But First! Have you checked out the YT channel??

Save Half of All Raises

Lifestyle inflation is the most common way people stay broke. It’s easy to find more ways to spend money when you start making more of it.

And then say if only I made more money…

Every time you get a raise put half toward savings and half toward your monthly budget.

Doing this will help you get to a point where you save 40-50% of your money.

Automate Savings

Avoid the decision to spend versus save money by having some of each paycheck deposited directly into a savings account or brokerage account.

If your employer can’t split your direct deposit, schedule automated transfers to take place the day after each paycheck.

Don’t rely on your willpower to save, take yourself out of the equation.

Even if it’s just $50/mo that can really start to add up.

Automate Investments

You also don’t have to manually by every investment. In fact, doing so might delay you from actually investing because you’ll start to focus on timing the market.

You can use Robo-advisors to invest, set up automatic contributions to IRA accounts, and automatic purchases of ETF’s or stocks.

93% of professional investors don’t beat the market, so stop trying.

Automate Bill Payments

Schedule your bills to automatically debit you on the day after you receive your direct deposit paycheck. That way, the money doesn’t linger in your checking account, tempting you to spend it.

Sift Out Underused Subscriptions

It’s not just streaming services anymore.

Everything wants you to subscribe. Clothing companies, car companies, security, cleaning, dog food.

Hunt through your bank statements and find the stuff that you aren’t using. I literally do this every 3 months and always find stuff I wasn’t expecting.

It drives me nuts but at least I caught it.

Bonus points if you take the money you saved and put it in a savings account.

Add Friction to Spending

Delete your debit card from all of your online shopping accounts.

Then implement a simple rule: every discretionary purchase requires a 24-hour probation period in the shopping cart for you to think about it.

If you still really, really want it a day later, you can buy it.

Online shopping has made it too easy for us to spend.

Consolidate Old 401ks

American’s have left behind almost $32m in old company 401k’s.

Take half an hour to look up your old 401(k)s and roll them over into your IRA.

You should never leave a job without rolling it over to your IRA. Old 401k accounts have higher fees and often have limited investment options.

This could mean tens of thousands at retirement.

That’s it for this week.

Thanks for showing up. I hope this was helpful in your financial journey.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Dan