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Money Management??? How?
leeblackman
Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
Ok, I'm 21 years old, I've been living on my own for about 2 years now, maintained steady job, and been going to school at night (Sheriffs Acadamy) to become a LEO so I'll make better money and have some benefits. Right now my weekly income is $375 for 35hrs a week after taxes. And for some reason (I'm a real bad impusle buyer) when I get it on Friday, its gone on Monday, and I'm fishing for loose change in the sofa again...
My question is how do you manage money? Everyone tells me, "Oh, don't worry, you get your own system.." but I haven't got it yet. The one thing you'd think they'd teach us in public school, the most important thing, they leave out, like they want us to be in debt...
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
My question is how do you manage money? Everyone tells me, "Oh, don't worry, you get your own system.." but I haven't got it yet. The one thing you'd think they'd teach us in public school, the most important thing, they leave out, like they want us to be in debt...
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
Comments
Can not help you at all. I have no idea how you can survive on
$375.00/week. Perhaps give up law enforcement and join the U.S.
Army or Marines or Navy or Air Force or Coast Guard or Sanitation
Department. Your efforts are admirable but your salary does not reflect. Geez, I made more than that in Nam and only a buck. If your heart is in le, you will make it but go home for sleep and food. May have to give up gunz but the net result in le, I presume, will be worth it. Hang in there. 101
quote: (I'm a real bad impusle buyer)
Without knowing your specifics (and this is not the place for them) it is impossible to answer your question other than to recommend a written budget and then the discipline to keep to it. Impulse buying is OK when the impulse is a Butterfinger in the check-out line but when the impulse starts with names like Ruger or Glock it blows the heck out of your budget.
Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis
Harleeman1030@aol.com
NRA MEMBER
Do not mistake my kindness for weakness.
IALEFI, ASLET, NRA, and proud owner of a pair of S&W revolvers.
The biggest problem with people and money is that they spend more than they make. thats the problem with credit cards. Try to use cash whenever possible and think of things in terms of how long you had to work to buy something. My dad always told me...ok, you want to buy a $50 shirt, how many hours did you have to work to make those $50. When you start to realize that you worked a full 8 hours to buy one shirt, you start to put things in perspective.
Just get direct deposit, and try to stay away from using a debit/atm card. Also stay away from credit cards if you can.
Hope this helps...good luck. And it is very admirable of you wanting to get into law enforcement. We need more people like you.
Alex
Excellent question! You are very wise to ask it at your age! I didnt' know you were that young. How many of us wish we had when we were starting out. I'll do my best to give you a quick, fair and balanced summary of my experience.
I'll start by saying I helped a friend onto the road of financial security by simply telling him one day that my Dad was teaching me how to invest in the stock market. My friend, who didn't feel comfortable playing the market himself, went out and hired a financial manager, and began investing some of his earnings. He has since thanked me sincerely for making the difference, putting him on the road to having a LOT of money saved for his retirement. Frankly, he has more money than I do these days.
I have been through financial woes, and gotten free of them. My sister's family had a business go sour, and had to start over. We've had it both ways. I've been well employed, and I've been unemployed. My nephew, at about your age, got in terrible financial trouble while away at school and had to dig himself out with the help of credit counseling and time payments. One night I sat down and gave him a talk that seemed to help.
What I told him went something like this: A lot of people buy things they think they deserve to have. Sometimes it makes you feel better for a short time, but if you used credit, then you have put yourself in debt by spending money YOU DON'T HAVE yet. That means you are borrowing against your own future.
I told him that I had to learn that if you don't HAVE THE CASH jingling in your pocket, you CAN'T afford it. Don't tell yourself what you "deserve" to have. Learn patience, and wait until you can pay for the item.
Credit cards are a nasty business. The interest rates are so high that 40 years ago the bankers would be in prison for the crime of "usery," which is loan sharking. Do you know what happens to some credit cards if you make every payment, but make two payments in a row 1 day late? They will jack the interest rate up to between 25 and 28 percent. Legally. For as long as a year and a half, before returning your rate to normal. Not everything that is legal is ethical. Keep away from credit cards if you possibly can. Get a debit Visa card, that relies on your bank balance, as a self-limiting discipline, and learn to use that. It won't allow you to buy something with money you don't have.
Second, if and when you own a home, never take a bill consolidation loan if it is a second mortgage on your house. The banks love those, too. Why? Because they can take thousands of dollars worth of your unsecured debt (meaning there's no collateral, like with credit cards) and attach it as a lien on your house. So if you should ever get in deep financial doo-doo, and need to take a bankruptcy, you would not be able to make a deal with your primary lender to keep your home, unless you also made a deal with the second holder to keep paying on the bill consolidation loan too. Meaning, less debt relief. Don't assume you'll never need a bankruptcy. These days, job security is never permanent.
Don't get into debt at all if you can possibly avoid it. Learn to be highly wary of debt, with the exception of a mortgage and maybe one car loan at good rates. In the remake of A Christmas Carol, with Henry Winkler as Scrooge, called AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROL, they updated the story to the 1930s in America -- and guess what Scrooge's crime was? He invented the time payment plan -- on the day before Christmas, he was out repossessing things from families in financial trouble. Never let yourself get in deep debt, and if you're in, sell some things and work some extra until you get out and then try to stay out. "Financing" is a slippery slope.
The overall rule is, you can't buy things to keep up with your neighbors, or because you believe everybody has them, or you deserve them. Again, if you don't have the cash on hand, you CAN'T AFFORD IT yet.
Get that financial manager. My friend finally learned enough from watching the guy he hired to take over his own financial management and do it himself, saving the fee. But he was glad to have an accounting firm get the process started for him and the sake of his kids.
401Ks are great and matching funds from your employer are great too, if you can get them. Make the most of matching funds. But always try to roll over a 401K if you change jobs -- don't cash out if you can help it -- sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.
If you want your savings to grow, a stock fund is generally the best place for your money in the long term. The stock market will always return to a previous high, eventually. Don't put all your money in just a few stocks, even if they are your own employer's stock. Diversify your stock holdings by buying into a stock fund -- which is what a 401K plan usually does very well. They give you control, so you can invest in "low risk, low return" funds, or "medium risk, good return" funds. I like the medium funds.
Once you are ready to retire (I know, I know, just bear with me a second), move your money out of the stock market when stocks are up, and put them into a low risk money market. When you can't afford to lose your earnings anymore in a temporary downturn, get out when prices are high, and put your retirement fund in safe, low risk places.
In short -- avoid credit card debt, and avoid financing for purchases as a rule. Learn how to live on what you make and stay out of debt. Save some money as a strict discipline, either by direct deposits from your paycheck or by a separate deposits you regularly make. Get a financial plan manager, listen closely, make your choices, and set up a plan you can afford to maintain in good times and bad. Don't be tempted to spend your savings when the balance starts to grow large. Invest it in stock funds instead. Try to build a 401k when you have the opportunity and take full (I mean maximum) advantage of your employer's matching funds.
That's not the whole story, but it's what I consider the most critical. You've got to learn to take pride in being responsible more than in that new expensive item you just bought. Paint jobs fade, possessions depreciate. Own your stuff; don't let it own you.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Here's how I did it
Figure out your monthly housing costs. Rent,gas, electric, phone, etc. You can also add any major expenses like car insurance to this figure.Multiply that time 3 then divide it by 13. Add $5.00 to that ammount and have it direct deposited into a checking acctount each week.
Then I opened a savings acct at a small credit union that was out of my way to get to. I have $15.00 put in that. It's a passbook acct no debit card.
I have a second checking account with a debit card that I use for emergencies and the occasional extravagance. I Also pay my credit cards and a small personal loan from this one.
Anything left (about $80.00) over is my allowance for the week, it buys my food, gasolene and any other short term consumables. I still manage to set aside about $5.00-$10.00 a week from that.
Don't carry a credit card!! Carry your debit card for emergencies only. And, definately don't buy things like gas and food with a credit card. My rule of thumb for a credit card is I don't buy it if I won't still have it a year from now. Some people can pay thier cards off every month and that's fine, but, most people can't or don't.
If you buy stuff like bottles of soda and snack foods. get in the habit of stuffing the receipts in you pocket. You'll be amazed at how much your spending right there. Also being single I bet you eat out alot. I know that was a major problem for me.I save a ton of cash by cooking up a bunch of meals on sunday for the rest of the week. You'll be less tempted to eat out if it's there cooked up and ready to eat. The other temtation to eat out is not wanting to clean up. Buy some paper plate in that case they are still cheaper than eating out. Start keeping track of it. When you do you'll become more concious of where you're wasting your money.
Ten years ago I made almost as much money as I do now, and didn't have a pot to pee in. It's just a matter of planning and tracking where it goes.
Hope this is a help.
Woods
I am nearly out of the hole, though, because over the past several years I've used the kind of discipline that woodsrunner talked about.
G36
Gun Control Disarms Victims, NOT Criminals
My wife kept paying his card off & it kept going on. Thank goodness the bank finally cut him off & now he can't get a bank account of any kind at any bank.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
The money that is left is for you...put away approx 1/2 of what is left.. then you have your spending money..
Impulse buying will kill you every time.. think before you buy..
Lil' Stinker's Opinion
Save and buy guns, knives,land, art or something that will increase in value. Don't shoot investment guns or sharpen investment knives.
You won't believe me, but if you get serious with God, your money goes farther. Fewer bad habits to pay for, and that old car and washer just seem to last longer.
SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC
have you bought stuff on impulse.
Then make an effort to stay away from them,until you can afford them.
.218
=================================================================
Just because your paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!kimberkid@gunbroker.zzn.com
? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
I look at my father in law, who is loaded. Hes got lots of toys, and he pays alot for all of his garbage. He also works 6 days a week, 10+ hours a day. Why does he work so much? CAUSE HE HAS TO. Hes got quite a nut every month, most of the stuff he has to pay for he can totally do without. He buys these toys only because he wants them-and because he wants them, he has to work his butt off in order to buy they toys.If he didnt work for a month, his house of cards would crumble. He is a slave to his toys.
I dont think I make a tenth of what he makes. But I maximize my retirement accounts, I am about ten years ahead on my mortgage schedule, no credit card debt, and a good chunk of money in the bank-and a lot of free time to do what I want to do, instead of working to buy stuff I dont need.
"Sometimes the people have to give up some individual rights for the safety of society."
-Bill Clinton(MTV interview)
"Sometimes the people have to give up some individual rights for the safety of society."
-Bill Clinton(MTV interview)
Everyone should save something for retirement, everyone. It takes a great deal of effort to start a savings plan.
The earlier you start in life the easier it is to attain your retirement goals
The rate of return is relatively unimportant during the first 5 or 6 years of your plan. The key, in those first 5 or 6 years, is to not lose any of your contribution made to your savings.
Since 1973, the Dow Jones Industrial index has returned an average of approximately 9.5%. Equities in this index are considered quality holdings. This average can be further stabilized by holding investments in quality preferred equities, government interest bearing securities and AAA rated U.S. corporate debt (bonds). This becomes important after you accumulate a "nest egg".
The secret to successful savings is simple. A some point, well down the road of an established pattern of savings, your annual contribution is exceeded by the earnings of your cumulative investment. At that point your wealth accumulation shifts gears from arithetic to geometic growth.
As a rule of thumb, a properly invested portfolio will allow a retiree to withdraw about 5% per year with out touching the principal of his retirement savings.
Plan now for your expected needs and allow at least an annual factor of about 3% for inflationary cost of living increases.
BUY ONLY WHAT YOU NEED AND SAVE THE REST. START SAVING TOMMORROW BUT ALLOW YOUR SELF TO RESPONSIBLY ENJOY TODAY. lol Robin
Worry is the interest humans pay on the debt of miscalculation.
SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
Debt free concept just like Grandma, this book has worksheets and basic budgeting.
You can listen to his archive radio shows online while you surf the gun forums. www.daveramsey.com
Them ducks is wary.
Why does man kill? He kills for food. But not only for food; frequently, he must have a beverage.
I wish I had someone like offeror and the others to talk to me about this when I was 21.
Bartman
If you don't know your rights, you dont't have any
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
One thing that killed me was the last apartment I moved out of took advantage of my lack of knowledge on moving from apartments and fined me over $700 for various fee's and expenses, really. Then the electrical company wanted $200 deposit, ouch.
I also have a pet deposit of $400, that I can pay in half increments for the next two months tacked on with rent.
My monthly expendatures, $300 rent (my half w/roomate), $300 Jeep note, $50 elec, $60 cell phone (I got took), $35phone, $???groceries... No Credit Cards...
Lets just say, I don't have any clue where I'd be without the help of my parent...
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
And I also get a little side money doing some gun cleaning and sighting in during hunting season.
I don't drink or smoke, but I do have a addiction to Dr Pepper.
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
This is in no way a moral imperitive, it's simply financial. Spend less on beer, take what you save and invest in a quality mutual fund. You are young enough to profit greatly by feeding a steady diet to a low-risk fund. I myself am going to plunk some money to Dodge and Cox (dodgeandcox.com), specifically split between their "Balanced" and "Income" funds.
www.ebsart.com
"Live by the three 'R's: Respect, Responsibility and Residuals."
Cut out the Dr. Pepper and drink water. Your body and bank account will both thank you.
Also definetly figure out them groceries. There's a ton of EASY things you can cook with cheap ingredients that make a lot of grub that you can either eat for a week or freeze and eat later. I'm talking about eating nutritiously for a WEEK on about or less than $10. If you need ideas, e-mail me.
Edited by - sundowner on 09/13/2002 02:17:17
Buy in bulk when affordable.
Don't eat out, buy and make your own meals.
Don't buy anything not necessary for day to day life.
Don't use credit cards unless you have an emergency.
I'll turn 35 on October 8, and will retire when I'm 50.
I've been planning on retiring when I turned 50 since I was 19, PLANNING is the key word there!
If you don't PLAN, you will FAIL, guaranteed!
I watch my money VERY carefully! (Watched $25k fly out the window this week on inventory! Hehehehe....)
I've always loved the saying "If you take care of your pennies, your dollars will take care of themselves." I think Ben Franklin said that.
One of the guys who works for me said "You sure watch the details on money, huh?" I said "Yes......it works"
A few hours later he came up and said "You know, thats probably why I'm working for YOU, and the not the other way around!" (He is over 50, and doesn't have *anything* to his name!)
I'm happier than a pig in poop. Tomorrow, I close on the refinancing of my duplex!
I will be paying the SAME amount after I refinance as before, but it'll only be for FIFTEEN YEARS instead of thirty!!!!!
WOohooo! Makes me VERY happy! I dropped 3.125% points when I refinanced!
I pay extra each month, so I'll have it paid off in 2011!
Anyway, good luck with it.
Merc
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
****************************************
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
By the way, what do you think of the XD-40 you bought?
Chuck
If man thinks for one minute he understands women, he's timed it about right