I’d want you to know the following:
Managing money is so easy once you figure it out. It’s scary and frustrating and all kinds of annoying before hand, but once you “get it” you’re good forever. It’s like riding a bike – you fall down a ton early on, but the more you practice the better you get. You’ll still fall afterwards, but usually only because you’re trying to be slick ;)
The only one who cares about your money is you. People want you to succeed and love you of course (hi mom!), but at the end of the day it’s all up to you and the actions you take or don’t take. You’re the only one who can live your life and knows what makes you happy.
Work on the stuff that excites you! It doesn’t matter if it’s paying off debt, saving for a house, investing in retirement – they’re all GREAT ways to secure your future. Just pick the one that makes you happiest and focus on it until you get it. Then repeat. (And if you change your mind in two weeks? That’s OK too. There’s no one watching you or rules to follow.)
Max out your 401(k) match. It’s free money. If you don’t know how to invest it, check these guys out.
Create a seperate savings account when you’re saving for something big. Nothing is more motivating than watching a pile of cash grow and knowing 100% of it is going towards your main goal. It’s one of the easiest ways to score traction.
Use time to your advantage. No matter how hard we try, we can’t slow down time. Invest those dollars now – even if they’re just dollars – and get them on their way to making babies and grandbabies. You want your money copulating while you sleep.
Give yourself a break! Try not to be so hard on yourself, and focus on the future you and not the you that got yourself into a mess. You’re smarter now and ready to do this thing or else you wouldn’t be such a nerd reading about money right now ;)
The end goal is freedom, not millions of dollars. Sometimes (often times) you need millions of dollars, but it’s not about piling it up just to see how high you can get it. It’s about living a life on your own terms and using money to buy you TIME. Time for your family, time for your passions, and most importantly time for yourself. That’s the point of paying attention to it all – financial freedom.
God forbid this is my last post, but if it were that’s exactly what I’d want you to know. This stuff isn’t rocket science, but you have to want it bad enough to go out and make it happen.
And I hope you want it bad enough :)
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J. Money, if this were your last post, you shared the most important lessons everyone needs to know about money. It’s like every basic thing to know is here from managing to saving money as well as how to keep motivated during this time. Nice post, J!
“Use time to your advantage” is probably one of the best pieces of advice on finances!
and probably the most boring one, so people never do it – hah! they don’t want to get rich slowly, they want to get rich fast :)
FREEEEEDOM!
Sorry, very freedom-focused after a tough Q2 at work (and personally). Plus, well, we did just have the Fourth.
Anyway, great post! Hope this is all just hypothetical!
Hypothetical that it’s my last post, but not that I want these on my Financial Blogger tombstone one day :)
“Work on stuff that excites you” is my focus right now. Working on my Q2 financial update I am more committed than ever to work on knocking out this mortgage.
GOOD!!!!
I’ll be ready to celebrate with a beer (or ten) once you hit it. You’ll have to wait too long for me to hit it – hah :)
It wasn’t too long ago that you posted you sometimes don’t care about money. Are you trying to tell us something?
haha no.
I’ve just had death on my mind a lot and you tend to start thinking differently when that happens :)
Great “last” post! I love how you empower people to take charge with their money, without feeling like they have to do it perfectly, by one hand-and-fast set of rules. Also that the goal doesn’t need to be “getting rich,” but getting freedom to spend your time in ways you value.
thanks friend :) I don’t think you *can* do this stuff perfectly. unless you’re a robot!
Love it! This would be a great post to send to someone just getting into money. All of the important commandments, all in one place.
I’d like to think so :)
I love the riding a bike analogy. I think it take a “crash” every once in a while to remind us we need to stick to the path and use the skills we have.
Hah – indeed it does.. I’m getting my knees skinned all the time still ;)
1 (800) 273-8255 that is the number for the suicide prevention hotline. Hope that you are around for a long time.
I love life way too much to take it with my own hands :)
NIce….it certainly makes you think on this Monday morning! I love the thought “its about living on your own terms”. We just spent the weekend at the lake with family and enjoyed it completely! We looked at 2 lake homes that are going up for sale in the next 5 years and they were beautiful! I came back to my husband to say they are everything I would want as a final home….one floor, plank floors, 1.5 baths, a beautiful kitchen over looking the lake with white cupboards, a stone fire place, an out door kitchen…the list goes on…it was like HGTV! Usually my husband is the first to say okay, he looked at me and said $500K is a lot to take on at the age of 50 and retirement would be no where in site…he was right! “Our terms don’t include a $500K lake home for retirement…we have always been simple people and enjoy the smaller things in life :)
Smart husband :) Though I was kinda hoping you were going to say y’all were gonna jump on it cuz it was only like $50,000! haha…
How do you find homes that are going up for sale in the future like that btw? That seems like a good skill to have!
Family friends talking, drinking, and eating on a holiday weekend. We all plan to retire someday and they are closer to that goal than we are. They own 3 lake houses…I mean 12 months a year the lake in retirement but down size to just 1 lake house. She like the smaller one for older years :)
It always pays to party and network! :)
“Work on the stuff that excites you!” – When you do this I think you are the most successful no matter what you are doing. J$ – come on man, you know this ain’t your last post!
I do :) But it’s an interesting experiment to try out – I highly encourage!
I love your idea about working on what excites you. It’s a simple idea, but it makes so much sense.
We are working on having our mortgage paid off by the end of the year, and we are so excited about it. :)
I would too if it were that close! haha… way to hustle hustle!
I think one of my big problems right now is competing goals. There are certain areas I want to spend money on to grow, both personally and professionally, but then the other side of that tug-a-war is my desire to be really frugal. I guess it’s figuring out who is really going to win that battle.
Maybe focus on one thing a month? 30 days seem to be good time periods depending on how large the goal is you’re working on.
Love this! Financial freedom is so very important. I already feel like I’m there (I know I’m not, but still), and I am loving life!
I like to pretend I’m retired already and just choose to do blog stuff in all my free time – hah :)
The end goal is freedom, not millions of dollars.
Man that’s so true. Working on something that excites you is very important.
This post feels like something that would be referenced when your time comes. May it not be for many, many, many more years!
I especially love the 2nd point. We all try to impress others but it’s silly.
Maybe I’ll just reproduce it then and add in a “I’ll love you guys forever” at the end :)
What you said! Whether it’s your first time reading the advice or a reminder to get you up and going, it’s all good stuff.
“You want your money copulating while you sleep”…true, as long as it’s quiet and doesn’t wake me up. :)
hah! i’d rather wake up to my money copulating than others! :)
“This stuff isn’t rocket science” – So true, except it’s actually harder than rocket science because there’s emotion involved with money. My hubby has a degree in aerospace engineering, so I love to tell clients that my hubby is a rocket scientist and could literally explain the universe, but he still struggles with making smart money choices from time to time. It’s basic on paper, but not in practice. It takes work, but thankfully the work you put into it yields positive results all the time.
I JUST commented on Budget and the Beach about how frustrating it is to have competing goals…and then I read “Work on the stuff that excites you!” That’s the best advice I’ve heard on figuring out which thing to focus on. It’s easy: the one that excites you.
Haha good! We all have multiple goals at all time going, but there’s always those special ones that for whatever reason REALLY get us pumped. Always feels great working on them :)
The time thing is so essential!!!! I’ve had to encourage other people who are in their 30’s to start their 401k!!!!! It’s crazy how people get so paralyzed by that and they just need to dip their feet first in the pool and know it’s not that bad.
Happy post-July fourth!
Great points! I hope you don’t have death on the brain for sad reasons but best wishes either way. Sometimes it’s refreshing to just stay on top of the big stuff and know you’ll be okay.
Thanks friend. It’s been on my mind for a number of reasons, but all is good overall :) Just gotta remember to soak up all the days we’re blessed with!
“no one cares about your money but you”
That is the one that is resonating with me this week.
Great list. Glad this is NOT your last post on money :-)
:)
These are all perfect. The last one has been really clicking with me lately. Sometimes on the way to our goal we get so tied up with earning that money that we forget the money isn’t the object; it’s the freedom we’re after. We should be making our lives better, not more stressful, in the pursuit of it. A lesson I really needed to learn.
I love this advice! I love the part about doing what excites you. Paying off debt for so long, I’ve realized that sometimes I’m just over it and I prefer saving. Now I’m insanely inspired to get out of debt and working with that excitement to fuel my progress. Your insights are on point, J… I can’t bring myself to say what the new kids are saying (on fleek). :)
Fleek – hah! I’ve been using “rad” a lot lately after hearing a younger person drop it all over a call I had. I thought it had gone out years ago but apparently not! Either that, or she’s a super hipster. Either way, it’s rad :)
I totally agree that the only person who cares about your money (or your life) is you! It was a huge revelation for me to realize that nobody else cares how I live or what I do–it’s up to me to craft the life I want. And I want it frugal and free :)!!!
Well said, sir. Sometimes we take this stuff too seriously and need to relax and know that good habits results in good results. You can endlessly optimize every monetary decision or leave some time to enjoy other things in life!
Nice post – agreed, saving money (even a substantial amount of money) truly isn’t all that difficult. It takes some motivation for sure, and a little bit of discipline, but man, this stuff is easy. Once you figure out that “stuff” doesn’t make you happen, that’s almost all it takes. Stuff is draining.
Retirement is ever-freaking-lasting.
Awesome. This may be the last thing you would say about money, but it’s the first thing people need to hear. My favorite point? The end goal is freedom.
This is pure truth. Pure gold.
“This may be the last thing you would say about money, but it’s the first thing people need to hear.”
Well said! I like that :)
These are great points and fundamental to understanding your money. I just hope you have many more posts!
Absolutely, and I would just add that it is important to write down your short, mid and long term financial goals and create a plan to achieve them!
that’s probably smart, yeah. I’m horrible at looking into the future, so it’s pretty amazing I’ve done as well as I have without planning – hah.
The freedom part is key. People who want the money to buy everything under the sun are the ones who go broke 3 months later. I want millions but not because I want to buy tons of things. I want the freedom to not have to work or even work at a job I love, regardless of the pay.
i love me some unsplash photography! i had used that exact picture on friday to make a landing page for a subscription service (i linked it above, im not trying to be spammy just find it rather remarkable we used the exact same picture in the same week).
hah! that’s pretty cool!
This is great, Jay : )
I LOVE the “Give Yourself a Break” one. After 3 years of debt-reduction, I can confirm that you’re right: That smarter “future self” is emerging! I’m too inclined to dwell upon the “old self” that got me into that debt mess.
About “Work On The Stuff That Excites You”, I would only add that sometimes, as you’re working on what truly is exciting, it will seem dull. That doesn’t mean it’s time to jump ship. I’d say stick it out. You’ll catch the vision again : )
true true… in those cases you can always move to the #1 excitement area at the time at that point and then move back when that one gets old too, haha… though that may only work best for those of us with A.D.D. :)
Yep, in the end it’s up to each of us, right? No excuses.
Great post, and a timely reminder to keep the key points in focus.
BTW, I just pictured my dollars making babies. Things that can’t be unseen… Traumatized!
I’m trying to envision that now, haha… if they copulate too much they’ll rip holes in each other! :)
I thought it was just going to say “STAY SEXY!”
But instead you dropped a knowledge bomb. I especially like “Managing money is so easy once you figure it out”.
I LOVE IT when I see the light turn on a people start to get it. Once your budget’s in the black, you can’t go back! ;)
HAH! You know it, sir.
I always get hung up on the millions of dollars instead of financial freedom and being too hard on myself for not being wealthy already. When you are young, you want everything RIGHT NOW. Learning how to wait is freaking hard.
If you leave me now, you take away the biggest part of me…
Whooo-eeee-hoooo, no, J Mo please don’t go….
Haha….
Great list. Mr. FI and I recently began renovating our kitchen, so we could not agree more with your advice to “Create a seperate savings account when you’re saving for something big.” It not only made every paycheck that went into that account more exciting, but it allowed us to set a date and actually DO IT. Money is quite the motivator. ;)
Yes, it is!
It seems so simple! :)
Execution is much more difficult in modern day society, but it’s easy if you take it one step at a time.
Great summary of some great rules to remind everyone!
Hi J. – If this were your LAST post, it could also be the FIRST post that anybody starting the journey should read. That’s a great summary!
Thanks :) And you’re right!
Funny how most of these things are all within us – you don’t need to go hunting ‘out there’ for some fancy tool or program or advice, you just need to dive in yourself, be kind to yourself, and make sure you don’t mess up your own good work with bad habits or worrying about what everyone else thinks.
There is a simplicity to money that is messed up by the introduction of emotion.
J., I think this is probably the best post on money (and life) you’ve published. Only thing is, I am getting worried because it sounds a bit like ‘good bye’. Keep it up and continue doing what excites you :).
Thanks friend :) I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry. Just in one of those “thinky” moods! Who knows what will spill out next?
The last point is my favorite. Of course being wealthy would be amazing, but most importantly – freedom is THE end goal!
Superb. Freedom is the eventual goal
I’m late to the party here and just stumbled across this article, but that piece about taking responsibility over my money has been a game-changer for me. “The only one who cares about your money is you.” Wish I would have realized this one sooner in life, but once I did everything changed! Good stuff.
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