Category: managing money

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What Screams “I Have Money but Don’t Know How to Manage It”? People Responded.

I’ve never had a ton of money, so I don’t know how I’d necessarily deal with it

Maybe I’d buy gold-plated toilet paper rolls or a whole swimming pool full of Jell-O.

I guess you just never know until you’re in that position how you’d spend your wads of cash.

People on AskReddit talk about how they can tell folks don’t know how to manage their money.

1. Windfalls.

“They spend minor “windfalls” immediately. Especially on electronics or trinkets or gadgets.

I see this on the buildapc subreddit and elsewhere. As soon as people get money, they spend money.

There is a significant portion of the population who haven’t learned or refuse to learn how to handle money correctly.”

2. Can’t do that!

“Buying an expensive car then never changing the oil.

I worked with a guy who broke down on the highway one day. Turns out he hadn’t changed his oil, or probably any other form of maintenance, for like 8-9 months.

Knowing his commute, he should have gone 3 months at most between changes just on work mileage.”

3. Monthly payments.

“Speaking about how they can afford something because of the “monthly payments”.

Obviously there are some things where it makes sense to finance, but if it’s every purchase you make, chances are you are terrible with money.”

4. Up and down.

“Their quality of living going drastically up and down proportionally depending on how close it is to payday.

When they have cash, it’s expensive lunches, lots of online shopping, and making plans. Followed by a week of sulking while eating ramen tortillas.”

5. Let’s try this one.

“Multiple maxed out credit cards.

When a person pays with a card, gets declined, switches to another one, and gets declined again they’re definitely bad with money.”

6. Tacky.

“I saw a show on Netflix where a woman had a house where 99% of the items (including the wall moldings) had the Versace logo.

All of her baby’s clothes too. It just looks so bad.

It’s okay if you’re not very good at interior design, but she could just hire a designer…

This screams “I have money but don’t know how to manage it”, and also “I have money but zero sense of style or personality”.”

7. A head-scratcher.

“All the people who booked 3 week 5-star package holidays to Spain when we knew we were heading into a pandemic lock-down, and then went to the tabloid papers to complain they couldn’t afford to feed their kids because the holiday company had gone bust and there was no refund.

If you couldn’t afford to feed your kids without the refund, how were you planning on feeding them if you had gone on holiday?”

8. I’m broke.

“People with six figure incomes who never have money.

My brother is one. He says when he gets his paycheck he HAS to spend it, it doesn’t even matter what he buys.

He does seem happy though, and he doesn’t have any debt so he’s probably on to something.”

9. That’s dumb.

“Buying 2 or 3 tablets at a time, so you can use one and keep the others on charge so you’re “never without one”.

I had to help her troubleshoot 4 of them.”

10. You gotta save.

“No savings account or very little in the savings account.

I will frequently speak with people who make 6 figures (the average household income in my city is about $42k) and want to use a zero down or first time home buyers’ down payment assistant program, because they do not have a savings.

Savings can mean investments, 401K, emergency fund…the people I am referring to make $15k a month or more and spend all of it and have no savings or investments to fall back on.”

11. Trying to project success.

“I did work for a guy at his beach house. Second home, house on lake Michigan, drove 100k suv.

The lot alone was probably worth a million. He had been a customer for a while and we always worked on his stuff. One time he’s not there, but wants me to fix something because he has a party coming up. I figure, no big deal. Order parts. My boss flips his s**t. He gives a big speech about not trusting people because you don’t know who is who.

He’s like, I’ve met people in the ghetto who have a million dollars stuffed in their mattress, and people in million dollar homes who can’t afford two sticks to rub together to stay warm. You only see what people allow you to see. He says, always collect at least half up front. That way we can at least cover parts and our initial trip if nothing else. That job goes fine and I don’t think much about it. I actually think he’s making a fuss about nothing.

The guy has been a customer for some time. A few months later this same guy calls and asks me to go fix some other thing, and to call him and he’ll pay over the phone if necessary, but he’ll be in later that day. I get to the beach house, and I s**t you not every door on that house is bolted and padlocked. On all the doors, duck taped, are letters from the state saying the property is being seized for unpaid property taxes to the tune of some 600k.

My jaw dropped and I just walked away. I didn’t even call the customer back because he was coming in town later that FRiday. Things started to click. Whenever that guy was there, he was always screaming at someone on the phone. Not yelling, screaming. You start going over every encounter, piecing things together you didn’t think much about.

I thought he was just a shrewd businessmen. Turns out he was under a ton of financial pressure, and trying to project success to people. You learn as you go I guess.”

What do you think about this?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!

The post What Screams “I Have Money but Don’t Know How to Manage It”? People Responded. appeared first on UberFacts.

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This 24-Year-Old Will Have $100,000 Saved by Next Year. Here’s How

Managing our money is definitely one of the biggest struggles most of us face as we enter adulthood. It’s a skill that isn’t nearly as widely discussed/taught in school as it should be. Too many adults these days are living paycheck-to-paycheck, where any major, unexpected expense can potentially derail their entire lives.

Tori Dunlap is only 24 years old, but she recently realized she’s on track to have $100,000 in the bank by next year despite never making more than $80,000 in a year. Pretty impressive for a young person, right?

Dunlap said, “One of my biggest priorities in life has always been to save as much money as possible — and I owe much of that to my parents, who made sure I had a strong financial education at a young age.”

Dunlap acknowledges that she has some advantages that others don’t: she’s white, she comes from a middle-class family, and she graduated from college with no debt. But whether you’re as privileged as she is or not, anyone can benefit from her 5 most important money-saving tips.

1. Get on that side hustle

Dunlap said she worked an extra 15 hours per week doing social media marketing outside of her regular 9-5 job to help reach her $100,000 goal. She then invested all her money from her side job and 20% of her earnings from her full-time job.

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You don't have to stop spending money. You just need to stop spending money on things that aren't priorities for you. ?????? If that daily coffee brings you joy, awesome. But if that daily coffee is your excuse to get you out of the office at 2 pm, and you don't even taste it any more, something needs to change. ☕☕☕ Make a list of your three priorities. These are things you're willing to spend discretionary money on (mine, for example, are travel, food out, and living alone in Seattle.) This list might be the same as mine, or include things like fancy groceries, manicures, makeup, clothes, etc. These are the things were the majority of your "fun" money should be spent. ??? Then, use a tool like my Cash Calendar to track your spending and reflect on your purchases. Did these align with my priorities? Or did I emotionally spend my hard-earned money on something that didn’t matter to me? That’s where the real transformation happens. ??? What are your three spending priorities? Drop them below! ?: @oliviafrances143

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2. Invest early

Dunlap opened a Roth IRA after she graduated from college and she maxed it out every year. She also saved six months of living expenses in a high-yield savings account for an emergency fund.

3. Don’t fall into the lifestyle inflation trap

Dunlap lives in an expensive city (Seattle), but she tries to save money in a variety of ways. She lives in a less expensive, less trendy neighborhood than many young people in Seattle. She has prioritized saving money over having a trendy lifestyle. She has a one-hour commute to work instead of a five-minute ride on the light rail, and her neighborhood consists of mostly older people – but, again, she is saving more money than her peers by not paying an outrageous amount for rent.

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Privilege. • This word, especially when it comes to money, can cause people to go from zero to sixty in a hot second. And rightfully so. It’s hard to listen to folks talk about privilege who haven’t done the work of educating themselves as to what it means and why it matters. • One of the core tenants of my practice is to acknowledge my privilege. A huge reason why I’m on the path to $100K is because I graduated without student debt. That was a privilege. Going to a private college was a privilege. Getting two four-year degrees was a privilege. • It was also work. My parents — who both grew up poor — sacrificed and scrimped and saved so they could help support me financially. A huge privilege. They also expected me to contribute — with profits from summer jobs, three jobs while going to school, and merit scholarships. It was a collaboration, not a handout. A privilege but not a hall pass. • After listening to the most recent episode of @fairercents, it got me thinking. Too often, we don’t showcase that both of these things are possible: having or lacking privilege, combined with hard work. I would not be where I am today without privilege: being white, cis-gendered, with supportive parents who were able to emotionally and financially support me. But I also wouldn’t be where I am without diligence. • With privilege, comes responsibility. Having the financial education I have is a privilege I intend on using for good. With this knowledge, I have the responsibility to teach and guide others. It’s what I believe I was put on this earth to do. • I know privilege can be a tough conversation, one that I am constantly learning more about and trying to be better at. Always more to ponder and consider and strive for… thanks for listening. ?: @karyaschanilec

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4. The three-bucket budget rule

Dunlap divides her budget into three buckets. The first is living expenses (rent, bills, groceries). The second is for goals (investments, retirement, saving for a house). The third bucket is for everything else. This is the fun bucket for eating out, clothes, and travel.

The percentage of how much you put into each of the three buckets varies depending on the person.

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“We all have a better guide in ourselves than any other person can be…” ??? Personal finance is just that — personal. Our emotions and our mindset affect more of our money than any APR or interest rate can. ??? Changing your money habits starts with changing your mindset. It starts with knowing yourself and your triggers. It starts with small steps over time. ??? This is where a money coach can help you. We see you for your whole person, not just the number on your statement. We’re that cheerleader to keep you going, with the knowledge of how to guide you. It’s my favorite thing in the world. ?????? You know yourself better than anyone else. Trust yourself and start building habits that will change your life. Go get ‘em.

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5. Take things one step at a time and learn from your failures

We all make mistakes when it comes to saving (and spending) money. Dunlap said she took a job once simply because the money was good, even though her gut told her otherwise. The work environment ended up being extremely toxic, and she quit less than three months into the job.

Dunlap admits she felt like a failure after this experience and that it took her a while to rebuild her confidence, but in the long run she learned more about herself and what is important to her. She said, “Money is great, but unhappiness isn’t. Life is just too short.”

Do you have any money-saving tips of your own? Share them in the comments.

The post This 24-Year-Old Will Have $100,000 Saved by Next Year. Here’s How appeared first on UberFacts.