Rich Programmer, Poor Programmer
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I like to have a good backup plan incase I need to quit my job without having another one to go too. I'm also very good at living without a lot of luxuries. I've always had to work hard for ever penny I've earnt so I know the value of money. I'm also a person who doesn't like to claim state benefit whilst out of work - there are other people who need it more than I do. Michael :-)
Of the posts in this thread so far, your thoughts are the ones that concur mostly with mine. I like to have backup plans for all the reasons (the ones I can't think of) that I might need one. I also make pretty junky wages but still seem to be able to get by without a challenge. At this point I could probably live about 3 months off my styrofoam fund, but I hope I never have to. Also, I rarely buy luxuries anyway. My thinking is that your spending will always catch up with your salary, and you'll never be happy with what you have and won't be able to consider it enough. I say, be happy with where you are right now. I have a VC compiler and an internet connection, which is fine for me right now. Every now and then I'll spend some money on myself by going to the movies or buying some special food, but for the most part I don't feel the urge to buy anything. I don't like being a "consumer," and I'm glad there are no toys that I feel urged to buy. - Jason SonorkID: 100.12194 :bob:'s your uncle
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Paul Watson wrote: ...and was wondering what your situation was like. Fucked. My money is gone half way between pay days it seems (when I had a job). Then credit gets spent putting us right up the arse. Been happening for about 7 years. Pay rises and payouts when I have left jobs have kept us treading water and not quite drowning. I'm hoping no job for a few months might get the penny to drop so we live within our means for once. Michael Martin Australia mmartin@netspace.net.au "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace" - Victor Stone
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Paul Watson wrote: ...and was wondering what your situation was like. Fucked. My money is gone half way between pay days it seems (when I had a job). Then credit gets spent putting us right up the arse. Been happening for about 7 years. Pay rises and payouts when I have left jobs have kept us treading water and not quite drowning. I'm hoping no job for a few months might get the penny to drop so we live within our means for once. Michael Martin Australia mmartin@netspace.net.au "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace" - Victor Stone
Michael Martin wrote: I'm hoping no job for a few months might get the penny to drop so we live within our means for once. Martin, it sounds like the only way you'll achieve this is to do what I did - burn the credit cards. OK, no sex for a month or two, but it's worth it in the long run ( I told Donna I could afford to buy plenty of sex with the money I was saving, if it came to it :-)). Sadly, it's my experience that women live in a financial fantasy land ( quomi/lauren, I obviously don't mean you :rose:, I'm generalising based on my experience of being married twice ), and there's nothing you can do unless you cut off their means to slowly screw you financially. In my case, I'm just as much a danger with credit, but at least I admit it and take steps to make sure I don't do myself any harm ( remove the credit ). Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001 Picture the daffodil. And while you do that, I'll be over here going through your stuff. Picture a world without war, without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they would never expect it.
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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When you guys say, "I always end up with Zero at the end on the month", does that include or exclude the amount you put into savings. By this I mean, I always have Zero at the end of the month, but its by design, any excess cash on top of a standard sum go to my savings ? X| Further to that, I have thinking for a couple of months about buying a digital camera. I was just wondering, if it where you, would you have a problem taking money out of you the standard monthily sum you put away to fund this purchase ? Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire"
Ray Kinsella wrote: Further to that, I have thinking for a couple of months about buying a digital camera. I was just wondering, if it where you, would you have a problem taking money out of you the standard monthily sum you put away to fund this purchase ? Not anymore, I could pay cash for one in a month or six weeks. For quite a while I've been close enough to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that I've actually been paying quite a bit over my minimum due on various loans, so I could have diverted funds from that, but I probably wouldn't have. Once you get some momentum up with paying things off quickly/saving, it's harder to justify spending money tha when you're so far in debt already that realistically the loan you're about to take will make no difference in the short to medium term. Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001 Picture the daffodil. And while you do that, I'll be over here going through your stuff. Picture a world without war, without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they would never expect it.
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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:omg: I read your post twice Paul. Twice! And I don't do that usually. You are so dead right. Two years ago, I had put a figure in mind when I'd prolly be able to save something and now that's nearly what I get every month. I am kinda thinking like 4 years later, I'll startv saving. 4 years! Maybe I am just procrastinating endlessly. Your words of truth have soured me up a little. I hope to recover soon and continue in my foolhardy manner though :-) For a 22 year old VB programmer [with stress on the VB part] you sure speak wisely, buddy! Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: For a 22 year old VB programmer [with stress on the VB part] you sure speak wisely, buddy! LOL. He's right though - your pay will increase slowly, and your lifestyle will increase slowly as well. You need at some point to make a decision to save, and then stick to it. There is never a bad time to start, or a time when it becomes easy to part with a portion of your wage instead of spending it. The younger you start, the richer you can be when you die, and the more fights you will cause amongst your offspring :-) Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001 Picture the daffodil. And while you do that, I'll be over here going through your stuff. Picture a world without war, without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they would never expect it.
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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Michael P Butler wrote: Enough so that I managed to live for six months last year without any money coming in. That is pretty damned good Michael. Read Nishs reply to me and then think to yourself: If he got fired, what the hell would he do? I am in that same position, if I lost my job I would have to get one within a month or I would be broke. And then they repo your car, you cannot pay your rent and you have to beg borrow or steal some money to survive. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
No social security in SA then ? My primary goal for some time ( and now achieved ) is that if I ever lost my job, my debts are such that I could easily live on the dole, if I had to. Heaven forbid, but the point is I don't need to worry now. I just save for stuff I want, and pay cash. Or do without - I still don't have a Gameboy Advance... Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001 Picture the daffodil. And while you do that, I'll be over here going through your stuff. Picture a world without war, without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they would never expect it.
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
All I can say is: start saving. Get money taken out of your account automatically and into a managed fund or something. My rule of thumb is always have enough money put aside (working for you, but still available) so that if you lose your job tomorrow (or for some other reason are unable to generate income) you'll be OK for 3 months. cheers, Chris Maunder
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
I have never been ruled by money. Whether I have it or not, it doesn't bother me. Several years ago I was on a sh!te salary, yet I was still saving (without trying to) at about £200/month. This was due to my lifestyle. I don't drink/smoke, and I didn't really socialise in my time off, spending my time at home (in rented accomadation) playing with my computer or watching my Jackie Chan collection. I have found that since I am being paid more now (almost 2*), I am not saving at all. I still don't drink/smoke or go out. But there is one big difference, I have a girlfiend (yes a girl fiend!). She comes with two kids. The food bills; clothes bills; Mortgage (which is not bad at all); and then her presents (she likes designer stuff - read Gucci/Armani/Cartier etc). Its the presents which are killing me off really. At the moment, I am just treading water, and thats with my yearly bonus and trading all my holidays in for cash. If I lost the girlfiend/kids, installed a paying lodger etc, I could be saving at about £15000 a year. But then love gets in the way. Roger Allen Sonork 100.10016 If I'm not breathing, I'm either dead or holding my breath.
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No social security in SA then ? My primary goal for some time ( and now achieved ) is that if I ever lost my job, my debts are such that I could easily live on the dole, if I had to. Heaven forbid, but the point is I don't need to worry now. I just save for stuff I want, and pay cash. Or do without - I still don't have a Gameboy Advance... Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001 Picture the daffodil. And while you do that, I'll be over here going through your stuff. Picture a world without war, without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they would never expect it.
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
****Christian Graus wrote: No social security in SA then ? No, not unless you have no arms, half a head and can claim you were disadvantaged by Apartheid. Even pensioners have it rough. They get something like R500 a month. Put it this way, that is what I spend on petrol (gas) for my car for 2 weeks... And I don't travel that far. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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All I can say is: start saving. Get money taken out of your account automatically and into a managed fund or something. My rule of thumb is always have enough money put aside (working for you, but still available) so that if you lose your job tomorrow (or for some other reason are unable to generate income) you'll be OK for 3 months. cheers, Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote: All I can say is: start saving. It is damned hard for us procrastinators Chris. My parents never taught me all this stuff and only once I found myself in the deep end did I really start to think "crap, I had better do something." How did you start to save? What motivation or events got you saving? Or are you, and I am cringing because I think this is true, just one of those very controlled (in a good way) kind of people who do it almost automatically? To you it is obvious and no trouble at all. As I said, these books and people can give all the advice they want, it is the application of it which is the difficult bit. How do those who do it, do it? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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When you guys say, "I always end up with Zero at the end on the month", does that include or exclude the amount you put into savings. By this I mean, I always have Zero at the end of the month, but its by design, any excess cash on top of a standard sum go to my savings ? X| Further to that, I have thinking for a couple of months about buying a digital camera. I was just wondering, if it where you, would you have a problem taking money out of you the standard monthily sum you put away to fund this purchase ? Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire"
Ray Kinsella wrote: By this I mean, I always have Zero at the end of the month, but its by design, any excess cash on top of a standard sum go to my savings ? Well obviously if that were the case with us then we wouldn't be worrying or trying to sort ourselves out :-D I meant it as "no matter what the monthly costs, big or little, and no matter the salary, we end up with zero at the end of the month, with nothing left to save." Of course as Chris says, save first, then spend. Rather than thinking "how much will I have left to save" think "after saving what I want, how much will I have left to spend?" Ray Kinsella wrote: Further to that, I have thinking for a couple of months about buying a digital camera. I was just wondering, if it where you, would you have a problem taking money out of you the standard monthily sum you put away to fund this purchase ? Thats the weird thing. If next month I wanted a digital camera I could save the money for two months and buy it, no problem. But try and get me to save money just to put in an account... well that is a whole other ball game! regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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I have never been ruled by money. Whether I have it or not, it doesn't bother me. Several years ago I was on a sh!te salary, yet I was still saving (without trying to) at about £200/month. This was due to my lifestyle. I don't drink/smoke, and I didn't really socialise in my time off, spending my time at home (in rented accomadation) playing with my computer or watching my Jackie Chan collection. I have found that since I am being paid more now (almost 2*), I am not saving at all. I still don't drink/smoke or go out. But there is one big difference, I have a girlfiend (yes a girl fiend!). She comes with two kids. The food bills; clothes bills; Mortgage (which is not bad at all); and then her presents (she likes designer stuff - read Gucci/Armani/Cartier etc). Its the presents which are killing me off really. At the moment, I am just treading water, and thats with my yearly bonus and trading all my holidays in for cash. If I lost the girlfiend/kids, installed a paying lodger etc, I could be saving at about £15000 a year. But then love gets in the way. Roger Allen Sonork 100.10016 If I'm not breathing, I'm either dead or holding my breath.
Roger Allen wrote: have never been ruled by money. Whether I have it or not, it doesn't bother me. Several years ago I was on a sh!te salary, yet I was still saving (without trying to) at about £200/month. This was due to my lifestyle. I don't drink/smoke, and I didn't really socialise in my time off, spending my time at home (in rented accomadation) playing with my computer or watching my Jackie Chan collection. Your post was sounding really good, right up until... Roger Allen wrote: I have a girlfiend (yes a girl fiend!). She comes with two kids :| It is not my place to say it, but of course I will say it anyway, she needs to learn from your obvious wisdom when it comes to handling money. Don't ditch her, just teach her. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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Michael Martin wrote: I'm hoping no job for a few months might get the penny to drop so we live within our means for once. Martin, it sounds like the only way you'll achieve this is to do what I did - burn the credit cards. OK, no sex for a month or two, but it's worth it in the long run ( I told Donna I could afford to buy plenty of sex with the money I was saving, if it came to it :-)). Sadly, it's my experience that women live in a financial fantasy land ( quomi/lauren, I obviously don't mean you :rose:, I'm generalising based on my experience of being married twice ), and there's nothing you can do unless you cut off their means to slowly screw you financially. In my case, I'm just as much a danger with credit, but at least I admit it and take steps to make sure I don't do myself any harm ( remove the credit ). Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001 Picture the daffodil. And while you do that, I'll be over here going through your stuff. Picture a world without war, without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they would never expect it.
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
Man that is so true. I was digging my self into this debt hole, I mean I had so many credt cards all of the sudden, and most of my money was going out to pay them. I thought.. 25 bucks for the minimum is nothing, I can buy this toy and still pay only 30 bucks on the minimum. Finally, I was ready to buy a house (yeah crazy me, all this debt and know graduating to the big leagues). When I've got my credit report...well, it wasn't pretty. I gave my self 1 year to clean it up. I cut (yup right there) all of my credit cards (I only left 1 with a $400 credit line for emergencies, small emergencies), and I started to pay them all. All extra money to one, until is paid off, then the next, etc. Im 8 months into this, and boy does it feel good to no get any mail at your house. Before they were all bills, now only the msdn once a month (the first months I though the mail man was stealing my mail). I still have 1 card to go, but I can say that if there is a toy I want, I can probably pay cash for it and not even notice it on my account. I don't do it, but is nice to know I could. Hopefully all this hard work (yeah, not spending money is hard work) will pay off in 4 months when I walk in the bank and ask for money so that I can buy a house. Rodrigo.
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I have never been ruled by money. Whether I have it or not, it doesn't bother me. Several years ago I was on a sh!te salary, yet I was still saving (without trying to) at about £200/month. This was due to my lifestyle. I don't drink/smoke, and I didn't really socialise in my time off, spending my time at home (in rented accomadation) playing with my computer or watching my Jackie Chan collection. I have found that since I am being paid more now (almost 2*), I am not saving at all. I still don't drink/smoke or go out. But there is one big difference, I have a girlfiend (yes a girl fiend!). She comes with two kids. The food bills; clothes bills; Mortgage (which is not bad at all); and then her presents (she likes designer stuff - read Gucci/Armani/Cartier etc). Its the presents which are killing me off really. At the moment, I am just treading water, and thats with my yearly bonus and trading all my holidays in for cash. If I lost the girlfiend/kids, installed a paying lodger etc, I could be saving at about £15000 a year. But then love gets in the way. Roger Allen Sonork 100.10016 If I'm not breathing, I'm either dead or holding my breath.
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I have never been ruled by money. Whether I have it or not, it doesn't bother me. Several years ago I was on a sh!te salary, yet I was still saving (without trying to) at about £200/month. This was due to my lifestyle. I don't drink/smoke, and I didn't really socialise in my time off, spending my time at home (in rented accomadation) playing with my computer or watching my Jackie Chan collection. I have found that since I am being paid more now (almost 2*), I am not saving at all. I still don't drink/smoke or go out. But there is one big difference, I have a girlfiend (yes a girl fiend!). She comes with two kids. The food bills; clothes bills; Mortgage (which is not bad at all); and then her presents (she likes designer stuff - read Gucci/Armani/Cartier etc). Its the presents which are killing me off really. At the moment, I am just treading water, and thats with my yearly bonus and trading all my holidays in for cash. If I lost the girlfiend/kids, installed a paying lodger etc, I could be saving at about £15000 a year. But then love gets in the way. Roger Allen Sonork 100.10016 If I'm not breathing, I'm either dead or holding my breath.
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Paul Watson wrote: sardine tin that is the Tube huh? Are you working overseas all of a sudden, Paul? Cheers, Simon If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in the universe of infinite possibilities, then we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that can not be programmed, categorized or easily referenced.
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Chris Maunder wrote: All I can say is: start saving. It is damned hard for us procrastinators Chris. My parents never taught me all this stuff and only once I found myself in the deep end did I really start to think "crap, I had better do something." How did you start to save? What motivation or events got you saving? Or are you, and I am cringing because I think this is true, just one of those very controlled (in a good way) kind of people who do it almost automatically? To you it is obvious and no trouble at all. As I said, these books and people can give all the advice they want, it is the application of it which is the difficult bit. How do those who do it, do it? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Saving is just one of those things I was brought up to do. My mum works for a bank so she always gave me a hard time if I didn't save. I probably wouldn't have a private pension if it wasn't for her constant lectures on the importance of having one. Chris is right, you save the money at the beginning of the month and then you aren't tempted to spend it. I know roughly how much my bills will be for the month, I then allow myself a little "pocket money" and the rest is then transferred to the savings account. Michael :-)
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Paul Watson wrote: Do you live month to month? Not now - but then again I've been working full-time for less than a month :) But, I'll be damned if I spend the rest of my life desparately waiting for that next paycheck. There's no guaruntee that it will come, but there is a guaruntee that you're utterly screwed without it and that you'll need to work long past retirement age. The best way to figure out where your money is going: Go through two months and only use a credit card or debit card (easier said than done if you're not in America). This way, at the end of the month you get to see in excruciating detail exactly what you spend, where you spent it, and how much the $3 here and $2 there actually adds up to over the course of a month. Of course, don't forget to pay the credit card bill in full :) If that's not possible, though, I'd suggest taking a chunk of money out at the beginning of every week and only spending that, while saving the receipts of everything you buy. Then at the end of the week total up you're receipts and look at where your money is going. Doing this, I realized I was spending an extra $80 a month by getting a latte everyday. I reclaimed about $40 a month by foregoing to latte for a plain coffee... Whatever you do, make sure you can save alot of money over the next 20 or 30 years so that, when retirement age comes, you can actually spend each and every day relaxed and doing what you want to do :) -- Russell Morris AFLAC Software Research Center "WOW! Chocolate - half price!" - Homer Simpson, while in the land of chocolate.
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xicoloko wrote: Leave your girlfriend Although this is an option (I have thought about it). I don't know if it will ever happen. Roger Allen Sonork 100.10016 If I'm not breathing, I'm either dead or holding my breath.
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
One of the best tricks I've heard of for avoiding the credit card overspending if you're an impulse buyer is to stick it in a tub of water in the freezer. You still have a credit card, but there is no way you're ever going to be able to use it on a whim!