Alright, it’s finally that time of year again in which I get to write my favorite post. It’s the post I most look forward to each year because it shows me if all the work I have been doing throughout the year has paid off. It tells me what I did well for the year financially and what I could improve on. This is year 3 of this post and I finally feel like I have enough data to begin to see some trends in my finances. I still can’t get over the spending data I have for the last 3 years. For someone who doesn’t budget at all, the…
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The App Everyone Should Be Using to Track Their Finances
Most people don’t track their expenses, emergency fund, debts, investments, retirement plan or overall net-worth. And of those who do track one or all of those recommended personal finance markers, everyone has their own method for tracking them. Some use homemade excel spreadsheets, some use the classic pen and paper along with a collection of hundreds of receipts, some use individual apps to track each marker separately or some just let someone else deal with it completely. Personal Capital Personal Capital is a FREE, financial planning and wealth management app that is downloadable for any phone. The beauty of this app is its ability to create a one stop shop…
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Why Everyone Should Try a No Spend Month
I have been wanting to try a no spend month for a while now as a challenge for myself both financially and mentally. I actually put it in my 2020 goals back in January this year. So with everyone already quarantined and most places shut down due to COVID-19, I figured now was as good of a time as any to give it a shot and I actually think it went pretty well. So What is It? It’s exactly as it sounds. It’s an attempt to spend as little money as possible for 30 days. You are allowed to spend money during this timeframe but you are trying to limit…
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You Could Never Travel AND Have a High Savings Rate…
Before I begin this article, I want to emphasize that I am sharing this information with you not to brag but to continue to show complete transparency with my financial numbers and life. I do this for three reasons. To keep my blog’s integrity. I would never try to sell something that I wasn’t practicing myself. Just like you wouldn’t trust an out of shape personal trainer, or a dentist with decaying teeth. By using my actual numbers, it’s the best way to keep my journey authentic and relatable. To show how easy many of the concepts that I discuss are and how applicable they can be to your life…
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2019 Financial Summary
This is probably my favorite post to write every year because maps out my current trajectory towards financial independence. It lets me know how I’m doing with my saving, investing, and spending. Collecting this information can be extremely powerful tool because of the insight it gives you and one that I recommend everyone keep track of. You don’t need to go all out like my spreadsheet with tables, graphs, and ROI but if I had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, it would be to track your spending. This is far and away the most important data one can track. When you know where your money is…
