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How to Be Great with Money
This post is about how to be great with money.
There are 5 fundamental things you must learn so you too can be great with money.
Why is it so important for you to be great with money?
Not GOOD with money GREAT with money?
There are several reasons why you really need to be great with money:
To become financially independent
Give yourself more freedom
Save for your retirement
To have less stress and anxiety
Freedom to pursue dream career
More time with friends and family
More time to travel
Invest in passive income
Buy a better home
Drive a better car
Give your kids a better education
Overall, more financial security
To be able to afford big purchases
Get out of all kinds of debt
To have a much better life
If that is not enough motivation for you to be great with money, honestly, I do not know else to tell you my friend.
For years myself I was useless with money, and the term “useless,” is a very polite term indeed to describe my spending habits.
I was the sort of person that had no idea what was going in and certainly not a clue what was going out of my bank account.
It was really bordering on the extremely dangerous.
In fact, I was once described by a friend as the person where “money burns a hole in their pockets,” meaning it had to spent there and then.
So, I have first-hand experience in going from being poor with money to being great with it.
Therefore, if I can transition for the better to be great with money, then so can you.
Please try to use me as your motivation.
All that is required is to be open minded, mature and the ability to be disciplined.
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#1 – Create a Budget Plan
The very first step in becoming great with money is for you to create a budget plan.
A budget plan is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period.
If you earn $2000 a month, how can you work out what to spend your money on without running out of it completely?
Easy, create a budget plan!
This is the reason behind doing so.
I strongly suggest you either use a pad of paper or an excel spreadsheet and have a calculator handy too.
Here are some further steps to creating your budget:
Note your net income
The very first step in making a budget is to identify the amount of money you have coming in total.
Whether you have a full-time job or a series of side hustles, total it all up.
If your salary changes month to month, total it up by the year and divide it by 12 so you have a good monthly average to work with.
Calculate Expenses
The next step is to total up all your total expenses in a month.
You need to begin with your essential expenses, your bills, rent, mortgage, your insurance, and food.
All unnecessary expenditure such as restaurants, gym memberships, and so on must go in a separate category.
It is easier to work with two categories with expenses such as “necessary,” and “unnecessary.”
Track Your Spending
Most people do not have the slightest idea what they are paying for daily.
In fact, 75% of people in the united states alone are paying for subscriptions to products or services they have not used in months!
So, track your spending so you can get on top of what is coming out of your bank account every month, and adjust accordingly.
Create Financial Goals
By now you should have a rough idea of what is going on in your bank account with income and expenditure it is time for you to start creating a goal.
Make long term goals and short-term goals, for example:
Short term goals can include saving for 6 months to pay off some credit card debt.
Long term goals can be saving enough to put down a deposit on some real estate.
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#2 – 72 Hours Before Buying
The next way for you to become genuinely great with your money is a brand-new rule I learnt only a month ago of me writing this very post.
It is called the “72 hours rule.”
I used to be a very impulsive buyer; it was dangerous.
Luckily whilst I never got myself into debt, I would act on impulse, I suffered from serious fear of missing out and I did not know how to control it.
I am also a collector of things, I collect comics, vinyl toys, and several other things.
It is a fun hobby of mine.
So, when I go on the hunt for something rare or valuable, I quite often am met with something truly special staring back at me.
For example, I recently saw a pristine mint comic book in a store that I had wanted for a while, but it was way over my price range.
And before I purchased it a friend told me to use the “72-hour rule,” which basically means wait 72 hours before you buy something.
For those who struggle with math that is roughly 3 days.
I shouted back in frustration, “3 days?! I cannot wait that long!”
He insisted on it, and to test my discipline I tried it out.
Walking away from the store was tough, I was worried I was never going to see that comic book again for that price.
I was frustrated, angry and was even looking at eBay and willing to pay a higher premium just to ensure I got that very book.
By the second day I was a lot calmer but was still thinking about making that purchase.
However, by the time the 3rd day had come and the official 72nd hour approached, I was pretty much over it.
I realized I did not need that book for my collection and decided to spend my money on something different.
Which I did, and as luck would have it, that book was on sale for 1/3 of the price which I managed to buy just a week ago.
Not only did I save money, but I managed to still get what I wanted for much cheaper than I originally saw it for.
I would strongly suggest applying this 72-hour rule to your life to become great with money.
It can be applied to:
Luxury items
Expensive Vacations
Impulsive buys
#3 – Is it Beautiful or Useful?
When I was a former gambling addict (I have been clean for almost two years now of me writing this), I decided to get into collecting.
Now collecting for some people may be a very pricey and unnecessary hobby.
However, for me I managed to invest my money into collectibles and instead of flushing my money down the toilet as a gambler I would have at least something to show for it at the end of the day.
And I am pleased to announce my collectable portfolio has gone up in value.
But when I initially started collecting and saving money more, I stumbled across a brilliant quote from William Morris:
“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it:
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
I struggled with what the point was behind William’s quote and I decided to do a bit of research more.
William Morris did not mean to apply this to necessary expenses such as:
Bills
Rent/Mortgage
Insurance
Necessary Food
Money for savings
Investment Funds
Instead William was talking about the money we use on leisure and for fun.
This could include:
Fashion
Toys
Cars
Artwork
Jewellery
I applied his rule to my life and boy oh boy has it been a gamechanger!
I am sure it is easy to see everything with rose-tinted glasses and every shoe or sneaker you want is beautiful and useful.
But once you truly dissect what you are looking to spend your money on, you will realize that it will really need to fit one or both of those categories.
And if you want to be great with money, really ask yourself is what your buying “beautiful or useful?”
#4 – Invest in Experiences over Things
I have an uncle who has travelled halfway across the globe and lived an amazing life.
And he had told me from a young age had he not saved and budgeted properly; he would never have the abundant life he now lives.
I remember when I was talking to him about buying a brand-new sports car (he is one of my mentors), and he insisted to me:
“invest in experiences over things.”
What does it mean to invest in experiences over things?
I was truly puzzled by this, but he went on to explain:
“If you go and buy a sports car, you are just another guy with a sports car.
However, if you go and travel and learn a new skill, a new way of living, a new philosophy you will find that maybe you do not need that sports car to be happy.”
I was younger at the time and respectfully disagreed with him and a week later went off to the car dealership to get my dream motor!
But as I pulled away from the dealership, I noticed that my uncle was right.
I was just another guy in another car.
I could have used that money to travel.
I could have paid to learn how to play golf.
Learn a new language.
Learn a new skill.
He was right, experiences trump things.
Everybody is chasing the newest and brightest toys be it a car, a watch, or a piece of jewellery all the time.
Instead what they should be doing is chasing the desire to become better people.
He also went on to teach me that the more you realize and learn the more you will understand you do not need things to be happy.
You do not need a flash car.
An expensive watch.
Those who are great with money are spending it wisely on experiences.
Yes, they may be flash and have fancy stuff but if you look what they value more than anything are the people in their life and the places they are going to.
So next time you are looking at buying something or spending a lot of money:
Ask yourself, would I be better off spending it on an experience?
Sadly, no matter how much money you make, you will not take it with you when you die, but memories however will last an eternity.
#5 – Have a Rich Mindset
Adjusting your mindset and approach to money will have an enormous impact on your overall finances.
There is something I must make noticeably clear though:
Acting rich when you are in debt does not mean going and buying a Rolex and a flash car you certainly cannot afford.
But instead despite your current circumstances realizing that more wealth will come your way very soon.
Consistency is the key, if you continue to work hard, diversify an investment portfolio, make money work for you then gradually over time that will pay off.
However, you must adjust your mindset from a poor mentality to a rich mentality.
Those who are great with money never worry about their current situation as they know it does not last and that they will rise above it.
A rich mindset has the desire to increase their wealth rather than save for the rest of their lives.
A rich mindset is thinking bigger and not small.
A rich mindset plans and thinks long term over the short term.
A rich mindset sets out multiple sources of income and never puts all their eggs into one basket either.
All in all, you truly can become great with money, as I am living proof of somebody who was never good at all.
All you must do is follow the steps I have highlighted and watch the changes unfold.
“Too many people spend money they earned. To buy things they do not want. To impress people that they don’t like.”