This weekend gone I completed two important steps towards my financial goals. They weren’t directly attached to a monetary goal but rather were steps that will hopefully benefit me in 5-10 years time.

The first step: I received my first credit card. After being rejected for my first 0% Tesco credit card I found myself looking for other ways to improve my credit score. I decided to accept one from my current account provider which unfortunately isn’t the best one on the market. It was a step, though. I used it for the first time on Saturday and was keen to see the transaction on my internet banking which will be a good way of monitoring my spending. Making the switch from a debit card to credit card is something that I’m going to share my experience of over the next few months. I want to see whether (a) it encourages me to spend more (b) it encourages me to spend less (c) it feels exactly the same as using my debit card.

The second step: I paid into my first Stocks and Shares ISA. I also have contributed to it and divided up my asset allocation. This was a hard step to take. I’m a very risk-averse person and so I have chosen the safest investment that I thought but which will hopefully give me my desired annual yield. From my research on investing what I have learnt is that you can be risky when you’re young but that you still need to take calculated risk. As a rule of thumb you should only invest what you can afford to lose. I have my emergency fund set up and other cash holdings to ensure that I can ride through the bumpy spells in the stock market.

As I go through these two big steps (steps I’ve been planning for over a year) I will be documenting my experiences – good or bad. I hope that it will be good learning curve for myself and others who want to take the same steps.