{"id":425700,"date":"2026-04-30T19:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/425700\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T19:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:27:10","slug":"tips-for-money-management-if-you-want-to-buy-a-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/425700\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for money management if you want to buy a home"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Ever since graduating from high school, Tyler Jones hasn\u2019t stopped working and doesn\u2019t have any debt. Still, homeownership feels like an unattainable goal, only possible for past generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I get a paycheck, it\u2019s all already spoken for,\u201d said Jones, a 21-year-old who works at a deli and a nonprofit in Springfield, Massachusetts. Being a homeowner<\/a> is one of Jones\u2019 dreams, and his inability to save for it frustrates him.<\/p>\n

Currently, 65% of working-age renters can\u2019t cover their monthly expenses after paying for housing, according to an analysis from Harvard\u2019s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Nearly half of all renters were cost-burdened by rent in 2024, that means they spent more than a third of their income on housing and utilities, which is based on data from the most recent census. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Money Happens: Housing Debt\n <\/p>\n

In this episode, we hear how housing difficulties have affected the mental health of a young man. A financial therapist provides recommendations for anyone who also struggles with the instability of their housing situation.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

EDITORS\u2019 NOTE: The Money Happens series explores challenges and anxieties around money and offers helpful tips for dealing with them. Each episode features a case of an individual experiencing a challenging financial problem, whether it\u2019s student loan or credit card debt, and an expert who can help provide strategies for working through these issues. You can listen to all of the episodes here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Anxiety about the possibility of never being able to own a house can make some people give up on organizing their finances altogether, said John Hankins, a certified financial therapist.<\/p>\n

Sometimes \u201canxiety becomes kind of a self-perpetuating cycle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If you hope to buy a house in the future but don\u2019t know where to start, here are some expert tips for you:<\/p>\n

1. Feel comfortable facing your finances<\/p>\n

Getting a handle on your finances<\/a> is the first step towards planning and achieving a financial goal. If you\u2019re looking to buy a home in the future but that goal feels unattainable, start by figuring out how much money you\u2019re bringing in, how much you\u2019re spending, and where you can cut back to start saving.<\/p>\n

For Jones, the anxiety of possibly being evicted from his current apartment because he lives paycheck to paycheck has been a barrier to making future plans for homeownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d want to come back to this anxiety, this sadness that stopping him from getting his arms around his finances,\u201d Hankins said.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let your anxieties stop you from facing your finances. The longer you avoid solving a financial worry, the longer it will take to solve it down the road.<\/p>\n

2. Avoid debt if you can, but build a credit history<\/p>\n

After watching his parents get into large amounts of debt and have to deal with the consequences, Jones has avoided any type of debt, including student loans and credit cards. But he needs to build a credit history<\/a> to buy a home in the future.<\/p>\n

Learning to find a middle ground between building credit and falling into credit card debt is key, Hankins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you have a credit card, it\u2019s a dangerous thing,\u201d he said. \u201cSo let\u2019s be really understanding how you\u2019re going to manage this so that it doesn\u2019t get out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Don\u2019t compare yourself to others<\/p>\n

Jones often compares his journey to his parents\u2019. They became homeowners in their mid-twenties while working in the restaurant industry. But that type of comparison isn\u2019t helpful, Hankins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a reflection on you that you haven\u2019t been able to achieve what your parents achieved,\u201d Hankins said. \u201cThey were operating under a whole different set of rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Ever since graduating from high school, Tyler Jones hasn\u2019t stopped working and doesn\u2019t have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,55425,1595,61,60,186104,166,174,175,9115,186103,1596],"class_list":["post-425700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-financial-wellness","tag-general-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-hankins","tag-lifestyle","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-real-estate","tag-tyler-jones","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}