money management

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by kevinbahnz

for everyone using mint.com, do you feel comfortable giving them you username and password to your bank accounts I know it says you can't move the money within mint.com but what if someone decides to hack into mint.com where everyones information is stored.

That is a reason I haven't tried using Mint yet, but I am also curious what they do with your data. It is a free service like Facebook, so they must be making money by data mining everybody's financial information. I would imagine various info is then sold off to third parties. I guess I'll have to look over Mint's terms of use at some point.

[Bimmer Nerd]

Originally Posted by MiddleAgedAl

Got a copy of excel or some other spreadsheet that you know how to use ?

Got a bank account and/or credit card that allows access to transactions via a web browser?

Log-on, do an inquiry into past transactions. Some of the better tools (especially with visa) will even tag your purchases with a category based on the retailer (computer guesses, but it can be really accurate).
Cut n paste your bank account and credit card transactions for the past 6 mos into a spreadsheet.

Use excel to group by category, and get totals for the past 6 mos.
This will show you where your money is really going, not where you sorta think it's been going (assuming you dont pay cash for a lot of stuff, this ain't 1980 after all).

This can be a very revealing & suprising thing to do, you wont believe where your money goes sometimes.

Thanks for that al.

I just did the calculations by grouping in excel and here's my break down. I am a college kid that doesn't earn much monthly to monthly basis and i pay for most of my stuff, so the percentige SHOULD be off compared to MOST of you guys

Here's the breakdown of all the money that went out of my account within the last 18 months.

~29% of all my earnings went to Gas/Transportation
~26% went to eating out/entertainment
~15% went to insurance/cell phone bill

Rest were miscellaneous items.

Moral of the story. Stop driving less to go places, that usually means eating out.
Or buy a prius and stop eating out so much.

FML.

[Q4P]

Originally Posted by kyleb350

Saving almost half of what your earn is impossible for most people with a mortgage and especially family. I should back up and say that there are obviously many variables involved into what you can save.

Personally, I am single, have a mortgage, and put 10% into my retirement account and 10% into a savings account. I find if you set up auto transfers, it forces you to live on a budget that much less.

Is it possible that people buy items that are too expensive for them? This includes housing and so forth. The avergage American family savings account has $3500 in it.... I couldn't sleep at night if I had a family and only had that amount of cash on tap, I had more as a poor student in college. Something along the way is clearly wrong...

[NAV8TT]

Originally Posted by JasonCSU

That is a reason I haven't tried using Mint yet, but I am also curious what they do with your data. It is a free service like Facebook, so they must be making money by data mining everybody's financial information. I would imagine various info is then sold off to third parties. I guess I'll have to look over Mint's terms of use at some point.

+1

[double_j]

Get in the habit of putting away 10 to 20 percent of your take home pay (after taxes, benefits, and maxing out your company 401k match) per month. Have it deposited into a dedicated bank account or automatically transferred at each pay date. Make it so that you never even see the money and learn to live on the rest of your pay check.

As you get your annual increases or promotions, make sure you also increase you savings amount (i gradually increased from about 10% right out of school to about 25% of a much higher take home amount in my 30's). If you can get into the habit of living below your means you'd be amazed how easy it will become to put away a pretty significant amount of money per year, especially once you reach the higher income levels of your 30's. Keep in mind that you won't be depriving yourself of too much as youll still be allowing yourself to increase your spending over the years so don't worry about all of the 'you can't take it with you' naysayers.

You'd be amazed at the peace of mind and confidence that having at least 6 months of living expenses in the bank and a large chunk of relatively disposable cash on hand can provide. If you've ever wondered how relatively normal people can pay cash for a fairly expensive car - it all starts here.

[fitchesbass]

I created a Mint.com account until I saw what it involves and realized how idiotic it would be to input all my critical information into a singular location.

I have my own spreadsheet in excel. My banks and other accounts (credit cards, etc) have options to output csv or excel files which I automatically add into my excel sheet on a monthly basis.

In my sheet I calculate my equity to debt ratio as well.. which is dominated pretty much by my mortgage (I'm 26). Luckily I have no credit card debt, no student loans, and my car is 4-5k from being paid off (mainly keeping it around since it's a good interest rate and keeps a line of credit open). But the equity/debt ratio is interesting to me personally from a "how much money do I really have" perspective.


Excel is easy to use I recommend that without a doubt for tracking.

I saw one guys expenses didn't include housing... assuming you live with your parents. If that's the case I'd be banking my paychecks big time and saving like a beast rather than just spending freely...

to the OP: Perhaps your profile on this website is indicative of your problem (just guessing). You drive a brand new 3 series... yet can't save money? Why buy a F30 then? Buy a lightly used older BMW 3 series and learn to DIY

Good luck

[Q4P]

Originally Posted by fitchesbass

I created a Mint.com account until I saw what it involves and realized how idiotic it would be to input all my critical information into a singular location.

I have my own spreadsheet in excel. My banks and other accounts (credit cards, etc) have options to output csv or excel files which I automatically add into my excel sheet on a monthly basis.

In my sheet I calculate my equity to debt ratio as well.. which is dominated pretty much by my mortgage (I'm 26). Luckily I have no credit card debt, no student loans, and my car is 4-5k from being paid off (mainly keeping it around since it's a good interest rate and keeps a line of credit open). But the equity/debt ratio is interesting to me personally from a "how much money do I really have" perspective.


Excel is easy to use I recommend that without a doubt for tracking.

I saw one guys expenses didn't include housing... assuming you live with your parents. If that's the case I'd be banking my paychecks big time and saving like a beast rather than just spending freely...

to the OP: Perhaps your profile on this website is indicative of your problem (just guessing). You drive a brand new 3 series... yet can't save money? Why buy a F30 then? Buy a lightly used older BMW 3 series and learn to DIY

Good luck

A mortgage isn't something that I would consider debt... this is especially true if you are paying for a house you can truly afford. A house is an asset not a liability... it can make you money if you play your cards right (rent a room or buy at the right time). Student debt, credit card debt, medical bills and being upside down on dumb stuff like cars is what I would consider debt.

[ejheverest]

-Limit your time on E90post
-Manage your income by tracking and trending it on spreadsheets or a just a small notebook if your more willing to use it.
-Save for retirement
-Zero balances on all credit cards you have at the end of each month or don't use at all.
-Save 10%> than you think you can save, have this setup Automatically.(autowithdrawn from your bank)

-I'm fortunate to not have any kids right now, save over 50% of my take-home salary and max out my 401k each year. I know this always won't be the case since my career isn't something I want to do in my 40's so I account for that change now.

-Don't have more than one car payment at a time in your family.
-This last one saves me $$$ on gas, I ride my bike or walk whenever possible, I usually don't spend more than 100$ a month on gas, some months its as low as 0$.

[bga23]

Originally Posted by Q4P

If you want to have money when you are 65... great tip. If you want to be one of those that can afford to make riskier moves... then I would do other things. It comes down to having money when you are really old or trying to do something with your money today. People that generally go on retirement and wait for that big pay day are thoroughly disappointed... especially if they have been saving so long.

So what would you suggest in lieu of investing through a 401K? And just b/c one invests thru a 401K that doesn't preclude them also making other investments.

And isn't the whole point of investing/saving so one has money for retirement?

[Q4P]

Originally Posted by bga23

So what would you suggest in lieu of investing through a 401K? And just b/c one invests thru a 401K that doesn't preclude them also making other investments.

This is completely dependent on your priorities and what you are saving for. Some people save to have emergency funds, others to have freedom, yet others to invest in more near term ideas. I am saving in order to invest into a business idea that I have in the back of my head. To me, the goal of financial freedom is to be wealthy at the age of 40. After that, I could care less...

And isn't the whole point of investing/saving so one has money for retirement?

See above... If you think you need $1 million or more to retire like most institutions would have you believe... then you are a sucker. If you believe that you will be happy with that money at that age, then you are an even bigger sucker.

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by Q4P

A mortgage isn't something that I would consider debt... this is especially true if you are paying for a house you can truly afford. A house is an asset not a liability...

The book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" views this differently. I suggest reading it. Many people who are underwater on their homes certainly dont consider them an asset...

[Q4P]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

The book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" views this differently. I suggest reading it. Many people who are underwater on their homes certainly dont consider them an asset...

The last sentence you said sums it up... if you are smart, you wont be in that situation.

[michaelthepsycho]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

The book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" views this differently. I suggest reading it. Many people who are underwater on their homes certainly dont consider them an asset...

Hahaha. So many suckers buying this shit. What have you gleaned off of the tape? Nothing. How do I know? Two of my friends have it.

Sure, he's right on the point of a house / car being liabilities. That doesn't mean he offers any real plans in his tape. It's still a piece of shit.

Rule #1: If you're listening to financial advice books sold in late-night commercials, you're probably going to be middle class forever.

[JasonCSU]

For those of you maintaining your own spreadsheets or unsure of using Mint, there is a personal finance application called Moneydance that you may want to check out.

http://www.moneydance.com/

They have versions for Linux, OS X, and Windows platforms as well. I have been trying it out for a little bit myself and while the program does seem quite useful, it does take a bit of work setting up your accounts. It can also be setup to download transactions directly from some accounts.

[Q4P]

Originally Posted by michaelthepsycho

Hahaha. So many suckers buying this shit. What have you gleaned off of the tape? Nothing. How do I know? Two of my friends have it.

Sure, he's right on the point of a house / car being liabilities. That doesn't mean he offers any real plans in his tape. It's still a piece of shit.

Rule #1: If you're listening to financial advice books sold in late-night commercials, you're probably going to be middle class forever.

key is to know the authors background... he claims a house is a liability but the idiot made his fortune off real estate. Like someone said, the wealthy dont beed books to inspire or guide them... they write them to sell to suckers.

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by michaelthepsycho

Hahaha. So many suckers buying this shit. What have you gleaned off of the tape? Nothing. How do I know? Two of my friends have it.

Sure, he's right on the point of a house / car being liabilities. That doesn't mean he offers any real plans in his tape. It's still a piece of shit.

Rule #1: If you're listening to financial advice books sold in late-night commercials, you're probably going to be middle class forever.

When did I mention anything about financial advice audio tapes? I simply mentioned a book that is by most accounts a good read. The book is not a "how to become rich" guide but simply one mans observations on how rich people become rich and what separates them from those who are not rich.

[NAV8TT]

What if already you have some debt going on, do you pay it off 1st then start saving or you save while paying it off?

[kevinbahnz]

Since we're on the subject does anyone have tips on saving on Cell phone bills? I have a family plan from At&T for 3 iphones 550mins/25megs/unlimited texts for $178/month. Doesn't that seem a little high.

[Minefield]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

The book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" views this differently. I suggest reading it. Many people who are underwater on their homes certainly dont consider them an asset...

that book is for suckers

[Aries326]

Nice thread. I need some money management tips myself. I don't think I've spent excessively at all but I feel like I'm still in a crunch. I'm 3 years out of residency and I only have $60000 saved up in my 401k, $13000 saved in cash and about $5000 for the kids' education. I always feel like I have to pick up extra shifts to get ahead. It doesn't help that the Democrat tax plan got approved so there goes the Bush tax cuts for me. I'm not sure how much it will cost me, but nevertheless, it'll cost me something.

401k doesn't count for shit anymore. I'm down 1.65% for the year. I can't even count on that to grow and keep me going when I retire.

Seriously thinking of giving up the 3200 sq foot home, fancy car and live BELOW my means. But then life wouldn't be fun, would it???? Choices... choices... choices....

[fitchesbass]

Originally Posted by Prince300

What if already you have some debt going on, do you pay it off 1st then start saving or you save while paying it off?

I'm no expert... but if it were me I'd likely pay off the debt first. I rack-n-stack the debt payoff by the following:

First, what type of debt? credit cards? students loans? etc

Second, what is the interest rate(s)? I'd pay off the highest interest rate first

Third, start saving money once you have your debt under control, and don't start getting back into debt once you've climbed out.

[fitchesbass]

Originally Posted by Aries326

Nice thread. I need some money management tips myself. I don't think I've spent excessively at all but I feel like I'm still in a crunch. I'm 3 years out of residency and I only have $60000 saved up in my 401k, $13000 saved in cash and about $5000 for the kids' education. I always feel like I have to pick up extra shifts to get ahead. It doesn't help that the Democrat tax plan got approved so there goes the Bush tax cuts for me. I'm not sure how much it will cost me, but nevertheless, it'll cost me something.

401k doesn't count for shit anymore. I'm down 1.65% for the year. I can't even count on that to grow and keep me going when I retire.

Seriously thinking of giving up the 3200 sq foot home, fancy car and live BELOW my means. But then life wouldn't be fun, would it???? Choices... choices... choices....

Probably depends how old you and your kids are...

Nothing like a fancy car and home with limited savings - seems like the American 'norm' any more. I think a lot of folks think their entitled to a fancy car or home - hence perhaps the not thinking that your spending excessively (just a thought). If I had kids and no savings, I'd likely sell my car soon after for a change of priorities. I certainly don't need a Z4M

Speaking of cars: I enjoy some people that look at my Z4M and go on about the expense/cost of my car (because of how it looks)... but then go out and spend more by buying (aka taking out a loan) on a loaded Ford SUV for $40k + .