Tag Archives: money tips

How My Money Perspective Has Changed From My 20s to My 30s – What Would I Do Differently? (If Anything)

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As I reflect about my life and my relationship with money, I would definitely say that my approach to spending, saving, and investing has radically changed over the years. Am I just becoming older and wiser or does the current state of the economy have any impact on my views on money? It can be a combination of things but I do believe that with life experience comes more knowledge. I have always had a passion for building wealth and that is something that has not changed since my 20s but my perspective is definitely different now and there are many ways in which I view money differently than I did a decade ago.

Having Money In My Bank Account Means More Than Spending It – I have always been a rather good money saver but over the years, I have become an even more aggressive saver. Why? As I have aged, it is just more satisfying to have a bigger bank account than to spend money on material goods or going out. I am much more willing to sacrifice my desires and wants now than I was able to in my youth. It comes more natural for me to say no to unnecessary purchases and to just save my money instead. For me personally, it just feels good to have a lot of money stored away in a bank account than to spend it.

Spending Money on Clothes Doesn’t Excite Me Anymore – I have always had a love for fashion and wearing stylish and flattering clothing. That would also mean having the nicest shoes and handbags to go with my outfits. Fast forward to the present moment and I now do not care about clothing like I used to. Over the years, I have accumulated a wonderful wardrobe of classics and staple pieces that still fit and look great year after year. This is why there really is no need to go out and constantly buy new clothes unless it is an item that is worn out and in need of a replacement. I also want to point out a valuable life lesson: No one really cares what you wear more than yourself. So there really is no need to overspend on clothing or feel the need to impress anyone because no one really cares about the clothing you wear. That is not to say that you should totally neglect your self image but to consciously make an effort to be less vain because at the end of the day–no one cares what you wear!

I am Obsessed With My Retirement Savings – When you are in your 20s, you do not really think about retirement enough unless you are taught the importance of compound interest and investing as early as you can. Fortunately, my mother had me open an IRA account at the age of 18 years old. While I was making contributions to my IRA as much as I could at the time (which wasn’t too much), my biggest regret is not making a conscious effort to max out my IRA contribution every single year. When I turned 30 years old, I made the conscious effort to start doing that and have really seen the increase over the years which is very encouraging. This motivates me to keep investing into my retirement and watching it grow over time.

My Time Is More Valuable Than Money – Despite how much I prioritize working and making money, as I have gotten older–I have tried to have more of a balance between my work life and personal life. In other words, I cherish and value having quality time as opposed to working nonstop. Sometimes you have to take the time to say no to work and actually enjoy living your life. I would rather just work less and make more as opposed to feeling like I need to work constantly. In the past, I would push myself to work as much as I can, even if that meant less free time to do the things that I loved. Although I still would consider myself a hard worker, I have toned down the intensity and have made having free time more of a priority over work.

Booking a Vacation Is Worth Every Penny – I have been an avid traveler since my mid to late 20s when I started to make a high enough income to allocate money towards one of my biggest passions in life–international travel. To this day, I still believe that travel is money well spent and something that I would never regret spending because the memories that are created are so worth it. While not everyone might have a love for travel, it is important to find something that you love and allow yourself to spend the money on your desired category of choice with zero regrets. I spent the money on travel then and will continue to spend my hard earned money on travel throughout the course of my lifetime. It can be an expensive hobby but it is one that I will always justify as an essential expense.

3 Ways to Avoid Living Paycheck to Paycheck

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It is hard escaping news headlines that a higher percentage of people are living paycheck to paycheck, even people who have a high annual salary. There are many contributing factors that are causing this including the rate in which inflation has increased over the past year. Aside from that, when people make more money, they also tend to spend more because they feel they deserve it or that they are comfortable enough to spend more while saving at the same time. No matter how much money you are making, it is essential to make money management a top priority. This will allow for yourself to be in a better financial position in the long run and ensure that you won’t be living paycheck to paycheck. Like most things in life, it is never too late to start and develop the right habits to get you on the right financial track.

Set Up Automatic Payments Into Your Savings Account – Whatever amount you can comfortably afford, determine a set amount that will automatically get deducted once a week and then you do not touch the money. This is a quick way to build savings without really thinking about it. If you are more disciplined, you can manually put the money into your savings every week and change up the amounts as needed depending on how much extra that you have left over. Every dollar counts so any little bit that you can put towards your savings is better than nothing!

Reduce Consumption and Eliminate Non-essentials – I recently wrote about how reducing consumption is a great way to save money. This could really range from anything from using less energy/gas to eating less at a restaurant so you have a second meal to take home at a later time. There are so many ways in which you could reduce what you consume each day. It is also smart to examine your monthly subscriptions and other services/products that you currently have and then eliminate the ones that you do not really need. Do you pay for cable or a gym membership that you never use? Then this might be the time to cancel these services altogether so that you can allocate the money into your savings and/or investments.

Track Every Dollar That You Spend – If you follow my blog, you probably have read me talk about this consistently but it is important to track your expenses everyday. This helps you stay accountable with your financial decisions and can also serve as a tool for analyzing your money habits. Did you notice that you spent more money on non-essentials last month? Then you can strive to reduce your spending the following month. The only way you can truly track this is by actually taking the time to record all your expenses in order to stay focused both on spending less while maximizing your daily savings. If you can do both of these things at the same time then you will find that you will not be living paycheck to paycheck anymore.