<prompt> Human: My family has been financially unstable, filing bankruptcy, terrible credit, etc. So I just wanted to know what I could start doing or practicing to get a head start.Edit: I work at Whataburger, I mostly pay for a doomed car and the rest goes to bills at the house.Assistant: Get a job, experience having to pay taxes, and put at least 10 of every paycheck in savings. If you get a credit card, only spend as much as you have cash, which you can use to immediately pay it off. Human: I have a job, Ill have to start putting 10 into savings. And as for the credit card, I thought you had to be 18? I only have a debit card rn.  <response>: Off the top of my head, there are secured credit cards that banks and local credit-unions give out that help youths and students build credit history if managed correctly. After a given trial period with the secured card you can get an actual credit card which may necessitate that you are 18. These cards are backed by the deposit you make upfront... which you can save up for by putting as much as you reasonably can in to savings. The 5-10 often cited on this sub is a general guideline that tends to fit the means for most... if you can afford to save more go for it. Also, even at 16 i believe you can already start putting money away in to a Roth IRA or a 401K... the sooner you start saving in to those the better your finances at retirement. Edit: However, as uTheAJx mentions on this thread, dont sacrifice your future for sake of a minimum wage job. Sacrificing grades and continued education for sake of a unreliable minimum wage job is a big part of how poverty and financial instability propagate from one generation to the next. 