Getting serious about saving…
I’m deserving of some heat for asking this considering my job revolves around managing money but here we are…
I’ve always been quite the spender, and have supported that via working both since I began high school, as well as mooching off my parents.
Now that I’m getting closer to becoming independent, I’ve realized that I have to wake up and smell the coffee
It doesn’t help that I enjoy my gym membership, whole foods, and supplements, as well as the nights out that you might expect for a college student. Have I set myself up for failure?
How did you get yourself on a budget and get your finances on lock? TIA!
Just don't spend more than you make and you're all set. You're smart enough to figure how to do that bud. Welcome to the real world
A huge % of young people that have money problems just pay too much in rent. It’s honestly pretty easy to save if you just keep your rent low relative to your comp. Embrace roommates in NYC/SF/LA until you’re making $175k
Something that works well for me is to remove money from my paycheck before it hits my bank account - I can't spend what isn't there. 401k's and high yield savings are your best friends.
Get your discretionary spending under control. Try a single month of really conservative spending to get a baseline. Use that to build a reasonable budget that doesn't cost you a fortune and let's you do some of the things you enjoy.
My advice is going to sound counter-intuitive, but I would say first and foremost: change nothing and begin measuring your spending relative to what it yields. Basically, create an inventory of your expenses and see what the total damage is at the end of a given month.
From there, look into what your top five discretionary expenses are and non-discretionary expenses. As some have pointed out, rent may very well be the overwhelming monthly spend as compared to the other quality of life purchases. The other may be alcohol/nights out. So if you can assess that and reduce just those, that'd make a much bigger impact than cutting out your gym membership, supplements and cofee combined.
The goal is not to deprive yourself of things you enjoy, rather find out how to optimize your spending whilst saving a certain percent you think makes sense for larger purchases and retirement. Creating a cash sweep to auto-deposit money into your investments account, matching your 401k contributions and using other investment vehicles can be taken as a tactical next step once you've figured out how much you're willing to part with.
I really like this approach, very analytical and a good visual which is what really works for me - spending less on nights out alone should save me a ton, I definitely don’t need to be a philanthropist buying rounds like I used
Also remember it’s about building habits to have success long term. Focus on building strong and good habits- start saving a little and ramp it up from there.
What has helped me is creating a spreadsheet that has a bunch of major life expenses laid out and my wealth by year. I have house, dream car, kids college, retirement, etc. basically figure out the life you want and how much you need to save.
i project mine very conservatively and figure if i beat my targets, it just means lower-to-no mortgage required, dream car earlier, or early retirement. But generally just seeing all the major purchases in my future and how much I need to save now is a huge help for me, otherwise it’s all too abstract.
Those are not crazy expenses? Lol gym membership / whole foods / supplements are all great and you need to have some fun as well at this age (trust me, very few 35 year olds love partying every night)
Try to cook at home a good amount and don't buy super expensive toys when you're young (cars, 10k watches, etc). And maintain a budget and don't let it scale with comp (i.e. going from 8yr single malt to 36yr once you get promoted)
For me, the main expenses I need to rationalize are a) food and b) dumb one-off stuff that just becomes chronic because of poor planning. Otherwise I don't think it's crazy
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