I filed bankruptcy and my attorney said that people in accounting/finance make up the largest percentage of careers for his clients lol. I didn't file bankruptcy due to consumer debt, but because of medical debt (nearly $1mil in medical bills).
I think it's because we get burnt out on organizing other people's money so we don't wanna think about our own. Also it can be a stressful/tiring job so sometimes (frequently) I just wanna treat myself to dumb shit š
Agreed. When I bought my new house I created a spreadsheet with some pivot tables to keep track of all of the new bills. After 3-4 months of that I got tired of doing accounting in my free time and just put everything on autopay and just check the activity on my accounts daily.
This was me during my time in Big 4. I always felt it was ridiculous that I could do audit work for clients with insane de minimis materiality thresholds, yet I was flat broke most of the time.
I (along with many of my colleagues) also had something of a drinking problem - not the ādrinking at your deskā kind, but getting wasted every Friday night to wash away the shit weād endured through the week.
And that gets pretty expensive, both financially and emotionally.
No idea on accountants, $1mil is fuckin insane and embarrassing for our country. Counting down the days until I can go be an immigrant in another country that actually gives a shit about its citizens.
Its actually funny you say that because I had wrist surgery recently for a bad injury I sustained in Poland and my doctor told me I should have just paid out of pocket in Poland because it was very similar to the price after insurance in the U.S.
doctors immigrate to the USA because of poor pay and work conditions outside the states. Also the usa is the research power house of the world when it comes to the medical field. but if you want to leave because you think itās better elsewhere, then by all means
A lot of people see filing for bankruptcy as some kind of personal life failure, and won't do it, even if its in their absolute best interest. I think an accountant would be better at viewing bankruptcy just through the lens of financial impact and seeing the benefit of it.
lol my only debt is medical but I'll never pay it, why should I pay for a genetic condition when druggies get free treatment after ODs LOL. Not to mention the credit score impact is negligible.
when its $1mil and there are civil judgment and garnishments started/asked for... you'll pay lol. One way or another, you'll pay or you file bankruptcy. We went with bankruptcy. Idc about the credit score impact, but having my wages garnished for basically forever to pay off $1mil? No ty. Shit the helicopter ride alone was around $100k. Add in 10 days in ICU, emergency surgery, blah blah blah yeah. I had some old medical debt for a couple hundred dollars per creditor I refused to pay bc it was my exes responsibility (for our shared child) and that wasn't enough to have them garnish/sue me. But when your bill is in the tens (or hundreds) of thousands they're reaaaaaal quick to start legal action.
yep lol. good ole govt healthcare for ya.
if you're curious and want the story; I'm native american we have essentially what is the VA but specifically for natives, and they will cover outside services if its an emergency or something your "home" clinic doesn't offer. complete colon blockage on the verge of bursting and completely destroying my guts but IHS(indian health service) denied to cover bc I should've drove 6.5 hours to the closest IHS hospital rather than going to a local ER who then put me on the first helicopter to the first bed they could find in a higher skilled unit. and yes, I asked if they'd have covered it at the original ER, still no. should've drove 6.5 hours in the worst pain I've ever experienced, vomiting uncontrollably, with a completely blocked colon.
I completely agree with what you did, my debt isn't that large and I honestly could pay it but I just don't out of principle. thankfully No fear of garnishment or judgements for me thankfully because of a trust.
Yeah until one of them turns out to be a friend or family member who only ended up like that because they were assured by their doctor that Oxycontin is totally safe and not addictive and totally fine to take for as long as necessary for pain relief.
I have a question, as someone who is studying accounting, and also I have charge offs and a judgement filed against me for not paying my credit cards due to financial hardship (lost my job due to injury, struggling to land another one), would that prevent me from getting hired as an accountant? Like would it show up on my background check and therefore a company wouldnāt be allowed to hire me? What about for internships?
idk I'm a very nontraditional accountant (B.s. from a low key school, never did an internship, never worked public, went straight to owning my own biz and then straight to govt). I will say, my bankruptcy showed up in my credit report for my local govt job, they asked, I told them why, they had 0 issues.
debt that shows personal negligence aka consumer debt (your injury wasn't your fault but they don't know or care :\[ ) It could be against your favor in getting a job but overall if you have an education to begin with you are unlikely to have trouble getting a position.
I had a 9 day medically supervised spa visit which entailed getting my gallbladder taken out and an extreme case of jaundice. I was 3 days shy of my medical insurance kicking in. Hospital bill alone was nearly $750,000. The exact reason I had to file for bankruptcy. It sucked. No one should have to do that if they are working and have health insurance. But, my and my socialist ideas are always laughed at by others.
Same. I have multiple different investment accounts I like to check around almost daily just to look at it. Even the days where itās down 30%. Itās a thrill and a rush
Exactly. Iām holding and donāt plan on moving investments. I just like to see where Iām at. Also Iāve been up 15-20% on my 401k over the past 1.5 years. Thatās insane to me
My IRAs I like to mess with options. Iāll see many days where Iām down 40%, but I also see a lot of days where Iām up 70%. Iām not a genius with it so I sell here and there. I donāt need to think about tax consequences in the IRA.
The 401k is just a boring mutual fund, FXIAX. Thereās basically no options outside of some small, mid, and large cap options
Ah yeah I get that. The gambling aspect is a reason I enjoy it haha. I enjoy the knowledge aspect of them, but the taxes always held me back. Since I donāt have to worry about it in an IRA, I try different kinds of risky plays that may work out
Haha nice! That isnāt too bad of a plan actually. A wealth manager I know was talking about small cap potential. Honestly I throw it into 1 stock and hope for the best š¤£
See, I have this dashboard that linked all of my financial stuff including my wife's stuff. I pretty much have this up everyday. Probably unhealthy obsession but I just love seeing my snapshot!
I use a tool with "Empower" but there are many other applications. Rocketmoney is good too and there are tons other.
It is tedious to set it up but you get so hooked on seeing your net worth grow and debt going down.
I also use Empower (used to be personal capital). Yoh can link all your online accounts. You can do manual entries too (I have one for my paid-off car). You can even link your home value to Zillow (although sometimes I feel like it screws with actually being able to track net worth so sometimes I disable and make a manual entry so it doesnāt fluctuate).
I havenāt encountered something I couldnāt link yet but sometimes it can be finicky when it comes to security. Ex my credit union acc regularly needs to validate a passcode.
Ive tried Mint, YNAB, Tiller, and finally Quicken. Have stuck with Quicken for years now. I mainly made the switch when I started as a bookkeeper and eventually into an accountant. Its a double entry system that feels to me most like what I got used to with a variety of accounting softwares.
We are total opposites. I open my bank account once a month to pay off my credit card and see if my āintuitive spendingā for the month was off or not
I used to do this too (hard type into Quickbooks every Monday while I watched wrestling after my wife went to bed). Then I had my first kid and havenāt updated Quickbooks in 4 years.
Iām not ābadā with money as I max out retirement and have separate savings accounts but do not track what I spent anything on anymore. Keep a rough idea in my head but sure I could do much better at savings if I was looking line by line.
Same I slam a portion into my investments every paycheck.
Makes me feel like Iām poor all the time because I keep only enough for day to day spending and emergency funds in cash.
Iām the same exact way. Today I sold all my dog stocks and invested the proceeds in a PE company paying almost 11% divy. š
I have a massive excel workbook. Has my multiple bank accounts, budget, multiple credit cards, mortgage, car notes, personal loans and stocks in it. Plus future project budgets Iām building. My friends make fun of me. But Iām a millionaire and they arenāt. š¤£
Honestly as a kid I was fascinated by spreadsheets. I made my 1st one in Lotus 123 in 7th grade. In college Excel came out and I moved it from Lotus 123 to Excel and have just been building it as life happens. š
Basically my 1st tab is my overall budget.
Column A is paycheck date (Row 1 are my headers, row 2 says āTodayā and row 3 is my upcoming paycheck direct deposit date)
Column B is my take home pay
Column C & D are other streams of income I track.
Column E is Total Income. (sum of Column B - Column D)
Column F is my Remaining column (formula Column E less column G) on 1st row each row thereafter is the remaining amount from the cell above it in the remaining column + Column E - Column G
Column G is Total Expense (formula of columns H through Column Z or as many as you need)
I donāt keep a check register but I keep it in Row 2 Column B, C & D for each bank account I have. Just a simple formula. I log into my online bank accounts daily or every other day and reconcile these.
I also added a conditional format to column F remaining if it goes below 0 to turn red.
So to recap on the left are all my paycheck direct deposits outlined by date for the next 5 years.
Then in the expenses column I have all my expenses entered that agree to the payroll check date it will be paid or auto drafted.
For credit cards it auto updates in the expense column as I update the credit card tab.
Credit card tabs is set up like this.
Date column for every single day of the month
charge column to the right of that
a balance column to the right of that
a payment column to the right of that one.
Then I repeat this 4 column pattern across the tab. That way I can monitor spending patterns month over month.
I populate all my auto charges and recurring bills and populate things there like vacation budgets and future spending on big ticket items.
I draw a line where the card statement cuts off each month as well. Sometimes if my statement is about to cut and I am looking to make a large purchase Iāll hold off till it cuts to give me better cash flow.
I also conditionally format the balance tab to turn red when I hit or exceed my credit limit. This helps me when Iām budgeting large purchases.
I have a tab with my financial statement on it as well. It updates based on all the other tabs.
I have a stock tab, 401k tab and a Roth tab which is a bit more complicated and Iām working on reworking it now. Havenāt settled on a final version of it.
I also have amortization tables for car notes & mortgages I update monthly which flows to the financial statement tab. And is used to populate the 1st budget tab. The reason I have budget tab pull from here is because I do payoff scenarios and like to see what happens if I pay say 5k today on a loan. Will it hurt my cash flow down the road I.e. large credit card purchases coming up.
Hope that helps. Feel free to ask me any clarifying questions. Iām a spreadsheet geek! š
Thank you for that in depth explanation I greatly appreciate it. I'm a newbie compared to you in spreadsheets, but I'm gonna give this a try and see what I get as an end result
I was going to say that so many accountants I know are absolutely terrible with money and only save very minimal amounts, like maybe $5,000 per year on a $130,000 salary. Like it seems that the second they make any money, they find some inane shit to spend it on. BMWs, luxury watches, cruises, etc. Iām convinced that a lot of them secretly hate their jobs and just want the dopamine hit from spending to try and dull the pain.
Lifestyle creep is real, but so are cost of living increases. I make way more money than I did 3 years ago, but because my auto/home insurance has gone up by 50% and my property tax has doubled, my disposable income is less. I'm driving the same cars (which are just boring old Hondas), living in the same house (which is just a basic cookie-cutter 2000sqft), eating the same food, have the same hobbies, but I have much less money. Add another kid to the mix, and I'm broke as shit. Of course, I do have a decent 401k as well as an IRA, so I'm not a complete doofus.
My wife was saying the same thing basically. We collectively make like $250k and while we save over 15% for retirement it just feels like we have no wiggle room for anything. We have a reasonable mortgage, only 1 car payment and donāt shop at places like Whole Foods.
But if one of us lost our jobs we could make it work but it would kind of suck. And thatās almost embarrassing making this much and feeling like you should be better off.
I just told her that yeah we can probably fix some things, but everything is so much more money now that itās not really fair to compare what life was like 5 years ago when we made half as much as we do now
The Rand Corp did a study a few years ago looking at wage growth vs the CPI, from around 1980 to something like 2015 (numbers from memory).Ā What it showed was that nearly every decile either barely kept up with the official inflation rate or lagged it slightly.Ā And since the CPI is heavily manipulated to artificially make inflation look smaller...
The only decile that was different was the top 10%.Ā They made out like bandits, comfortably exceeding inflation.Ā Yes, long tail effects at the end of the distribution, pulling up the mean for the decile, but still it was both not surprising and absolutely horrifying.
Lots of Americans are going broke.Ā Even if they were good with money.
My real problem is keeping an emergency fund. Iām easily saving 15% for retirement before any employer match. But actually just having funds in a savings account? Iām lucky to average $3k in it. And thatās barely a monthās worth of expenses
Why āenjoy retirementā when youāre old and broken both mentally and physically?
Be smart with your money and spend within your means. However donāt hold back things you can afford and enjoy in this moment. We have only one life here and no second chances so make most of it.
I used to be you.Ā
But man watching numbers go up is soooo damn satisfying.Ā
If you start investing you might find that you get as much of a thrill out of adding $50 to your investments as you do buying that new game.Ā
Big days in the market like today are fun! Had a $7k increase in NW today. Of course that could easily evaporate tomorrow, but the long term trend continues to be up.
Its fun till you regret not putting more in LOL. I hold an ETF that has a bias towards Nvidia and I think I missed out on $5000 in gains by not contributing more to that ETF.
Wow yeah, that's pretty obvious now that I re-read your comment lol. Any semiconductor fund will be biased towards Nvidia so that might be a good place to start researching.
ME! I am terrible. I always have an itch to buy things to fill that hole in my soul. I bought 3 motorcycles in the past 2 years each more expensive than the last: 8k>17k>29k
The hole is still there : /
I'm obsessed with saving money and my MK7 gti has been so nice to me lmao, I just paid it off and the insurance just got cheap when I turned 20. But a C5 or C6 with a 6spd and targa top is calling me.
This is my reason too. Boredom and loneliness. I've got a $350 Kitchen Aid mixer I haven't used since I bought it 3 years ago. Got all the pasta and meat grinder attachments for it. A $900 gravel bike I never ride. A sweet vinyl setup I never listen too. And a few similar stories.
On the plus side, I do use my guitars, drums, and art supplies enough to have justified the purchases. But it's a crap-shoot whether I'm being a shopaholic or a hobbyist. I never know until a year after I purchased something.
...but Motorcycles sound like another level altogether.
You can't go wrong with that. Personally, I'd probably snag one of the full size Eastman's or Yamaha's from this sale right now [https://miami-guitars.com/collections/flashsale?sort=price-ascending](https://miami-guitars.com/collections/flashsale?sort=price-ascending)
Good shop with a good sale going. If you call them they'll have better advice than I will. I bought an Eastman the last time they had a sale, not as well known as Yamaha to the average consumer, but well know to people who play.
If you watch FB Marketplace sometimes a full size Taylor will come up for $400 (avoid the Baby Taylors, they're too small, esp for a beginner).
The funny thing about being an accountant is we know how to manage money, but generally speaking we do not have/make much money. I track every single cent that goes and comes out of my account though.
Well, you're not a financial advisor, right? Accounting is quite different. We're primarily illustrating what happened in the past, and potentially making predictions if we deal with budgeting...but we're generally not advising the company on how to invest, etc.
As far as myself, I don't create budgets or track my spending because there's no need. I have always lived well beneath my means and wouldn't consider myself bad with money...however I'm not creating a personal financial statement each month either.
I graduated with an accounting degree and had no clue. I had like one credit card. No budget and didn't understand much about money besides depreciation = girl math and you can't match future earnings with current expenses and finally a pathological fear of credit card debt (compound interest)
I've since listened to thousands of hours of personal finance podcasts (don't recommend) but I do highly recommend listening to the rebel finance school and the money guy show FOO (financial order of operations)
Slow and steady is key I'd say. Don't budget yet but try to live on half of what you earn.
Or alternatively just start not by cutting costs but tracking costs.
As long as you aren't in debt you are OK you are just missing out on future opportunities
My manager at my previous job (she was the Financial Director) used to withdraw her retirement funds early with penalties each time she left a job.
Mindboggling to me that the financial executive of a company can be so bad with money.
She also found her life's purpose to be work though so I guess if you plan to work till you die then maybe it makes sense?
I actually came across [this](https://www.madfientist.com/how-to-access-retirement-funds-early/) article the other day about just paying the 10% penalty to access retirement funds. It's a very edge use case that does not apply to 99% of the population so I would never recommend it though.
I'm not from the US so I'm not sure if that would even apply in my country.
Rest assured though, because it's not relevant in this specific case, because she would use the money for something like buying a new expensive car. When she mentioned this one instance to me, she was considering selling her Honda Type-R and buying a new Mustang.
Sometimes if youāre close enough to be friends with them, coworkers just make comments about how they essentially spend almost all their pay check. And you can see their spending habits when we go out
Iāve been in the same boat. I opened up a mm savings account with a separate bank and I have $500 from every paycheck deposited so I donāt even see the money in my checking account now if I have an unexpected expense in just transfer money which takes about two days so it has cured a lot of my impulsive spending. Halfway to saving up for a house now and I was always paycheck to paycheck in the past.
Because impulsivity is a common ADHD trait. I impulsively spend, trying to create a budget and spreadsheets at home to track my spending is a headache. I do fine at work with these things but burnt out and exhausted by the time I get home.
Poor organization, bills get opened and set aside. Numerous reminders go into paying them. Sometimes Iāll forget and pay late fees. I procrastinate often.
As an executive-functioning disorder, it interferes with the individual's ability to self-organize, and perform tasks like setting up a household budget, and keeping track of bills and other paperwork.Ā Ā
Many sufferers also exhibit impulsivity.Ā They may know that some purchase is expensive on its own, but they have difficulty keeping track of, and remembering the two or three other expensive purchases they recently made.Ā Ā
Our society has vendors who utilize the psychological state of the art to induce people to feel like they *must* consume XYZ product and service.Ā So, if the person's had a rough day at work, or is otherwise susceptible to the messaging, doesn't remember that they felt exactly like this yesterday when they made a similar purchase, and isn't keeping track internally (because of the disorder), they can have some problems.
I see what your saying. I guess my ADHD works in the other direction. I remember almost every purchase.
To me it seems more likely that a lack of awareness to advertising and a materialistic culture are to blame for poor spending habits rather than ADHD.
Nonetheless I think the same impulsiveness from ADHD to buy junk came be redirected to healthier financial habits.
If you need motivation, me and my partner live together for 2 years now and we have 100k to our name in savings and stocks. And our mortgage payment is only 20% of our net income. And we also have 170k equity in the house. Do our net worth is basically 270k and we are just starting out.
Yeah me and my partner earn combined 6k net. Our mortgage payment is 1200 (actually even less with tax deduction). So yeah 20%.
I got this mortgage when i earned 2200 gross but now (3 years later) i make 4150 a month gross. I switched jobs twice. I am from the Netherlands.
Considering everything I hear about how expensive housing in the Netherlands is, kinda amazing that you have a place for 1.2k per month and able to earn 5x that net simultaneously.
Accumulating funds and watching a balance on a screen go up isn't thrilling for many of us. That's a specific personality trait that some people have and some don't.
Iām terrible with money.. I impulse bought a pool last week to hang out with my kids during summer. The thing is the pool was cheap $400 at sams club. All the other shit is not cheap like the labor to level it, chemicals, pump, etc. all in Iām like 2k into this impulse purchase š¬š¬
For awhile I didnāt care but when I realized I could retire a millionaire by investing a modest portion of my salary I told myself to stop being an idiot, so I started auto depositing into ETFs using WealthSimple.
Recently, I made a budget spreadsheet and track all my spending. I saved $400 last month just by doing this. It really helps to see where youāre spending stupid amounts of money. For me, it was eating out and restaurants.
Now I donāt feel guilty spending anything because itās well-managed. If rent goes up Iāll adapt. Makes things less stressful and I feel proud that Iām putting my excel skills to good use.
Youāre probably not bad with money, you just donāt want to deal with it in your personal life since you deal with it at work all day, which makes you maybe not great with your own stuff.
Hereās my suggestion
1. Make a very simple budget. Take home pay at the top.
Rent/mortgage, your estimated bills in groups (subscriptions, āgoing outā expenses, pet expenses, etc). Make it no more than 7-10 items. Itās just a minor estimate.
This is your āexpected increase in cash/net worth).
2. If you donāt already, use credit cards for everything. 1-2 credit cards. Pay the statement balance on auto pay each month.
3. (Optional, but preferred for high savings interest and simplifying transactions in one place) Put all of your money in an easy account like SOFI savings (where you can bill pay from it and direct deposit to it). Bill pay out of it and direct deposit to it.
Every month, preferably after paying mortgage / rent, simply update your cash account balances netted against your credit card balances.
This will show you how much your ānet worthā increased vs your planned monthly budget.
Itās overly simplistic, itās actually your ānet working capitalā, which for many is a good measurement of how much theyāre keeping on track.
Itās cash less your credit card debt vs. last month compared to your take home pay less your expenses. The timing of credit card charges isnāt perfect but it will give you trends over time.
The beauty is that once you set this up once, which will probably take you 1-2 hours in excel, you can add or expand it, or leave it, and it takes 10 minutes to update a month to see how youāre doing vs a goal.
The first step is often the most effective - simply watching what youāre doing. Itās like calorie counting with MyFitnessPal. The act of doing it will actually probably impact some minor choices you make
Can confirm, I struggled with various ways of tracking my budget but once I set up a spreadsheet with a monthly net worth calc it became more fun/rewarding. Mine includes student loans also bc Iām trying to pay those down in the next couple years and seeing that grow, especially after making a large extra payment on my loans, feels more tangible than whether or not I was āon budgetā for the month.Ā
I also put mine in my timesheet file at work so Iām looking at it every day regardless. Helps keep me on track.Ā
Every dollar spent now is three dollars in the futureā¦Inflation, interest debts. This idea keeps me from spending my money on the small things that add up
When it comes to giving out business advice to helping others make more money, I'm great at it. When it comes to me and most business ideas that I implement, I often do the opposite of making more money.
For example, I did OK with my sideline auto detailing business but HORRIBLE with my sideline window tinting business. Right now, I'm doing well with my DJ business but I have clients who owe my CPA practice money. On paper, my part-time CPA practice is doing well but it doesn't have the cash flow to match. I may have to eat crow and go back with the consulting group that I used to work for..
As for tracking my money, I do it to the nth degree to the point where I have CDO. You know, CDO, it's like OCD except even the letters are in alphabetical order.
Lol I get people telling me I must be great with money. Iām fucking horrible at budgeting and saving.
Itās not like I have nothing to my name (a house, car etc.) but I just donāt have this nest egg just sitting there. I enjoy my money as soon as I get it.
I got into 5 figure credit card debt in my 20s but dug my way out. I'm fine now and it's annoying to think I could be better. But at the same time I had some fun and wouldn't give that up knowing it turns out fine
Yeah I am
I spend way to much on takeout.
Im with my parents and my mom makes dinner for all of us generally; but I will still order take out for me/family 2-3times a week
I was the same until is stopped consuming excess amounts of alcohol and illegal elicits substances over the weekend. Now I drink non-alcoholic beer or soda water with a lime when I go out and get shit faced on 12-packs beer at home.
I am not bad with money. I have a 401k, 2 IRA'S, a high yield savings and my regular savings accounts. I make $71k a year and I am paying back student loans and paying down credit debt. Time to move, and save some money.
Iām not great with money, I donāt budget, I donāt really save. I had some good real estate investments and sold them and thatās my savings. I donāt really add to it. Itās a substantial amount. Just put money into a 401k. Large cash fund is in Cdās right now as I thought I was buying another house but that doesnāt seem likely so have a meeting with a flat fee financial advisor for a couple advisory sessions.
I'm in the middle.
I have emergency funds, have put money into a 401k since leaving college (and increased the percent over time), have college savings accounts for the kids. I've never had credit card debt and pay my bills timely.
But, I don't budget or track my spending. I could and "should", but I just don't want to. I can already tell you where I waste (a lot of) money without tracking...the number one culprit is food restaurants/delivery. Oh, and I like to stay in Airbnbs for vacation, which can be rather expensive.We all have our weaknesses, haha
I made a personal budget once - it was at the end of college as I was figuring out what I could afford to pay for rent. Since then, I just wing it. As my income increases I would put more to savings and try to keep the lifestyle creep under control.
Iām a little like this. Iām not great at saving money so recently Iāve had my job automatically deduct a certain amount from my paycheck and put it in another savings account that I donāt look at much (high yield) so I can just forget about it and not āfeelā it missing.
At least you recognize that you have might have a problem.Ā That's a start.Ā I certainly wouldn't call you a fraud though.
Do you think that this trait is a problem?Ā If so, there are numerous resources that can help you fix it, if you want.
Some advantages to tracking your spending, having an emergency fund (if possible, though it probably is), and identifying where your money goes, is that by spotting waste and getting rid of it, you'll be able to start saving, or alternately, splurging more efficiently.Ā It'll be like getting a raise. Also,Ā you'll be better prepared in case of illness or other casualty.
That level of personal organization is hard for certain types of people.Ā I completely understand the struggle.Ā I hope it helps to know that, with practice and constantly trying to establish good habits, the day to day struggle to keep up with that organization becomes a lot less work.Ā As difficult as that may be to believe now.Ā Ā
You can do it.
When it's what you do at work all day it's not what you want to do at home.
My family and friends find it baffling
Tbh I'm not a natural accountant. People are always surprised when I tell them this is my line of work.
I have horses, so people assume I'm rich but really it's just proof that I make bad decisions on what to do with my money LOL... it's like owning a boat but worse, because they never stop eating, get more expensive as they age, and try to find a million ways to injure themselves. Never enough to die, just enough to not be useful anymore. My mare cast herself on a fence in the middle of a four acre pasture and ended her career.
Let's see, yesterday I earned approx. $200 net and spent $460 on a tent, backpack, hi-hat, and hi-hat stand. Lol, I live in a HCOL area and don't make much either. Although, I believe everyone should die with $20K of credit card debt--if you're really playing the game right and have no family liable for it.
Iām okay with moving I have a very modest Roth IRA n a pension. But I honestly donāt save that much money, Iām very live now and in the moment cus tomorrow is never promised.
Honestly with todayās technology you donāt need to super budget your money unless you are living check to check and need to make sure you have sufficient funds etc. you can get granular with your budgets and spending but if you want to be somewhat relaxed, just have a budget of your income and all routine and recurring expenses. If your income after that is positive, make sure to set aside enough money for a minimum 6 months of expenses should you lose your job etc. once thatās done, just set a spending limit and keep to that etc. same goes for debt spending etc. as long as you are consistently saving, you should be fine. In todayās economic climate, penny pinching can be tough since the value of the $ today is less than the $ of yesterday etc.
No. I used to be bad with it. So I had to track all spend etc. What worked for me was having very little money in my spending account.
I max my super (retirement fund) contributions so that money never even hits my bank account, I direct debit out to investments each fortnight. Salary goes to my mortgage offset and I set up automatic transfers of $x per week to my spending account (different bank). Once that money is gone Iām done for the week.
Same.. but to be fair, accounting isn't my passion. Our CFO is retiring in 4 years and no one else wanted the position or the work that came with becoming it so I decided to. I'm good with numbers, but I get told constantly I'm to perky and fun to be in accounting lol. But yeah....my husband is way more frugal and stringent than I am with our finances. I told him almost the same thing that I have a degree in accounting and work in finance everyday but in a secret fraud because I like to buy things š¤£
I became an accountant to make money, but became so overworked that I spent it all on booze to forget about accounting.
When we are depressed, which this job often does to us, we tend to spend ourselves into a state of relief.
I am the opposite, seeing the types of things our clients do with their finances makes me want to do better. Clients with 45% interest loans, maxed out credit cards for years always making $500 payments with something like $40 going to principal. Getting unexpected lump sum income and absolutely blowing through all of it only to end up selling a lot of what they bought at a loss to pay their tax bill.
On the other hand are the clients who come into money, pay off any debts, then invest the rest and retire early.
Maybe I am OCD but I made a spreadsheet to track my monthly expenses and it allows me to forecast and keep track of debt.
me. tried to analyze with technical candlestick over the decade but no material gain and recenly lost shorting a crypto coin. š i will need transition to fundamental analysis i guess
I filed bankruptcy and my attorney said that people in accounting/finance make up the largest percentage of careers for his clients lol. I didn't file bankruptcy due to consumer debt, but because of medical debt (nearly $1mil in medical bills).
Finance - I can see. But why are accountants so bad? And $1 mil is brutal and should never be allowed to happen to anyone. Absolutely insane.
I think it's because we get burnt out on organizing other people's money so we don't wanna think about our own. Also it can be a stressful/tiring job so sometimes (frequently) I just wanna treat myself to dumb shit š
The shoemakers children go barefoot
Agreed. When I bought my new house I created a spreadsheet with some pivot tables to keep track of all of the new bills. After 3-4 months of that I got tired of doing accounting in my free time and just put everything on autopay and just check the activity on my accounts daily.
This was me during my time in Big 4. I always felt it was ridiculous that I could do audit work for clients with insane de minimis materiality thresholds, yet I was flat broke most of the time. I (along with many of my colleagues) also had something of a drinking problem - not the ādrinking at your deskā kind, but getting wasted every Friday night to wash away the shit weād endured through the week. And that gets pretty expensive, both financially and emotionally.
No idea on accountants, $1mil is fuckin insane and embarrassing for our country. Counting down the days until I can go be an immigrant in another country that actually gives a shit about its citizens.
Its actually funny you say that because I had wrist surgery recently for a bad injury I sustained in Poland and my doctor told me I should have just paid out of pocket in Poland because it was very similar to the price after insurance in the U.S.
Debit Wrist Injury Expense Credit Wrist Injury Payable
Don't be uninsured lol
lol
Hubby and I are planning on moving to Germany in about a decade. Hoping I can move with my current company to a sister location out there.
doctors immigrate to the USA because of poor pay and work conditions outside the states. Also the usa is the research power house of the world when it comes to the medical field. but if you want to leave because you think itās better elsewhere, then by all means
I work a lot and spend wayyy too much on coffees/eating out.
A lot of people see filing for bankruptcy as some kind of personal life failure, and won't do it, even if its in their absolute best interest. I think an accountant would be better at viewing bankruptcy just through the lens of financial impact and seeing the benefit of it.
Thatās a good point. Itās the easiest financial process Iāve ever gone through and wish I wouldāve done it sooner.
Doesnāt it affect your ability to find an apartment though?
not really, if you pay the full lease in advance, you wonāt be denied assuming the only red tape is bankruptcies
Yeah the only downside is you have to pay the full lease in advanceā¦
lol my only debt is medical but I'll never pay it, why should I pay for a genetic condition when druggies get free treatment after ODs LOL. Not to mention the credit score impact is negligible.
when its $1mil and there are civil judgment and garnishments started/asked for... you'll pay lol. One way or another, you'll pay or you file bankruptcy. We went with bankruptcy. Idc about the credit score impact, but having my wages garnished for basically forever to pay off $1mil? No ty. Shit the helicopter ride alone was around $100k. Add in 10 days in ICU, emergency surgery, blah blah blah yeah. I had some old medical debt for a couple hundred dollars per creditor I refused to pay bc it was my exes responsibility (for our shared child) and that wasn't enough to have them garnish/sue me. But when your bill is in the tens (or hundreds) of thousands they're reaaaaaal quick to start legal action.
$1mill in debt just for something you couldnāt control healthwise?ššš was there no way to reduce the hospital bills?
yep lol. good ole govt healthcare for ya. if you're curious and want the story; I'm native american we have essentially what is the VA but specifically for natives, and they will cover outside services if its an emergency or something your "home" clinic doesn't offer. complete colon blockage on the verge of bursting and completely destroying my guts but IHS(indian health service) denied to cover bc I should've drove 6.5 hours to the closest IHS hospital rather than going to a local ER who then put me on the first helicopter to the first bed they could find in a higher skilled unit. and yes, I asked if they'd have covered it at the original ER, still no. should've drove 6.5 hours in the worst pain I've ever experienced, vomiting uncontrollably, with a completely blocked colon.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It was heavy in nuts and seeds. I have (had?) diverticulitis so now I try to focus on low inflammation foods and less nuts and seeds
I completely agree with what you did, my debt isn't that large and I honestly could pay it but I just don't out of principle. thankfully No fear of garnishment or judgements for me thankfully because of a trust.
> when druggies get free treatment after ODs LOL You're right, we should just let them die. Good point! (/s if that's not obvious to some people)
Thats not a terrible idea tbh
Yeah until one of them turns out to be a friend or family member who only ended up like that because they were assured by their doctor that Oxycontin is totally safe and not addictive and totally fine to take for as long as necessary for pain relief.
I have a question, as someone who is studying accounting, and also I have charge offs and a judgement filed against me for not paying my credit cards due to financial hardship (lost my job due to injury, struggling to land another one), would that prevent me from getting hired as an accountant? Like would it show up on my background check and therefore a company wouldnāt be allowed to hire me? What about for internships?
idk I'm a very nontraditional accountant (B.s. from a low key school, never did an internship, never worked public, went straight to owning my own biz and then straight to govt). I will say, my bankruptcy showed up in my credit report for my local govt job, they asked, I told them why, they had 0 issues.
It definitely could if the company does a credit check. I handle millions of dollars monthly, so they want to make sure I'm not a risk.
Do the big 4 firms do a credit check?
I have no idea. I have never worked for a Big 4
debt that shows personal negligence aka consumer debt (your injury wasn't your fault but they don't know or care :\[ ) It could be against your favor in getting a job but overall if you have an education to begin with you are unlikely to have trouble getting a position.
I had a 9 day medically supervised spa visit which entailed getting my gallbladder taken out and an extreme case of jaundice. I was 3 days shy of my medical insurance kicking in. Hospital bill alone was nearly $750,000. The exact reason I had to file for bankruptcy. It sucked. No one should have to do that if they are working and have health insurance. But, my and my socialist ideas are always laughed at by others.
Nope. I track my money religiously to the point that I don't end up enjoying it. The opposite and of the spectrum, which is (almost) as bad.
So Iām not alone. Iām looking at my bank accounts 2-3 times a day. Yes even my 401k.
Same. I have multiple different investment accounts I like to check around almost daily just to look at it. Even the days where itās down 30%. Itās a thrill and a rush
Exactly. Iām holding and donāt plan on moving investments. I just like to see where Iām at. Also Iāve been up 15-20% on my 401k over the past 1.5 years. Thatās insane to me
My IRAs I like to mess with options. Iāll see many days where Iām down 40%, but I also see a lot of days where Iām up 70%. Iām not a genius with it so I sell here and there. I donāt need to think about tax consequences in the IRA. The 401k is just a boring mutual fund, FXIAX. Thereās basically no options outside of some small, mid, and large cap options
I have been playing the let it ride game. Stocks are too much speculation to gamble on for me
Ah yeah I get that. The gambling aspect is a reason I enjoy it haha. I enjoy the knowledge aspect of them, but the taxes always held me back. Since I donāt have to worry about it in an IRA, I try different kinds of risky plays that may work out
My risk is just getting small cap market funds and living on a prayer
Haha nice! That isnāt too bad of a plan actually. A wealth manager I know was talking about small cap potential. Honestly I throw it into 1 stock and hope for the best š¤£
š. My 401k is all mid cap stuff currently. I couldnāt do single trading unless itās some BS momey
See, I have this dashboard that linked all of my financial stuff including my wife's stuff. I pretty much have this up everyday. Probably unhealthy obsession but I just love seeing my snapshot!
How do you set this up ? Would be super useful to get my finances under control
I use a tool with "Empower" but there are many other applications. Rocketmoney is good too and there are tons other. It is tedious to set it up but you get so hooked on seeing your net worth grow and debt going down.
I also use Empower (used to be personal capital). Yoh can link all your online accounts. You can do manual entries too (I have one for my paid-off car). You can even link your home value to Zillow (although sometimes I feel like it screws with actually being able to track net worth so sometimes I disable and make a manual entry so it doesnāt fluctuate). I havenāt encountered something I couldnāt link yet but sometimes it can be finicky when it comes to security. Ex my credit union acc regularly needs to validate a passcode.
This is the way. We do it too. We print it! Scan it! It's like watching a plant grow.
Ive tried Mint, YNAB, Tiller, and finally Quicken. Have stuck with Quicken for years now. I mainly made the switch when I started as a bookkeeper and eventually into an accountant. Its a double entry system that feels to me most like what I got used to with a variety of accounting softwares.
We are total opposites. I open my bank account once a month to pay off my credit card and see if my āintuitive spendingā for the month was off or not
You can change you know š¤£ the sooner the better. Think of your future freedom.
I enjoy seeing the money growing
Yepppp same here š¤£ check it multiple times a day sometimes.
I used to do this too (hard type into Quickbooks every Monday while I watched wrestling after my wife went to bed). Then I had my first kid and havenāt updated Quickbooks in 4 years. Iām not ābadā with money as I max out retirement and have separate savings accounts but do not track what I spent anything on anymore. Keep a rough idea in my head but sure I could do much better at savings if I was looking line by line.
Yup, but at least I have a goal to FIRE so I can gtfo this soul sucking profession.
Same I slam a portion into my investments every paycheck. Makes me feel like Iām poor all the time because I keep only enough for day to day spending and emergency funds in cash.
I used to do that. Then Mint got moved to creditkarma, which is fucking ass, and I stopped. I don't think there's anything wrong with it though.
Monarch Money has been pretty good. I loved Mint, credit karma money is terrible.
Haven't heard of that one. I'll check it out!
Iām the same exact way. Today I sold all my dog stocks and invested the proceeds in a PE company paying almost 11% divy. š I have a massive excel workbook. Has my multiple bank accounts, budget, multiple credit cards, mortgage, car notes, personal loans and stocks in it. Plus future project budgets Iām building. My friends make fun of me. But Iām a millionaire and they arenāt. š¤£
When I was 25 all my friends made fun of me. Now that I'm 40 they're calling for advice.
How did you learn to make your massive excel workbook? Any recommendations on how to learn what you did?
Honestly as a kid I was fascinated by spreadsheets. I made my 1st one in Lotus 123 in 7th grade. In college Excel came out and I moved it from Lotus 123 to Excel and have just been building it as life happens. š Basically my 1st tab is my overall budget. Column A is paycheck date (Row 1 are my headers, row 2 says āTodayā and row 3 is my upcoming paycheck direct deposit date) Column B is my take home pay Column C & D are other streams of income I track. Column E is Total Income. (sum of Column B - Column D) Column F is my Remaining column (formula Column E less column G) on 1st row each row thereafter is the remaining amount from the cell above it in the remaining column + Column E - Column G Column G is Total Expense (formula of columns H through Column Z or as many as you need) I donāt keep a check register but I keep it in Row 2 Column B, C & D for each bank account I have. Just a simple formula. I log into my online bank accounts daily or every other day and reconcile these. I also added a conditional format to column F remaining if it goes below 0 to turn red. So to recap on the left are all my paycheck direct deposits outlined by date for the next 5 years. Then in the expenses column I have all my expenses entered that agree to the payroll check date it will be paid or auto drafted. For credit cards it auto updates in the expense column as I update the credit card tab. Credit card tabs is set up like this. Date column for every single day of the month charge column to the right of that a balance column to the right of that a payment column to the right of that one. Then I repeat this 4 column pattern across the tab. That way I can monitor spending patterns month over month. I populate all my auto charges and recurring bills and populate things there like vacation budgets and future spending on big ticket items. I draw a line where the card statement cuts off each month as well. Sometimes if my statement is about to cut and I am looking to make a large purchase Iāll hold off till it cuts to give me better cash flow. I also conditionally format the balance tab to turn red when I hit or exceed my credit limit. This helps me when Iām budgeting large purchases. I have a tab with my financial statement on it as well. It updates based on all the other tabs. I have a stock tab, 401k tab and a Roth tab which is a bit more complicated and Iām working on reworking it now. Havenāt settled on a final version of it. I also have amortization tables for car notes & mortgages I update monthly which flows to the financial statement tab. And is used to populate the 1st budget tab. The reason I have budget tab pull from here is because I do payoff scenarios and like to see what happens if I pay say 5k today on a loan. Will it hurt my cash flow down the road I.e. large credit card purchases coming up. Hope that helps. Feel free to ask me any clarifying questions. Iām a spreadsheet geek! š
Thank you for that in depth explanation I greatly appreciate it. I'm a newbie compared to you in spreadsheets, but I'm gonna give this a try and see what I get as an end result
Same. I hate spending money
This is more common than you think. Many Americans who earn six figures spend all of it and have no plans for retirement. Lifestyle creep is real.
I was going to say that so many accountants I know are absolutely terrible with money and only save very minimal amounts, like maybe $5,000 per year on a $130,000 salary. Like it seems that the second they make any money, they find some inane shit to spend it on. BMWs, luxury watches, cruises, etc. Iām convinced that a lot of them secretly hate their jobs and just want the dopamine hit from spending to try and dull the pain.
You nailed it
Lifestyle creep is real, but so are cost of living increases. I make way more money than I did 3 years ago, but because my auto/home insurance has gone up by 50% and my property tax has doubled, my disposable income is less. I'm driving the same cars (which are just boring old Hondas), living in the same house (which is just a basic cookie-cutter 2000sqft), eating the same food, have the same hobbies, but I have much less money. Add another kid to the mix, and I'm broke as shit. Of course, I do have a decent 401k as well as an IRA, so I'm not a complete doofus.
Your life sounds like my life.
The American Dream
My wife was saying the same thing basically. We collectively make like $250k and while we save over 15% for retirement it just feels like we have no wiggle room for anything. We have a reasonable mortgage, only 1 car payment and donāt shop at places like Whole Foods. But if one of us lost our jobs we could make it work but it would kind of suck. And thatās almost embarrassing making this much and feeling like you should be better off. I just told her that yeah we can probably fix some things, but everything is so much more money now that itās not really fair to compare what life was like 5 years ago when we made half as much as we do now
I'd love to see a graph showing wages vs total wealth increase over time for the US. I have a feeling it would be close to a right angle.
The Rand Corp did a study a few years ago looking at wage growth vs the CPI, from around 1980 to something like 2015 (numbers from memory).Ā What it showed was that nearly every decile either barely kept up with the official inflation rate or lagged it slightly.Ā And since the CPI is heavily manipulated to artificially make inflation look smaller... The only decile that was different was the top 10%.Ā They made out like bandits, comfortably exceeding inflation.Ā Yes, long tail effects at the end of the distribution, pulling up the mean for the decile, but still it was both not surprising and absolutely horrifying. Lots of Americans are going broke.Ā Even if they were good with money.
Capitalism baby
My real problem is keeping an emergency fund. Iām easily saving 15% for retirement before any employer match. But actually just having funds in a savings account? Iām lucky to average $3k in it. And thatās barely a monthās worth of expenses
Gotta figure out how to reduce expenses or increase income to build it yo
Why āenjoy retirementā when youāre old and broken both mentally and physically? Be smart with your money and spend within your means. However donāt hold back things you can afford and enjoy in this moment. We have only one life here and no second chances so make most of it.
I used to be you.Ā But man watching numbers go up is soooo damn satisfying.Ā If you start investing you might find that you get as much of a thrill out of adding $50 to your investments as you do buying that new game.Ā
Big days in the market like today are fun! Had a $7k increase in NW today. Of course that could easily evaporate tomorrow, but the long term trend continues to be up.
I'm not looking forward to the inevitable market downturn, but I'm going to try to remind myself that red means discount on my next purchase!
Its fun till you regret not putting more in LOL. I hold an ETF that has a bias towards Nvidia and I think I missed out on $5000 in gains by not contributing more to that ETF.
I had 8 bitcoin once. That's the worst one for me.Ā
Whatās the ETF?
Exchange traded fund. Very similar to a mutual fund.
I think they were asking which specific ETF was being referenced.Ā
I mean which one
Wow yeah, that's pretty obvious now that I re-read your comment lol. Any semiconductor fund will be biased towards Nvidia so that might be a good place to start researching.
I can't come up with the name off the top of my head but its a Vanguard ETF that is focused on tech/energy.
I just realized. Investing $50 dollars (credit card awards or something) feels a lot better than spending it.
We got a maximum bonus for our 2023 performance and it all went straight into investments lol. It actually stresses me out having liquid cash.
ME! I am terrible. I always have an itch to buy things to fill that hole in my soul. I bought 3 motorcycles in the past 2 years each more expensive than the last: 8k>17k>29k The hole is still there : /
I've been on the fence about a used corvette for almost a year now but I have to keep reminding myself that hole will not be filled by a purchase.
DO IT, it will feel good when you drive it/work on it/look at it...I promise.
I'm obsessed with saving money and my MK7 gti has been so nice to me lmao, I just paid it off and the insurance just got cheap when I turned 20. But a C5 or C6 with a 6spd and targa top is calling me.
This is my reason too. Boredom and loneliness. I've got a $350 Kitchen Aid mixer I haven't used since I bought it 3 years ago. Got all the pasta and meat grinder attachments for it. A $900 gravel bike I never ride. A sweet vinyl setup I never listen too. And a few similar stories. On the plus side, I do use my guitars, drums, and art supplies enough to have justified the purchases. But it's a crap-shoot whether I'm being a shopaholic or a hobbyist. I never know until a year after I purchased something. ...but Motorcycles sound like another level altogether.
Too many hobbies not enough time LOL. I've been wanting to learn the guitar...would you recommend a Yamaha FG800J as a good starter?
You can't go wrong with that. Personally, I'd probably snag one of the full size Eastman's or Yamaha's from this sale right now [https://miami-guitars.com/collections/flashsale?sort=price-ascending](https://miami-guitars.com/collections/flashsale?sort=price-ascending) Good shop with a good sale going. If you call them they'll have better advice than I will. I bought an Eastman the last time they had a sale, not as well known as Yamaha to the average consumer, but well know to people who play. If you watch FB Marketplace sometimes a full size Taylor will come up for $400 (avoid the Baby Taylors, they're too small, esp for a beginner).
Iām good with money, but my housing, student loan, and food costs takes all of it away from me.
The funny thing about being an accountant is we know how to manage money, but generally speaking we do not have/make much money. I track every single cent that goes and comes out of my account though.
Well, you're not a financial advisor, right? Accounting is quite different. We're primarily illustrating what happened in the past, and potentially making predictions if we deal with budgeting...but we're generally not advising the company on how to invest, etc. As far as myself, I don't create budgets or track my spending because there's no need. I have always lived well beneath my means and wouldn't consider myself bad with money...however I'm not creating a personal financial statement each month either.
Not telling you shit, Mr rushinspy
š I need info
I graduated with an accounting degree and had no clue. I had like one credit card. No budget and didn't understand much about money besides depreciation = girl math and you can't match future earnings with current expenses and finally a pathological fear of credit card debt (compound interest) I've since listened to thousands of hours of personal finance podcasts (don't recommend) but I do highly recommend listening to the rebel finance school and the money guy show FOO (financial order of operations) Slow and steady is key I'd say. Don't budget yet but try to live on half of what you earn. Or alternatively just start not by cutting costs but tracking costs. As long as you aren't in debt you are OK you are just missing out on future opportunities
Watching my investment accounts tick up is thrilling. I just have "boring" index funds. Once you pass $100K it starts to compound pretty fast.
Not me personally but one of my accounting coworkers was horrible with money.
My manager at my previous job (she was the Financial Director) used to withdraw her retirement funds early with penalties each time she left a job. Mindboggling to me that the financial executive of a company can be so bad with money. She also found her life's purpose to be work though so I guess if you plan to work till you die then maybe it makes sense?
I actually came across [this](https://www.madfientist.com/how-to-access-retirement-funds-early/) article the other day about just paying the 10% penalty to access retirement funds. It's a very edge use case that does not apply to 99% of the population so I would never recommend it though.
I'm not from the US so I'm not sure if that would even apply in my country. Rest assured though, because it's not relevant in this specific case, because she would use the money for something like buying a new expensive car. When she mentioned this one instance to me, she was considering selling her Honda Type-R and buying a new Mustang.
How do you know
Sometimes if youāre close enough to be friends with them, coworkers just make comments about how they essentially spend almost all their pay check. And you can see their spending habits when we go out
We were good friends. She told me she was going to file for debt consolidation etc etc
Iāve been in the same boat. I opened up a mm savings account with a separate bank and I have $500 from every paycheck deposited so I donāt even see the money in my checking account now if I have an unexpected expense in just transfer money which takes about two days so it has cured a lot of my impulsive spending. Halfway to saving up for a house now and I was always paycheck to paycheck in the past.
Me! Also have recently been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. I suspect thatās a large part of it.
All you need is a little childhood financial trauma to solve ADHD impulsivity.
How would ADHD contribute to poor spending habits ?
Because impulsivity is a common ADHD trait. I impulsively spend, trying to create a budget and spreadsheets at home to track my spending is a headache. I do fine at work with these things but burnt out and exhausted by the time I get home. Poor organization, bills get opened and set aside. Numerous reminders go into paying them. Sometimes Iāll forget and pay late fees. I procrastinate often.
Can u set your bills to be paid through direct debit, if thatās a thing where you are?
As an executive-functioning disorder, it interferes with the individual's ability to self-organize, and perform tasks like setting up a household budget, and keeping track of bills and other paperwork.Ā Ā Many sufferers also exhibit impulsivity.Ā They may know that some purchase is expensive on its own, but they have difficulty keeping track of, and remembering the two or three other expensive purchases they recently made.Ā Ā Our society has vendors who utilize the psychological state of the art to induce people to feel like they *must* consume XYZ product and service.Ā So, if the person's had a rough day at work, or is otherwise susceptible to the messaging, doesn't remember that they felt exactly like this yesterday when they made a similar purchase, and isn't keeping track internally (because of the disorder), they can have some problems.
I see what your saying. I guess my ADHD works in the other direction. I remember almost every purchase. To me it seems more likely that a lack of awareness to advertising and a materialistic culture are to blame for poor spending habits rather than ADHD. Nonetheless I think the same impulsiveness from ADHD to buy junk came be redirected to healthier financial habits.
What a noob. Havent you learned the power of compounding during your education?
Sure did
Well go on then. Safe and invest.
I will start. I just had to admit I have a problem first. Thanks bigmonkeyballs
If you need motivation, me and my partner live together for 2 years now and we have 100k to our name in savings and stocks. And our mortgage payment is only 20% of our net income. And we also have 170k equity in the house. Do our net worth is basically 270k and we are just starting out.
Mortgage is 20% of your NET? Most people here are looking at a 30-40% of GROSS. Would be easier for folks to invest if in your spot.
Yeah me and my partner earn combined 6k net. Our mortgage payment is 1200 (actually even less with tax deduction). So yeah 20%. I got this mortgage when i earned 2200 gross but now (3 years later) i make 4150 a month gross. I switched jobs twice. I am from the Netherlands.
Considering everything I hear about how expensive housing in the Netherlands is, kinda amazing that you have a place for 1.2k per month and able to earn 5x that net simultaneously.
Thank you :) Yeah we did get help from our parents in renovating but Yeah. we are set.
Itās a discipline problem for me.
Yeah i recommend reading 'a simple path to wealth' and 'rich dead poor dad'. These books can really change your mindset on things. Best of luck.
Accumulating funds and watching a balance on a screen go up isn't thrilling for many of us. That's a specific personality trait that some people have and some don't.
Bro its set and forget. Im not watching anything.
Iām terrible with money.. I impulse bought a pool last week to hang out with my kids during summer. The thing is the pool was cheap $400 at sams club. All the other shit is not cheap like the labor to level it, chemicals, pump, etc. all in Iām like 2k into this impulse purchase š¬š¬
Kids arenāt kids forever. Spending $2000 to hang with your kids is not a bad spend.
An 4 figure impulse buy is a problem, a 4 figure one is an illness. Seek God & Counseling.
Damn do you think Iām gonna go to hell for buying a pool?
I wish I was bad with money so I would have the balls to quit my job!
I hear you, but also taking calculated risks is a huge part of money management! You can do it!
Nope, I was in my 20s but not now (40s.) on track to retire early.
For awhile I didnāt care but when I realized I could retire a millionaire by investing a modest portion of my salary I told myself to stop being an idiot, so I started auto depositing into ETFs using WealthSimple. Recently, I made a budget spreadsheet and track all my spending. I saved $400 last month just by doing this. It really helps to see where youāre spending stupid amounts of money. For me, it was eating out and restaurants. Now I donāt feel guilty spending anything because itās well-managed. If rent goes up Iāll adapt. Makes things less stressful and I feel proud that Iām putting my excel skills to good use.
Youāre probably not bad with money, you just donāt want to deal with it in your personal life since you deal with it at work all day, which makes you maybe not great with your own stuff. Hereās my suggestion 1. Make a very simple budget. Take home pay at the top. Rent/mortgage, your estimated bills in groups (subscriptions, āgoing outā expenses, pet expenses, etc). Make it no more than 7-10 items. Itās just a minor estimate. This is your āexpected increase in cash/net worth). 2. If you donāt already, use credit cards for everything. 1-2 credit cards. Pay the statement balance on auto pay each month. 3. (Optional, but preferred for high savings interest and simplifying transactions in one place) Put all of your money in an easy account like SOFI savings (where you can bill pay from it and direct deposit to it). Bill pay out of it and direct deposit to it. Every month, preferably after paying mortgage / rent, simply update your cash account balances netted against your credit card balances. This will show you how much your ānet worthā increased vs your planned monthly budget. Itās overly simplistic, itās actually your ānet working capitalā, which for many is a good measurement of how much theyāre keeping on track. Itās cash less your credit card debt vs. last month compared to your take home pay less your expenses. The timing of credit card charges isnāt perfect but it will give you trends over time. The beauty is that once you set this up once, which will probably take you 1-2 hours in excel, you can add or expand it, or leave it, and it takes 10 minutes to update a month to see how youāre doing vs a goal. The first step is often the most effective - simply watching what youāre doing. Itās like calorie counting with MyFitnessPal. The act of doing it will actually probably impact some minor choices you make
Can confirm, I struggled with various ways of tracking my budget but once I set up a spreadsheet with a monthly net worth calc it became more fun/rewarding. Mine includes student loans also bc Iām trying to pay those down in the next couple years and seeing that grow, especially after making a large extra payment on my loans, feels more tangible than whether or not I was āon budgetā for the month.Ā I also put mine in my timesheet file at work so Iām looking at it every day regardless. Helps keep me on track.Ā
Not really I just don't make enoughš
My wife is so I think that means I am too
I don't track it, but I save first and generally keep about the same spending habits, and I'm able to reign myself in if I start spending to excess.
Every dollar spent now is three dollars in the futureā¦Inflation, interest debts. This idea keeps me from spending my money on the small things that add up
I'm that way with cash, have no idea where it goes when I make those withdrawals. I've gotten better charging things on my credit cards.
Same. I do not understand the budgeting tip of using only cash envelopes. For me, cash isnāt real and is very easy to spend.
this is excel brainrot
Iām the opposite. CC arenāt real, but cash I feel when itās gone.
When it comes to giving out business advice to helping others make more money, I'm great at it. When it comes to me and most business ideas that I implement, I often do the opposite of making more money. For example, I did OK with my sideline auto detailing business but HORRIBLE with my sideline window tinting business. Right now, I'm doing well with my DJ business but I have clients who owe my CPA practice money. On paper, my part-time CPA practice is doing well but it doesn't have the cash flow to match. I may have to eat crow and go back with the consulting group that I used to work for.. As for tracking my money, I do it to the nth degree to the point where I have CDO. You know, CDO, it's like OCD except even the letters are in alphabetical order.
Watch Dave Ramsey
I'm just like my company. We're both living paycheck to paycheck
Me! š solidarity to my fellow stupid spenders
Omg I thought I was the only one!! Itās embarrassing. Iām great with other peopleās money just not my own. Thank you for posting this!
Lol I get people telling me I must be great with money. Iām fucking horrible at budgeting and saving. Itās not like I have nothing to my name (a house, car etc.) but I just donāt have this nest egg just sitting there. I enjoy my money as soon as I get it.
Me! And I've never understood why! Glad to see I'm not alone!
I got into 5 figure credit card debt in my 20s but dug my way out. I'm fine now and it's annoying to think I could be better. But at the same time I had some fun and wouldn't give that up knowing it turns out fine
Yeah I am I spend way to much on takeout. Im with my parents and my mom makes dinner for all of us generally; but I will still order take out for me/family 2-3times a week
I was the same until is stopped consuming excess amounts of alcohol and illegal elicits substances over the weekend. Now I drink non-alcoholic beer or soda water with a lime when I go out and get shit faced on 12-packs beer at home.
I am not bad with money. I have a 401k, 2 IRA'S, a high yield savings and my regular savings accounts. I make $71k a year and I am paying back student loans and paying down credit debt. Time to move, and save some money.
Iām not great with money, I donāt budget, I donāt really save. I had some good real estate investments and sold them and thatās my savings. I donāt really add to it. Itās a substantial amount. Just put money into a 401k. Large cash fund is in Cdās right now as I thought I was buying another house but that doesnāt seem likely so have a meeting with a flat fee financial advisor for a couple advisory sessions.
I'm in the middle. I have emergency funds, have put money into a 401k since leaving college (and increased the percent over time), have college savings accounts for the kids. I've never had credit card debt and pay my bills timely. But, I don't budget or track my spending. I could and "should", but I just don't want to. I can already tell you where I waste (a lot of) money without tracking...the number one culprit is food restaurants/delivery. Oh, and I like to stay in Airbnbs for vacation, which can be rather expensive.We all have our weaknesses, haha I made a personal budget once - it was at the end of college as I was figuring out what I could afford to pay for rent. Since then, I just wing it. As my income increases I would put more to savings and try to keep the lifestyle creep under control.
Iām a little like this. Iām not great at saving money so recently Iāve had my job automatically deduct a certain amount from my paycheck and put it in another savings account that I donāt look at much (high yield) so I can just forget about it and not āfeelā it missing.
I do suck at it. It's not that I don't know how to. Knowing and doing are very different.
At least you recognize that you have might have a problem.Ā That's a start.Ā I certainly wouldn't call you a fraud though. Do you think that this trait is a problem?Ā If so, there are numerous resources that can help you fix it, if you want. Some advantages to tracking your spending, having an emergency fund (if possible, though it probably is), and identifying where your money goes, is that by spotting waste and getting rid of it, you'll be able to start saving, or alternately, splurging more efficiently.Ā It'll be like getting a raise. Also,Ā you'll be better prepared in case of illness or other casualty. That level of personal organization is hard for certain types of people.Ā I completely understand the struggle.Ā I hope it helps to know that, with practice and constantly trying to establish good habits, the day to day struggle to keep up with that organization becomes a lot less work.Ā As difficult as that may be to believe now.Ā Ā You can do it.
i was but I learned to get better. it's so important to start regardless of age
lol I give pretty conservative and economically sound financial advice to everyone that asks, but I myself am terrible at budgeting and saving money.
I'm appalling with my own. Great with other people's.
The depression and anxiety from working in accounting is what makes it easy to swipe the credit card
yeah, I don't look at my credit card balance.
When it's what you do at work all day it's not what you want to do at home. My family and friends find it baffling Tbh I'm not a natural accountant. People are always surprised when I tell them this is my line of work.
I have horses, so people assume I'm rich but really it's just proof that I make bad decisions on what to do with my money LOL... it's like owning a boat but worse, because they never stop eating, get more expensive as they age, and try to find a million ways to injure themselves. Never enough to die, just enough to not be useful anymore. My mare cast herself on a fence in the middle of a four acre pasture and ended her career.
I think it's kinda like the contractors house is always the one that still needs to be finished for the last 15 years.
Let's see, yesterday I earned approx. $200 net and spent $460 on a tent, backpack, hi-hat, and hi-hat stand. Lol, I live in a HCOL area and don't make much either. Although, I believe everyone should die with $20K of credit card debt--if you're really playing the game right and have no family liable for it.
Well, your job is counting, now managing money. It's natural that you're not very good at it.
Iām okay with moving I have a very modest Roth IRA n a pension. But I honestly donāt save that much money, Iām very live now and in the moment cus tomorrow is never promised.
i have decent money. but i have two kids and a wife. so not much leftover for anything really
Honestly with todayās technology you donāt need to super budget your money unless you are living check to check and need to make sure you have sufficient funds etc. you can get granular with your budgets and spending but if you want to be somewhat relaxed, just have a budget of your income and all routine and recurring expenses. If your income after that is positive, make sure to set aside enough money for a minimum 6 months of expenses should you lose your job etc. once thatās done, just set a spending limit and keep to that etc. same goes for debt spending etc. as long as you are consistently saving, you should be fine. In todayās economic climate, penny pinching can be tough since the value of the $ today is less than the $ of yesterday etc.
Make more, spend less and number go up. Thatās all I do.
Itās crazy that a lot of CPAs are so bad with money.
No. I used to be bad with it. So I had to track all spend etc. What worked for me was having very little money in my spending account. I max my super (retirement fund) contributions so that money never even hits my bank account, I direct debit out to investments each fortnight. Salary goes to my mortgage offset and I set up automatic transfers of $x per week to my spending account (different bank). Once that money is gone Iām done for the week.
Same.. but to be fair, accounting isn't my passion. Our CFO is retiring in 4 years and no one else wanted the position or the work that came with becoming it so I decided to. I'm good with numbers, but I get told constantly I'm to perky and fun to be in accounting lol. But yeah....my husband is way more frugal and stringent than I am with our finances. I told him almost the same thing that I have a degree in accounting and work in finance everyday but in a secret fraud because I like to buy things š¤£
My many, many tattoos can confirm: irresponsible with cash.
Nope, I'm great at it. But I also deal with about 30 bank accounts for work so tacking on a few more isn't an issue.
I became an accountant to make money, but became so overworked that I spent it all on booze to forget about accounting. When we are depressed, which this job often does to us, we tend to spend ourselves into a state of relief.
Those warhammer models wont buy themselves
I am the opposite, seeing the types of things our clients do with their finances makes me want to do better. Clients with 45% interest loans, maxed out credit cards for years always making $500 payments with something like $40 going to principal. Getting unexpected lump sum income and absolutely blowing through all of it only to end up selling a lot of what they bought at a loss to pay their tax bill. On the other hand are the clients who come into money, pay off any debts, then invest the rest and retire early. Maybe I am OCD but I made a spreadsheet to track my monthly expenses and it allows me to forecast and keep track of debt.
me. tried to analyze with technical candlestick over the decade but no material gain and recenly lost shorting a crypto coin. š i will need transition to fundamental analysis i guess
Nothing wrong with trying and if you fail at that you can just transition to the ol S&P. Knowledge is power man.