / upgrading of practical / useful certification courses, make use of SkillFuture $500 credits etc to increase your ability to earn more in the future)

(B) 50% to Expenses = $1200

1. Meals around $300 ~$400 (hawker food only or self prep, occassion share restraunt meals with friends / colleagues, Go dutch always).

2. Transport less than $100 (Take Bus & MRT only)

3. Mobile about $30 (Use Sim only Plan to keep cost low)

4. Basic entertainment $50 (Movies once a month on weekday night cheaper, find those 1 for 1 deals via credit cards / specific telco) etc. Find other free entertaiment for single or couple such as: https://blog.seedly.sg/category/entertainment

5. Give to parents / rentals : Around 20% to 30% depends on your family financials and parents

6. *$30k Uni Loan - All other balances to quickly clear this. If Item 5 don't need, then allocate to this area to clear it ASAP.

(C) 20% to Wealth via Investment:

It's great that you've learn like a sponge and readup more , do start from the main articles:

https://blog.seedly.sg/ultimate-personal-financ...

Read up more in Seedly and related / recoomended Financial Bloggers post, if current saving a/c is not the best, find another better one thru research. Own due diligence and hardwork is always required :)

There's a lot of options and myself learning still, thus go read up the articles, read up the answer in Seedly Ask community, read up the Products page for user review before trying anything. Most of all, get feet wet, try out as you learn more with practical experience , understanding 40% to 70% of each product / topic is sufficient to hands on and try out.

The worst is only someone who never do anything about it and let life / dreams passed by!

All the best!

Cheers! ​​​