Let's talk money. Budgets. Life.

[Traveler]

Pretty much every bank has an online tool for budgeting, tracking and analysis. Go in there and spend a few hours categorizing expenses for the last 12 months. Start with seeing where your money goes. I find this to be the most effective way stay committed to budgets.

 

[Doc Holliday]

All comes down to living within your means and not using credit cards unless you are paying off immediately. So many people think "If I could just pay off these credit card balances then everything would be fine." The problem is they don't change their behavior/spending habits, and are right back in that situation in a very short time. If you call them out on that, there is always an excuse or a hardship of some kind to deflect from taking ownership of their situation. It's sad schools don't do more to teach kids about finances and compound interest (instead of CRT), and how it can drastically shape the course of their life.

 

[MallardSX2]

The following is meant for people who are bad with money.

Stop eating out.
Stop Smoking.
Stop Chewing.
Stop Drinking.
Cut up your credit cards.
Delete your amazon prime account.

Those 6 things right there can save a guy an unreal amount of money in his lifetime.

It's unreal the amount of money that a person wastes in life. It truly is.

The other four things that will sink a family financially more than anything I have ever seen.
-Campers
-Expensive vehicles
-Boats
-SxS's

If you can't pay for something with cash, then you don't need it.

Payments are NOT good regardless of what people say about "boosting your credit score...."

Too many people try to live above their means and no matter how much they "own" or buy they will never be happy. I have a super cheap sxs and a camper that I paid $500 cash for. I am super happy with both of them. Could I buy a razor? Yes. Will I? Hell no.

Anyone making under $50K a year who runs out and buy s a $30,000 sxs or a $75,000+ camper needs to have their head checked. They are fools. Fools with massive lifetime strapping payments.

 

[The_Jim]

Lot's of good advice on here. Dave Ramsey isn't for everyone but his advice is solid. Before we had our kids my wife and I paid off our house and have stayed out of debt since. She is a CPA but gets to choose to stay home and raise our 4 kids because we don't carry any debt.

Watch The Minimalists: Less Is Now | Netflix Official Site

They've built a movement out of minimalism. Longtime friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus share how our lives can be better with less.

www.netflix.com

That Minimalist's documentary also made a big impact on us. We send our kids to a private school and its pretty easy to fall into the keep up with the Jones syndrome if you compare yourself to all the doctors kids... This really put things into a good perspective for us.

 

[insanelupus]

Debt is like a ninja, if you climb in that ring, be careful!

It'll get ya before ya even know yer got!

 

[dtrkyman]

My only debt is my mortgage.


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[SteveCNJ]

I'm 67 and planned on being retired by now but divorce screwed that up. Split in December of 2007. Over the next 8 years paid $250k in alimony. The ex stayed in my house during those 8 years. I couldn't pay for a place to live, alimony, child support and the mortgage. She didnmake 1 payment to it in the 8 years she was there. When the alimony ended she moved out. I had to declare Ch 13 to reorg the mortgage with the bank. I promised my son I'd stay there until he finished high school. So it was pretty expensive to be there for the next 4 1/2 years and knowing I'd never get any equity back sucked. Now he's in still in college and in still paying child support @$23,000 a year. Moved from NJ to SC in 2020. I work from home so I can live anywhere. I save over $16k a year just in taxes. I fully fund my 401k and started SS in January. I figure I have to work until at least Feb of 2026 depending on the market. I'm a pretty good cook, so I very rarely go out to eat. I drive a 2017 RAM 1500 with 112,600 miles on it, but I buy good guns and hunting clothes. I'm in a hunting club, and it's 145 miles away, so adding to the annual 1k dues, the gas and other things add up. I am lucky that I make a good living and although having to continue to work I live pretty well. Shot an 8 point Saturday evening and leaving tomorrow for an elk hunt in Colorado.

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[MattB]

Turn one of your homes into an asset and don't keep it as a liability. That's the first step in being money smart. The second is to look more into investing your money into assets, not necessarily "saving". That's the mistake I made in my 20's.

Assets make money. Liabilities lose money.

Second, 50/30/20. Live on 50, invest 30, save 20 (or whichever combo works best for you). Retiring early means you do without earlier on. Simple rule in economics.

Third, identify what necessities are and know the difference between decencies and luxuries. A decency is a new vehicle, and the luxury is the trim package. The necessity is the vehicle, maybe just put a new engine or transmission in when it's time.

Just to correct terms for the purpose of this discussion, assets can make or lose money. The making or losing money to which you refer is the positive or negative cash flow associated with that asset. A liability is a financial obligation which typically needs to be repaid (e.g. home mortgage, student loan, credit card debt).

When my wife and I decided to generate a budget, we first started by taking a full accounting of the dollars we spent in a month. We then looked at that in the context of our income and used that as the basis to put limits on non-essential spending (e.g. restaurant meals).

I completely agree on a strategy of paying yourself first and buying positive cash flow-generating assets where possible.

Edit: reading more, I see a lot of people are debt-averse. Debt can be a problem for many people, but if you have a fixed rate home mortgage you locked in more than 1 but less than 10 years ago, I would think twice (and maybe three times) about trying to pay it off early. When inflation is high like it has been, it can become increasingly affordable to use inflated dollars to pay off a monthly payment that was locked in before inflation accelerated.

 

[roadrunner]

Just to correct terms for the purpose of this discussion, assets can make or lose money. The making or losing money to which you refer is the positive or negative cash flow associated with that asset. A liability is a financial obligation which typically needs to be repaid (e.g. home mortgage, student loan, credit card debt).

When my wife and I decided to generate a budget, we first started by taking a full accounting of the dollars we spent in a month. We then looked at that in the context of our income and used that as the basis to put limits on non-essential spending (e.g. restaurant meals).

I completely agree on a strategy of paying yourself first and buying positive cash flow-generating assets where possible.

Edit: reading more, I see a lot of people are debt-averse. Debt can be a problem for many people, but if you have a fixed rate home mortgage you locked in more than 1 but less than 10 years ago, I would think twice (and maybe three times) about trying to pay it off early. When inflation is high like it has been, it can become increasingly affordable to use inflated dollars to pay off a monthly payment that was locked in before inflation accelerated.

Correction: liabilities cost you money.

 

[SDHNTR]

Give me all the cheap debt I can get! Not all debt is bad if it’s used to purchase wealth generating assets with an ROI that exceeds the cost of debt. Why do companies like Apple take on massive amounts of debt? Because they can use that to make even more massive amounts of money.

Dave Ramsey caters to the lowest common denominators. Most people don’t understand the concept of leverage so his advice is to simply avoid debt altogether. And that’s not wrong if you lack the sophistication or discipline to make debt work in your favor.

 

[SDHNTR]

Someone above said to automate the process. Great advice! Take savings out of your own control. Make it happen whether you want it to or not! Know how much you need to save, set up the auto funding mechanisms to do so (401ks make this easy) and pay yourself first, before you even see the money! If you cannot afford to save first, you are living beyond your means. Cut spending or increase income, those are your only choices.

Those who parrot the “you can’t take it with you” mantra only do so in an attempt to justify their own overspending habits. Don’t be that guy. Know your number, check the savings box, and then you can spend!

 

[displacedtexan]

Edit: reading more, I see a lot of people are debt-averse. Debt can be a problem for many people, but if you have a fixed rate home mortgage you locked in more than 1 but less than 10 years ago, I would think twice (and maybe three times) about trying to pay it off early. When inflation is high like it has been, it can become increasingly affordable to use inflated dollars to pay off a monthly payment that was locked in before inflation accelerated.

Bingo. When we signed our loan, we were planning on paying it off early.

But that was 3 years ago, not anymore. Use these cheap dollars to our advantage!

 

[PNW bow hunter]

My wife and I are a younger family with one little girl. I started late in life (was 33 when my girl was born) and I was never really worried about budgets or money before then...Now reality is starting to set in. Was sitting down looking at the numbers and realized some changes had to be made.
How strict are you guys with your budget?
What are some major things that have helped save some $$$?
We do well, have a home and a couple reliable vehicles, but the extra money seems to be getting less and less. I guess I'm just reaching out to confirm that we are in fact not in the minority hahahaha.

Do some shopping for your car, and house insurance. My wife and I saved a huge amount of money on 2 cars and 2 homes last year.

Don't buy premade foods, snacks. That stuff is pretty spending.


I have a vaccum sealer, and buy whatever the limit is when boneless skinless chicken breast goes on sale for $1.99 a pound. I stock up when fish is on sale also. Same with really good steaks.

I am pretty shocked at what some people spend on weekly groceries for a small family of 3-4 people.


I used to be really strict on my budget. I had to be to be able to save money. There was't a ton left over after the basic stuff was paid for. I also got my wife on a pretty tight budget a long time ago.

I'm in my early 40s and my wife is in her late 30's, and our financial situation is significantly different than 10-15 years ago in a good way.


We both save a lot of our income, and can do pretty much whatever we want whenever we want(at least the types of things we enjoy).

Our daughter is 3, and we both decided when she was born we shifted away from the super tight budgets. We do a lot of small weekend trips to the coast or the mountains through ought the year. It is spendy getting hotels, and eating out at good restraunts. We all really enjoy these trips. Just the 3 of us hanging out for 2-3 days, and doing all sorts of different activities has been priceless to me. She's only 3, but everything changes so fast I'm really glad we have done everything we have.

The family vacation portion of the budget is the absolute last place I would look to cut back.

For most people the food, coffee, snack portion of the budget seems to have the most room for cutting, without really cutting into your quality of life.

 

[tony]

Has home values outpaced income your area since buying your house?

Honestly I do not know. MY GF bought that house late 90s. Put some money into windows, a steel roof and new propane furnace. I redid all the hardwood floors myself. Things led to things and we split up peacefully in 2016 I believe it was. I had the house paid down pretty well when we went out separate ways. She gave me $10,000 for my share, which I was agreeable with.
I'm sure home prices are up here as well. I have just chose to rent since we split. I have a small 2 bedroom apt I pay $350.00 a month for. Its nothing special, bit it offers what I need.

 

[mtwarden]

It's been touched on but bears repeating- save for your retirement, now! I told all of my young wardens (as did my first Captain tell me) start putting away $ for your retirement now, not next month- now. It was hard for me being married with two children and not starting out at a high wage (I believe it was ~$10/hour back in 89), but I listened to my Captain and started putting some $ into our 457 (like a 401). When we got the rare raise (or promotion) I added more $ in. I did that for 24 years and it's paying off now

Wardens (Montana) get a pension, but if you want to have a comfortable retirement (who doesn't) it will take more than a pension and more than Social Security- invest in your future now.

78% of Americans have less than $50,000 saved for retirement, pretty dismal

 

[fngTony]

Honestly I do not know. MY GF bought that house late 90s. Put some money into windows, a steel roof and new propane furnace. I redid all the hardwood floors myself. Things led to things and we split up peacefully in 2016 I believe it was. I had the house paid down pretty well when we went out separate ways. She gave me $10,000 for my share, which I was agreeable with.
I'm sure home prices are up here as well. I have just chose to rent since we split. I have a small 2 bedroom apt I pay $350.00 a month for. Its nothing special, bit it offers what I need.

Wow! My first apartment I had back in 2000 was that, now it’s $1355.

 

[rentalrunner22]

Definitely proactively budget. No it's not always fun. Read the simple path to wealth or Mr Money Mustache blog, specifically the shockingly simple math post.

 

[WildBoose]

Well Fellas...I did a little deep diving today, and crunched the numbers. Since Oct 1st until Yesterday my family had spent $148 in fast food, FAST FOOD. Talk about eye opening, no more! Its the first step, but dam what an eye opener.

 

[2-Stix]

I grew up on the job site, dad was a carpenter...i bring my lunch, we camp for vacations, we worked overtime, nights and weekends for years until the kids. Had kids late at 35 and 40, but I paid my house off at 40 and another at 43. We are debt free, my truck is 13 years old, I live below my means. I love gear so I blow lots of money on my activities...but I didn't do that until I felt I could aford it. I followed Dave Ramsey also about 85% of what he does. I dont track every dollar, I dont put into the market, we are cash only. If we dont have it we dont spend it.

 

[Fowl Play]

Well Fellas...I did a little deep diving today, and crunched the numbers. Since Oct 1st until Yesterday my family had spent $148 in fast food, FAST FOOD. Talk about eye opening, no more! Its the first step, but dam what an eye opener.

Yeah, even for those saying they don’t budget or that they don’t work. At least sitting down and getting a grasp on where your money is going is time well spent. I do this every other month or so and at a minimum usually find some “free trial” my wife forgot to cancel, or I forgot to suspend my Inreach service plan after hunting season, etc.