Finances
Save Money By Being Poor for a Week
In the current economic climate, it seems that just about everyone is trying to find ways to save money and prepare for the challenging months ahead. I recently challenged myself to live on only $100 for an entire week to see if I could and what I would learn.
I didn’t realize that the project would be so tough, rewarding, and powerful. Throughout the course of 7 days, I experienced a myriad of emotions, and learned a lot about myself and my spending. The best part is that I’m sure you would experience the same powerful effects I did. Being poor for one week can give you amazing insights on how to save money every week that follows, more than passively reading articles such as 15 Tips for Saving Money or even Reviewing Your Personal Finances. This provides real lessons taught the best way possible – through experience.
Moreso than any of my other projects, I highly encourage everyone to give it a try. Maybe $100 isn’t the right number for you, but based on your current financial habits, try spending 75% less than your normal weekly budget. A quick tip: take notes throughout that week, because you’re going to learn a lot.
Still not sure if it’s worth trying? Or wondering what you could learn by doing the challenge? Keep reading to see what you’ll learn about saving money by being poor for a week.
Sensitivity to True Cost
When you have a very limited budget, you start to look at everything you spend money on in terms of “true cost” – the cost of the item or service compared to it’s value, and what you’re giving up in order to have it. I especially thought about this in terms of food. When deciding between a $3 box of cereal or $5 pack of chicken nuggets, you have think of the actual “cost per meal” (the total cost of all ingredients divided by the number of meals it supplies). The box of cereal requires milk (+$2.39), but will also give you 6-8 light meals. The chicken nuggets will likely fill you up more and don’t necessarily require any sides, but will only get you 2-3 meals.
Why It Helps – Learning about true cost first hand will help you make better purchasing decisions in the future. It’s foolish to spend $100 on something you’ll use only once. It’s smart to spend $100 on something you’ll use 100 times or more.
Your Image Is Expensive
Living cheaply means choosing functionality over design or style. Though my leather laptop bag is more in style, my backpack can carry more stuff and has the added advantage of being better for my back. Similarly, it’s hard to justify the added cost when two things have equal functionality, but the more stylish one is more expensive- as is the case with wearing glasses versus contacts.
Your image can also take a hit if you go from a position of affluence to one of financial struggles. Keeping up the façade of having money is tough to do and at times not worth the cost. If you work in the corporate world, it may be important to keep a professional appearance. This means remaining clean-shaven, keeping your clothes pressed, and wearing more expensive dress pants instead of shorts. But living cheaply also means swallowing your pride and declining on Starbucks, even if you’re co-workers are going.
Why It Helps – Many fashion items have the highest true cost associated with them, and are often the least functional. By thinking about the practicality of an item before purchasing it, you can realize if it’s worth the investment and hassle of even owning the item.
Variety Isn’t Cheap
Variety is the spice of life, but not of living cheaply. One of the things I noticed on my limited budget was that I quickly grew tired of having turkey sandwiches and carrots for lunch. But buying items in bulk is cheaper and drives down true cost. It’s hard to justify spending more money on different options for lunch when you know there’s very little money to go around.
Why It Helps – It’s the simple things that really make a difference. Until you experience eating Ramen noodles every day, or doing the same activity daily, you won’t appreciate how the smallest changes can make a day more enjoyable.
Hard Times Inspire Creativity
As the days progressed and my budget shrank further, I found more creative ways to save money and still be happy. Whether it’s new ways to cook chicken, or how you can have fun with just a pen and paper, your mind starts to see everyday things in a new way.
Why It Helps – There’s a common belief that you have to have money to have fun and be happy. Once you accept your financial limitations and start thinking positively, you find ways to still have fun by experiencing the free (or at least cheaper) things in life.
Barebones Living
It turns out that one of the best ways to declutter your life also applies to saving money. When you want to get rid of the crap of your life, one method is to put almost all of your belongings in a specified place in your home, such as a closet. Then, as you truly need an item, you retrieve it from the closet. After a certain amount of time (a couple of weeks), anything you didn’t get out of the closet that isn’t seasonal, you can safely get rid of.
Well the same method applies to your finances. I realized that I didn’t really miss dining out that much, but that I couldn’t survive even a day without Internet access. To cut my expenses, I know that I should focus on cooking at home more, not stopping my Internet service.
Why It Helps – If you cut down all of your spending (dining out, subsciption services, alcohol), you’ll learn what you really need, what you really like, and what you were mostly wasting money on.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
When you don’t have the money to buy new crap, you start finding uses for your old crap. With a limited budget, I couldn’t afford to go to the movies. But that didn’t really matter, because I had plenty of DVDs that I’ve either never watched, haven’t seen in a long time, or didn’t watch the special features for. Also there are plenty of secondary uses for many items – plastic bags can carry your lunch or serve as garbage bags, junk mail can serve as scratch paper, and baking soda can be used for about 800 things (ok, maybe 60).
Why It Helps – Using that new-found creativity from a restricted budget, you can start seeing how items can be re-used before you even buy them, helping you choose the items with the lowest true costs.
Money Triggers
While trying to stick to my budget, I started to see where I would normally want to spend my money. Once you’re hyper-sensitive to where you’re money is going, you learn what triggers you to spend money in the first place. Some common triggers include dating (you are, after all, trying to impress the person), friends, alcohol, poor planning (if you have a busy day and forget to pack multiple meals, you either starve or have to dine out), and laziness.
Why It Helps – The only way you’re going to prevent spending money is to know what causes you to spend it in the first place. By identify the triggers, you can take steps to correct them, such as learning how to relax and have fun without alcohol, or waking up earlier so you have more time to prepare for your day.
Money Isn’t Everything (In Fact, It’s Hardly Anything)
I’ll admit, at the beginning of the week, I was not happy. I made it a point to fully immerse myself in the experience and really believe that $100 was the absolute max I could spend during that week and for weeks to come. As a result, as I made sacrifices and tough choices, I becamed depressed and pitied my situation. But as the week progressed, as I learned ways to cope with my budget and accepted my situation, I realized feeling sorry for myself didn’t do anything to help put food on the table; it just demotived me. I accepted my circumstances and decided to build from there- it was an example of “yes and” in real life.
Why It Helps - The cliche is that money can’t buy happiness, and you’ll start to realize that’s true. There’s a reason that even the richest of people end up depressed- material things aren’t the answer. Living a week without money helps you realize that, and decreases the importance of money in your life. Sure you’ll still work to make dough, but you won’t put an unwarranted significance on it.
You Can Survive
The ultimate realization you’ll have at the end of the week is that you can survive. Regardless of what happens, you can make it through it and come out in the end. I know that I can live on only $100 a week, and even less if I had to. I hope to never be in that position as I’ve worked hard to earn where I am now, but if something were to knock me down financially, I’d be able to get back up.
Why It Helps – Having the confidence to know you can take a licking and keep on ticking is powerful. It emboldens you to make stronger choices and bigger risks. At the same time, it helps you appreciate the important things in life. No one lays on their deathbed wishing they had more money; they wish for more time with their friends and family, experiencing life.
A Poor Week Leads to a Richer Life
I can promise you, if you go through this experience, you’ll come out feeling richer at the end. Not only will you actually be richer (you did, in fact, spend 75% less than you normally would), but you’ll also know how you can personally save some more money, and start appreciating the more important things. Have you tried the challenge? Post about it in the comments.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Project #37 – $100 Budget (Review)
I don’t think I’ve ever been happier that a project is ending. While it was only 7 days, this was certainly a taxing and challenging week. The goal of the project wasn’t specifically to save money, but rather to truly experience what it would be like to be on a more restrictive budget and to learn about my spending habits.
By limiting myself to only food that I “bought” this week, it made the challenge even more difficult because things like cereal or butter, which generally have lengthier shelf lives, were included in the expenses. There were a number of things that made the challenge difficult (old habits, busy schedules, being social to name a few), but towards the end of the week I was able to make it through most of the days without spending any money (and even ended up with $4.71 remaining). And considering $61.19 of my grocery bill was retroactively applied towards food I didn’t actually purchase this week, I technically only actually spent $43.52 over the course of 7 days.
To see a full long of my expenses, check out my diary of living on a $100 budget. Also stay tuned for a more in-depth article in the future describing what I learned from this incredible experience.
(No Ratings Yet)Living on a $100 Budget
This week’s project was to live on a $100 budget for the entire week. Below is the “diary” of that spending.
Day 1 – Sunday
9:17am – The start of this week isn’t so bad. Matt is leaving today, so his parents are in town to pick him up. Luckily, we go to breakfast at Bagel Express which is cheap, and even more luckily, Matt’s parents insist on paying for my $2.25 buttered bagel and $1.79 Nesquik Chocolate Milk. One meal down and $0 spent.
11:15am – My first expense! Today is the last class of my sketch class and we have to make copies for everyone in our class. The total comes to $4.39. I should’ve written a shorter sketch, or better yet, printed it out at work on Friday.
2:47pm – I’ve felt my first discomfort from the challenge (yes, already). I only have a short break between my sketch class and an audition for an improv group, so I have to eat fast and somewhere in between the two places. McDonald’s is the only feasible option, and unfortunately it’s Manhattan so the $1 menu doesn’t really exist. Knowing I have an entire week ahead of me, I get a 4-piece nugget, small fry, and cup of water – $2.70.
2:59pm – I’m still hungry.
5:45pm – I just got back from the audition (it went OK, I should know sometime this week). I am starving. I have to make my grocery list. This is probably the most important event this entire week. Poor planning here could leave me miserable towards the end.
6:37pm – Grocery shopping is proving harder than I imagined- individual items add up very quickly. And why don’t these stores put prices on everything? If I don’t know how much it costs, I can’t put it in my cart with confidence.
6:50pm – I’m back from the grocery store and I have to eat something…anything. I elect for a granola bar before even putting away the groceries, even the frozen foods. I technically only spent $13.04, but that’s because I already had a lot of food here. But, in the spirit of this challenge, I’ve decided to total the cost of the food that I would’ve bought if I didn’t already have it (since it makes no sense to waste the food I already have by not eating it and buying it again). My new total grocery bill is 61.97… Holy crap it’s going to be a tough week.
7:55pm – I had my first meal from stuff I bought at the store – 9 chicken nuggets and a piece of bread. I feel full for the first time today.
9:45pm – I’m heading to bed to make sure I’m well rested for work tomorrow and more importantly not get hungry again tonight. My total spending for the day: $69.06.
Day 2 – Monday
8:30am – It’s a really good thing that I started waking up at 6am two weeks ago- living cheaply requires a lot of preparation. I woke up at 6am, worked out in my room at 6:30am, cooked and ate breakfast (3 eggs and a piece of toast) at 7:15am, showered, and packed a lunch for the day and was finally done by 8am. Then, as I was getting ready to leave for work, I realized the laptop bag I’ve been using, a nice leather, over-the-shoulder one, isn’t designed for carrying a lunch. So I made the switch to a backpack to make sure I could carry everything. Who knew saving money meant returning back to your high school days?
11:17am – I’m starting to get hungry- I don’t think I’ll make it to lunch. Luckily we have free pretzels here in the office- they should hold me over for now.
1:55pm – This challenge would be a heckuva lot easier if I had just decided to keep to myself for the whole week- but that’s not what I’d want to do if I really were on a strict budget. With that said, I just spent $16.96 on lunch at europa café. Why? Because a friend of mine was able to hook me up with tickets to David Letterman, and the least I could do was pay for her lunch.
2:57pm – Getting hungry again. Since I didn’t eat my packed lunch, I can grab the granola bar and have myself a snack.
3:44pm – I’m not feeling all that well (headache and a little nauseous. Is it because of something I ate? Or my altered eating schedule? Either way, I did not budget for getting sick).
4:54pm – Not eating my packed lunch has proved beneficial for the second time- I grabbed the turkey sandwich and ate on the way to picking up tickets for the Letterman show.
8:25pm – I just had to make my first public sacrifice , which sucks. The friend that went with me to Letterman (which was pretty cool to see) asked if I wanted to grab dinner after the show. With only $13.98 In my pocket, I can’t afford to do it, so I have to politely decline.
9:35pm – I Just got done eating two delicious chili dogs and watching “The Daily Show” on Hulu.com. Great meal, great entertainment.
11:15pm – It’s about time for bed and I’m not hungry at all. My total spending today was $16.96.
Day 3 – Tuesday
6:15am – I still have a bit of a headache and am feeling a little nauseous. I don’t feel like eating yet, but hopefully the Gandalf of my body will let this pass.
7:01am – Time for the breakfast of champions- store brand Frosted Flakes. It’s a nice, cheap meal, but generally doesn’t keep me very full. We’ll see how the morning goes.
10:30am – I just got done with a conference call, and I think it’s time I worked the rest of the day from home. Hopefully being in more relaxing clothing and in the comfort of my own home will help me feel better. Plus I have a lot more food choices there.
12:35pm – Seeing as how I didn’t budget for being sick, I don’t really have anything suitable to eat. The closest thing to soup I have is $.33 ramen noodles, so I had that plus two slices of buttered bread. Now it’s time to get back to work.
2:45pm – OK, so by work I meant nap off being sick for a little bit. The sad thing is that I actually feel a bit worse then when I went to sleep.
4:30pm - Finally feeling better, and thanks to a delicious peanut butter & jelly sandwich, I’m feeling full as well.
7:45pm – Woodruff is over to talk about how we want to try to get Smarty Pants up and running in New York. Unfortunately I didn’t really buy any food that was good for more than one person, so we have to run to the store. We decide to go with some hamburger helper- him paying for the hamburger and me getting the helper at $3.49.
11:15pm – I still haven’t even made it a day with spending no money. My total budget left is $10.49.
Day 4 – Wednesday
7:30am – I’ve got a pretty long day today, so I have to make sure I plan appropriately. I started the day with a bowl of cereal and just finished packing some sandwiches and snacks to hold me over through work and ComedySportz practice. I hope it’s enough because I won’t be back home till after 10pm tonight.
8:05am – My fear came to fruition this morning – my monthly subway pass expired. Fortunately I wasn’t going to include this cost in the challenge (it’s a monthly expense), but it stills requires a trip back to the apartment to grab a credit card to pay the $81. Also, in the spirit of experiencing what it would be like if I didn’t have the option to take the subway, I’m walking to work this morning. Luckily it’s a nice day, so hopefully it won’t be miserable.
8:45am – What a walk… Google says it’s 2.1 miles. On the plus side it was nice out and I got in a good morning workout. On the minus side it took me 40 minutes to do, I’m now sweaty and starving, I couldn’t read or write like I normally do on the subway, and I have a bit of a headache. I definitely couldn’t do that every morning and afternoon, especially considering tonight I have to go to the west side for practice.
9:03am – I couldn’t do it, I had to eat something. There goes the granola bar for the day.
1:07pm – After a challenging morning (my head hurt the worst it has in awhile), I’m now feeling good and full, thanks to my sliced chicken sandwich and Doritos.
3:56pm – The advantage to packing my lunch was that I was able to pack two sandwiches, the second of which I just consumed. This is supposedly the better way to eat anyway – smaller, more frequent meals.
6:04pm – Thanks to my preparation this morning, I have a chicken pot pie I can cook in the office kitchen. Throw in some left over carrots and things are going well.
10:15pm – I just got back home from improv practice and I’m glad to be back in the presence of food. Even though I had them two days ago, the chili dogs are calling my name again. Bon apetit.
11:47pm – I was finally able to make it a day without spending any money. I’m sure I’ve done this many a-time without realizing it, but when you’re away from home from 8am to 10pm, it requires some planning ahead. Still sitting at $10.49 left for the week.
Day 5 – Thursday
6:41am – I got bored of the cereal, so I went back to scrambled eggs and toast. After starting the eggs, I realized I probably should’ve waited to cook/eat them till after I worked out, but I can’t change that now. Today’s eggs were a little dry, but definitely edible.
7:35am – My worry about eating too much before working out (a weight-free routine I do in my room) was unwarranted. My worry that I’d be hungry after the workout was accurate. Luckily a handful of carrots should tide me over for awhile.
11:11am – My wish for more food came true- someone had leftover bagels after a meeting and offered them up to the rest of the office. Who would’ve thought a simple bagel with butter would be like Thanksgiving in September.
1:06pm – Thanks to the free bagel, I was able to wait a little longer till lunch- a turkey sandwich and some Doritos.
3:47pm – Snack time with Mr. Granola bar.
5:40pm – Just like yesterday, I came to work with two sandwiches. I’m not starving by any means, but rather than take the PB&J home or leave it for another day, I figure I might as well eat it right?
9:34pm – With only a couple days left, I decided it was time to bust out a long-time staple in my “cook at home” diet- pizza rolls. I have to imangine I’ve been eating the pepperoni variety since 2001.
10:12pm – I’m calling it a bit early tonight to make sure I’m back to 100%. It was another $0 day, AND no headaches–maybe I’m not allergic to being broke after all. $10.49 left for 2 days.
Day 6 – Friday
7:10am – Thanks to me forgetting about an 8am meeting I have today, I have to scarf down a small bowl of cereal, throw a sandwich in my bag, hop in the shower, and get to work. We’ll have to see if this poor planning affects my day.
10:11am – Yep, the skimpy breakfast is already leaving me hungry. Pretzels in the office to the rescue.
11:59am – I can’t hold out any longer, I have to eat lunch. Another turkey sandwich and Doritos.
3:47pm – Down goes the granola bar.
6:11pm – I made the mistake of not making a second sandwich for the afternoon, so I am absolutely starving. I decided to finally reheat the pizza from Monday, which at least makes me feel a little bit better about spending $5.50 on it.
12:35am – So I accidentally spent the last 6 hours watching the first 8 episodes of the first season of The West Wing. I had never seen the show but have had Season 1 sitting in my DVD collection for well over a year. While not the most exciting of evenings, it was relaxing and best of all free. No dollars spent today and $10.49 left for the last day of the project.
Day 7 – Saturday
8:41am – The last day of the challenge and I couldn’t be happier (or I guess maybe tomorrow when it’s over I will be). Unfortunately due to me going through my email and RSS feeds for the past hour, I have to eat a quick bowl of cereal before heading out to meet a friend to observe the taping of his weekly talk show. We all know how well a bowl of cereal lasted me yesterday…
11:15am – Luckily I threw a granola bar and sandwich in my bag before heading out the door. Nothing has really happened yet on the set, so I have some time to eat.
11:46am – I wanted to wait until later in the day to resort to the sandwich, but I can’t make it.
2:25pm – Due to some technical difficulties, they still haven’t actually taped anything yet. On a positive note, they did order pizza for everyone.
10:03pm – The good news is that heading into the evening, I had a few dollars left in the budget ($10.49 to be exact). The better news is that I spent $5.78 on cream cheese and tortilla chips, meaning I was able to make Skyline Chili Dip. The bad news is that Ohio State is not doing that well against USC.
11:41pm – With the week almost over, and the OSU vs. USC game being a blowout, I just want to get this post done and get to bed. As a “reward” for my frugal spending Wednesday through Friday, and what was supposed to be in celebration of the OSU game, I spent $5.78 today. That brings my grand total for the week to $95.29, leaving a $4.71 surplus!
(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)Project #37 – $100 Budget (Task)
With a recession looming, many of us have had to change our spending habits and adjust to risings costs and increased unemployment. I recognize that I am one of the lucky ones, as I have been relatively unaffected by our current economic situation.
This week’s project is to curb my spending and adjust to the tough economic pressures of today. The challenge is to survive the week spending less than $100. For some of you, that may seem like a lot; for others, not nearly enough. For me, well, we’re going to find out.
There are a few things that I won’t be counting against me for the week- rent, monthly MTA pass, purchase of things like toilet paper or toothpaste (as I still have plenty of that from previous purchases). So what it really comes down to is food and entertainment. $100 for seven days of food and entertainment- certainly a change from the norm.
In an effort to track my spending, I’ll be Twittering all of my exenses for the week- if you want to follow along, you can find my Twitter page here. Also, as suggested by a friend who has agreed to try the challenge with me, I’ve already taken out the $100 from an ATM and will be leaving my credit cards at home- meaning I’ll have no choice but to stick to the budget.
It’s sure to be an interesting week, but I think this will go a long way in helping me learn more about my finances, as well as appreciate my current financial status.
Success = Spend less than $100 this week.
(No Ratings Yet)Review Your Personal Finances
“Money can’t buy happiness, but …
- … it allows you to rent.” – Anon.
- … neither can poverty.” – Leo Rosten
- … it can make you awfully comfortable while you’re being miserable.” – Clare Boothe Luce
Introduction
Regardless of your opinion about money (whether they resemble those sentiments above, or more aligned with Biggie’s “Mo Money, Mo Problems” claim), we all know there is a minimum amount of “the green” necessary just to meet the “bear” necessities (thanks Baloo). That minimum is different for all of us (based on cost of living, what we consider to be the bare necessities, and who all is dependent on us).
This past week, I tried to gauge my current circumstances, accounting for my location, salary, typical expenses, and existing debt. Here’s what I learned.
Young Fabulous and Broke
As part of my financial reflection, I realized that I needed some suggestions to get started. Based on a recommendation from a friend, I picked up Suze Orman’s “The Money Book for the Young Fabulous & Broke.” The book focuses on advice for those recently out of college that are trying to handle new careers, student loans, credit card debt, and future retirement demands.
While the book was a solid, quick read, there wasn’t a whole lot that I learned that I hadn’t already read on “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” or “Get Rich Slowly.” Having said that, if you are completely new to finances, YF&B is a great starting point. From the nearly 400-page book, I picked up the following:
- For all things financial: Your FICO score is incredibly important. It’s the “credit score” that almost all banks and loan companies use to determine your interest rate. While many things affect your score, I didn’t realize that your debt/credit limit ratio accounts for 30% of the number you receive.
- For retirement: If your company offers a 401k match, focus on contributing whatever amount required to get the maximum contribution from your company (it is “free money” after all). If they don’t offer matching, or if you’ve already contributed the max, the next place to go is a Roth IRA.
- For saving money: All cost-savings help. Some of the more interesting suggestions included:
- Avoid ATM fees at all costs (which happens to be $1.50 to $4.00 per). Luckily this is easy for me because Charles Schwab will reimburse any ATM fees I incur.
- Stop getting a tax refund. It’s a free loan to the government that you could be using for investing. The key is to find the right number of exemptions that limit your refund but doesn’t leave you owing the government.
- If you don’t have anyone dependent on you financially (no kids, spouse, etc), drop your Life Insurance.
- For investing: Index funds can be a good starting point for getting into investing. They don’t require hours of research and historically have returned moderate returns.
- For loaning money: Everyone wants to help their friends and family when they can. However when it comes to loaning money, failing to set clear, written expectations around repayment of loans can lead to strained relationships. So before loaning someone money, write down the terms of the loan (how it will be repaid, how often, will there be interest, etc).
My Current Currency Situation
After reading through the book, I assessed my current situation. I feel very fortunate to be able to say that I have no student loans or credit card debt. My only loan is for my (former) car, which will be sold to my brother before too long. I have 4 different bank accounts, each with varying amounts of money in them. One is a “brick-and-mortar” checking account, another is an online checking account (with 3% interest), the third is an online savings account (with 4.2% interest), and the last is an online brokerage account.
My living expenses have recently increased with the move to NYC. Thanks to an Excel spreadsheet I created, I have a handle on what my expenses have been since the move (and compared to Ohio), and what they “should” be. Using an online finance program, I was also able to see exactly where I’ve been spending my money (sadly I’ve been to McDonald’s 19 times in the past 6 months).
Financial Plan
Based on my assessment, I realized there are a number of things that I needed to improve:
- Organize. Based on interest rates and convenience, I need to move some of my money around. My “bills” account will move to the online checking account, the “emergency fund” to the online savings account, the retirement/investment money to the brokerage account, and a new “drew tarvin inc.”-type account to the brick-and-mortar bank.
- Automate. I already do Direct Deposit at work, but I need to modify it so that it goes to the “bills” account. After that, I need to automatically contribute money for investments. I’ll have 4 types of investments: 1) Retirement 2) Investing/Money Growth 3) Small business and 4) “drew tarvin, inc.” (With #4, I’m saying that I will be investing in the business of me, aka my comedy).
- Adjust. Based on where I saw I was spending my money, I need to make some changes. For example, food (more specifically dining out) accounted for a huge portion of my monthly expenses. Considering I have, on average, 90 “meals” a month (30 days at 3 meals a piece), dining out for all of them would get quite expensive. Assuming a typical breakfast is $4 (reasonable if it’s at McDonald’s or Starbucks), a lunch is $8 (assuming it’s not a formal sit-down restaurant), and dinner is $15 (the average for a moderately nice establishment), that’s over $800. If I can keep the number of meals I eat out to 50%, and assume a $200 monthly grocery bill (2x my current average), then I could save $200 a month or $2400 a year.
- Invest. As it stands, I have yet to enter the realm of the stock market. As any financial site will tell me, the biggest thing I have going for me is time. If I start a moderate investment program now and get a modest 8% return, I could be looking at over $1 million for retirement easily. Through a Roth IRA and otherwise, I need to pick a few Index funds and other investments to get started soon.
Conclusion
Everyone’s financial situation is different. Maybe you have more debt than me, or make more money. But hopefully seeing my personal exploration can help you with your own. Though not everything will apply, I can tell you that you can reapply doing the research on personal finance (online or through books like YF&B) and research on yourself (through a budget or online service). Those two steps alone will get you on the right track to financial clarity and freedom.
With some smart decisions, conscious spending, and diligent tracking, hopefully we can all be experiencing “Mo Problems” in a few years.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
