Put me anywhere on gods green earth I triple my worth *MF*-Jay z
So money- money- money -money has been on my mind for years now, I’m not talking about yearly salary kind of money I’m talking about my net worth..kinda money. Ever since I was little I always heard my parents say they were broke, anytime I wanted to take a trip or do something the answer was NO were broke. It wasnt until I got older did I realize my parents were never broke they just said NO in order to keep ample cash flow amongst a family of six.
Then theirs my BFF she graduated with a finance degree, and since freshman year when we were roomies I would watch her always budget right down to the .86cents she spent on candy. I would look at her crazy because every day she would be balancing her checkbook—later when we became roomies after graduation she would budget like once a week and she would spend like and hour doing so. I always admired her diligence, but I never thought to ask her questions about her strategies, I knew she had a formula but I always just brushed it off like “i’m not savvy enough to learn it” and ”numbers scare me and im bad at math.”
Well now 4years later and i’m just not really satisfied with how I spend, budget, and save my money. A light bulb went off in my head that said this is the time to learn about acquiring wealth and being smart about investment choices (blame the OWN network, if you dont know what that is, it’s oprahs new network)
I called my BFF and asked her what book she suggested for a 26year old that’s possibly about to go back to graduate school she suggested:
Smart women finish rich by: David Bach
I am a firm believer that knowledge is the most empowering gift you can give to someone. So I will briefly highlight some of the bullet points I took away. I suggest you do your own financial research, this book is a good start whether you are a man or women.
- What determines your wealth is not how much you make but how much you keep, of what you make.
- Fair or not women need to do more financial planning than a man
- Inflation is still public enemy #1
- No matter how much or how little you earn whenever you make any money before you spend any of it you should put away a little for yourself–in the book this is referred to as the latte factor. How to create massive wealth on just a few dollars a week.
- Know what you earn: I currently earn $_____a month before taxes, and $_____ after taxes
- Estimate what you spend each month
- If you work for a company that offers a 401(k) that matches open up an account, if you dont inevitably your throwing away free money(this is something I always knew but it never registered until NOW when they said it was free money I was turning down if I didnt join– I wanted to bang my head on a wall thinking about all the money I could have saved up by now had I joined. All my past jobs offered a 401(k) and matched)
Those are just a few tips I have a lot of work to do because these key points come with goals and charts I must fill out to keep me on track and focused on the “big picture”
The next book I’m reading is: The money book for the young fabulous & broke by Suze Orman
Now I like Suze Orman but I dont really like her style of writing, when it comes to sharing information I understand her books are geared more towards my generation but everything doesnt always have to be a story. I can deal without the stories, just give me the cold hard facts followed up with concrete examples.
The reason why I picked up this book is to become more informed about my student loans, I paid off one. But the rest i’m clueless as to what to do and where to begin??
The added bonus was the section about investing made easy. She broke it down as follows:
- The best funds for your 401(k) and Roth IRA
- Diversifying your risk
- Dollar cost averaging
As quoted by Suze “I know this subject is serious stuff. your future is riding on it. But taking control of your financial life doesnt need to be a solitary and scary process. Fear comes from not knowing what to do or how to do it. And when we are fearful, we do nothing.”
I encourage you all to educate yourself so that the cycle of debt doesnt continue.
If you would like to see more click on the photos below!
