With so much misinformation on social media, we know it’s not always easy to tell fact from fiction.

So in this season of trick-or-treating, we’re going to bust three spooky money myths that are easy to get fooled by!

1. You need to be rich to start investing

This one probably made sense back in the day when stock markets first came into existence, and access to them was limited to the wealthy. But not anymore!

Now, you can start investing with as little as $1 and just a few clicks on your phone.

In fact, getting started earlier with less and investing regularly can help you build investing knowledge and confidence.

Say you’ve got $2,000 set aside for investing, but you’re planning to wait until you’ve got $10,000 before you start investing (which may take another two years).

Well, two years of time that you could be missing in the market. Not to forget the investing experience you’ll be missing out on.

2. You need a credit card to improve your credit score

You might have heard this advice from reading popular money books or watching fin-fluencers from overseas.

But remember, international finance tips (e.g. America) don’t always apply to Australians because we have a totally different money system!

The reality is, simply getting a credit card won’t improve your credit score and actually could hurt your score instead - especially if you’ve taken out a lot of credit or applied for too many credit cards in a short period of time.

But, using a credit card CAN help improve your credit score IF you’re able to make timely repayments to your credit card.

Bonus tip - there are ways you can build a good credit score in Australia which don’t involve credit cards at all. For example, paying for your phone plan and utility bills on time, and having a stable address and employment history.

3. You need to be restrictive when you’re on a budget

We won’t lie to you, budgeting does take a bit of work and organisation and that’s not everyone's idea of fun.

But the idea of budgeting should be the OPPOSITE of making your life strained and restrictive.

Budgeting is about allocating money for the things you need and want to spend on so you can live the life you want without the guilt of having overspent.

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A good place to start is by splitting your income into three buckets; needs, wants and savings,

• 50% of your income comes to your needs,
• 30% to your wants
• 20% into savings.

That way, whatever money is in your needs and wants categories, you can spend without a drop of guilt.

And now you’ll never be tricked by these spooky money myths again!