Hey guys, Nate here. I'm proud to announce that I'm now the Program Director of Scrawny To Brawny. From now on all of my blogs and articles will be posted on the brand-new Scrawny To Brawny Blog. So if you enjoyed what you read here, please go check it out. (It's awesome, if I say so myself.) I'm keeping the NGE website alive for resource reasons, but will no longer be actively updating it. The best way to get in touch with me is through leaving a comment on the Scrawny To Brawny blog or by posting on the S2B Facebook page. See you guys over at the new blog!
3 Tips for the Aspiring Money Ninja
Most guys are broke or in debt. Know why? Reckless spending and embracing the voracious consumer mentality. (And because most of them are dum-dums.)
You don't want to be like most guys.
Here are three "money tips" I've picked up and implemented into my lifestyle that have made things a little less tight and a little more fun.
1. Figure out what's important to you
Here you are getting ready to read how to handle your finances and suddenly I throw something all pseudo-philosophical at you. What the hell? Relax, buddy, I have good reasons.
Let me show you something.
Here's what's important to me (in no particular order):
- My family
- My friends
- My health
- My lifestyle and education
Know what's not on that list?
- New shit I don't need
So what am I going to spend my money on?
Good organic food, traveling to visit my family, drinks with friends, Sunday morning breakfasts, seminars, books, a gym membership, supplements, music, going to the movies, and micro-brews.
And the things I like to do that cost little or no money?
Walking around the farmer's market, talking with friends and family, talking with complete strangers, enjoying a good cup of coffee, riding my long-board, hiking, training outside, playing ping-pong, relaxing with my girlfriend, having amazing sex, brewing beer, reading, writing, and helping guys who email me for advice.
The newest iPhone or gadget doesn't interest me, nor does the crazy bar scene. But that's just me. You may love those things, and I suggest you spend your money on them if you really enjoy them.
So make a list of things that are important to you and about how much each of those things cost.
Now spend your money on them and don't worry about the other shit.
2. Save your receipts
This is probably the single best tip I can give and the one that's helped me the most. Do you really know how much you spent on groceries or movies or beer last week? I bet not. I used to not know (or care) either. Then I realized I went to three movies and bought dinner and drinks for my friends twice in one week. It was time to re-evaluate my priorities and also how much I was enjoying each activity.
I try to set a weekly budget for food and entertainment and it's easy to go past that -- way past it, in some cases -- and screw up the rest of your finances for the month if you don't know where you stand at all times.
Now, I'm not anal about it. I keep all of my receipts for the week and sit down every Sunday to track my expenses, but I don't cut coupons or carry a calculator. But I learn more about my spending habits and how I can spend better each week.
3. Don't just "save." Plan for something specific
It may be retirement, a trip to Europe, a fancy-schmancy dinner with your girlfriend, or the dreaded "emergency", but whatever it is, you'll probably do a better job of saving for it if you actually know what the money is going to be used for.
I tried for years to "save money", but it wasn't until I wanted to book a trip to Belize, pay off my business debt, and set up a Roth IRA for retirement that I actually started to put away the funds.
Know where your money's going and you'll likely save for it.
Your turn
How do your rein in your spending, plan your savings, or pay off debt? Let me know in the comments. Your responses help everyone that reads this blog!
PS - For a great book and blog on finances check out I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
Comments for This Entry
-
Nate,
great tips. I have definitely been doing a lot of those with some more work on cutting out shit i don't need and a dinner/movie too many here and there :)
And by the way, thank you!
Luka -
These are really good tips. I found saving me receipts works really well, also. There is a free website called mint.com that helps you set up a budget for yourself. You can even link it to your bank account so it can help determine what you're spending your money on, and will send you e-mail alerts if you've gone over budget. I'm a 20-year-old female with a previous shopping problem that likes to creep up once in a while. This has helped me tremendously in the past few months. Hope this helps others!
-
Nate,
I have to agree with number two. I tend to just carry a paper around in my pocket and jot down what I spend as I spend it. Same idea though.
Then I have a simple Excel spreadsheet that I enter in everything I spend once per week and it does all my tallies for me. It took me about an hour to create it the first time, but I've been using it since 2005. -
It's interesting deciding between the things I need and the things I want. I'm what you could call a compulsive shopper. One trick I learned was when I saw something I wanted, I would count to ten so I could evaluate if I needed it or not.
Another big help was a book called "Your'e broke because you want to be" by Larry Winget really helped me prioritize my money spending.
The fact that you were spending money on your friends twice a week is interesting. I really debate how much i'm willing to spend in order to hang out with my friends (exp. going to the movies, buying beer ect.). I think it's important to figure out how willing you are to spend money on or with your friends. It's cool to buy them drinks but that stuff can get expensive. I'm just lucky I have cheap friends who care more about hooking up than spending money. -
If you enjoy good coffee I would urge you to begin purchasing from Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, North Carolina. They treat their coffee like wine and the flavor profiles cannot be beat. Each cup is truly special and unique, it is the most pleasing and euphoric experience brewing their beans. Right now I'm brewing their Single-Origin espresso from Brazil through my Racilio Silvia (I splurged, in keeping with the money spending theme). Anyways, I also keep some 21st de Septiembre on hand when espresso is overkill... brewed with a Yama Syphon pot (ultimate nerd way of brewing coffee) can't be beat.
You'll love this coffee, Nate, I guarantee it. Also check out, Intelligentsia, Stumptown and Blue Bottle for artisanal roasters. I have gone through all of them and none are as good as Counter Culture. They all roast their beans to order so freshness is not the issue I just feel Counter Culture lets the nuances of the bean itself shine through as opposed to how well it can be roasted. If you want any suggestions on flavor or region, let me know sometimes choosing coffee can be a daunting task.
check em' out and enjoy,
J.C.
ps, you never let me know if the amount of wine I consume is a bit much, regardless of the education factor haha -
Yeah, I sometimes I fall away from my pretty good habit of saving money and I'll buy something stupid because at the time it seems like I need it. One thing I've been doing recently though that really helps is when you see something you like or really want, instead of buying it right when you want it, wait a good week or two (If it's a bigger investment chances are you will already have thought about it for a while) but after you wait, chances are you will realize you dont need it or can live without it.
For my first year of college I tried that receipt trick. It was something my mom told me to do to better manage my money and it works pretty well, especially when you realize how much you spend in one week on gas, groceries, books, etc. Provided these things are necessary to an extent. -
"And the things I like to do that cost little or no money? . . . relaxing with my girlfriend, having amazing sex . . . ." I've found out that both can be extremely expensive.
Seriously though, here is a money saving tip. Make a weekly meal plan/grocery list, only buy items on the list, and shop only once or twice per week. A lot of people make the mistake of winging it at the grocery store or going every day. They end up buying more than they can eat, stuff that sounds good at the time but not when the meal actually comes around, and buying a lot of impulse items. Frequent trips to the grocery store only exacerbates this problem as it gives you more opportunities to see that must have item. -
I'm going to have to agree with the www.mint.com reference. It really is fool proof and is the equivalent of saving receipts. Just link all your account numbers (no security issues as they don't have access to the actual accounts, just the value of money they show) and it categorizes most of them. It shows your net worth also which is fun (or not so fun depending on debt) to see.
-
Great tips! I don't think it gets more basic than that.
The only thing I'd add is for those of us in debt already, paying that off needs to be a priority.
And one thing that's really helped me keep track of my spending is mint.com. It's a really useful and simple website to help you keep a budget and track where all your money is. Check it. -
Nate,
Great tips.
Another one I would add is to really get familiar and proficient with using your banks website.
I do almost all of my banking online, and use my debit and credit card (linked to bank account) for nearly everything. This automatically tracks my purchases.
At the end of each week, I go online, go into my banking website, and I am able to put each purchase into a category - food, rent, clothing/shoes, entertainment, hobbies. You can set it up to see how much you're spending on each of these categories each month.
When I first started doing this, it was a terrible shock how much I was spending on some stuff.
Now, I'm a card-carrying pretty boy, and I enjoy dressing the part, but one month I wound up spending almost as much on clothes as I did on rent. Bad idea.
Anyway, using the software really helped me get on track when I was younger, and it was a great habit to get into. You really cut back on spending on crap you don't need.
And, of course, the best thing is to set a monthly budget for each category make sure to stick to it.
Thanks again for a really great post, Nate. Very cool stuff.
--John
PS - I use Bank of America, which has incredible software. But I assume most banks will have software with similar features. -
check out http://www.mint.com
It's a great site that helps track your finances and budget your funds.
Great tips, Nate.
I wrote something similar about cooking to save yourself money... http://www.comfort2growth.com/index.php/2009/08/31/saving-money-by-cooking/ -
Haven't tried Mint.com, but Quicken works really well for me. Once you start entering your receipts, it can make graphs of your spending, tell you what kinds of categories it's going into, and so on. A good investment to track your money wisely.
-
Great contributions from everyone here! Thanks so much.
I'm familiar with Mint.com and actually set up an account a few months ago but never got around to filling it out. I'll have to do that now!
In other news, I just saw on my friend Tim's Twitter that Mint sold for 170 Million. Not too shabby.
http://twitter.com/tferriss
-Nate -
Hey Nate,
Not strictly related to the blog topic, but do you realise the image at the top of the blog isn't showing (I've tried on a few browsers, but may just be me).
Also, did you ever make it down to Belize? I'm spending the next 6 months in Mexico and was planning on border hopping for a few days. -
Great blog post. Very pertinent to the times we're presently in.
All great tips, though tip one has to be the most profound in not only finances but life in general. It's amazing that people simply do not ask this question on a daily basis.
Fantastic work Nate.
Appreciation from the U.K.
Michael -
With respect to all of that which was said previously: agreed.
And now, on a slightly more esoteric note...
1. Spend blocks of time where you actively try to strip your life down to the absolute essentials. By this, I mean to say that which is absolutely necessary to survive. Think of it as the cultivation of a spartan lifestyle. So many people glory foolishly in how much stuff they have. Learn to cultivate and feel joy at your own self-sufficiency; how little one actually needs, not just to get by, but to thrive. This approach includes, incidentally, the removal of other people too (at least for a short period of time). Lest anyone should misunderstand, I do not mean to suggest that one should seek to adopt the life of a hermit and live forever in isolation. We are social beings and need and thrive best from interaction and exchange with our fellow humans. However, too many people don't know themselves well or deeply enough or have a sense of self that is too dependant upon the opinion and approval of others. In addition to stripping your life down to the material essentials, spend some time not just alone, but with yourself. You may find that it brings a new and richer self-awareness to all of your interactions;
2. Draw a distinction between changes that you would and would not be willing to make permanently - and take advantage of both. Certain things are just not worth doing or giving up forever, even for the sake of a better bottom line. However, that doesn't mean that you couldn't make very profitable use of such measures by embracing them for the short term. Even the harshest of measures can be easier when one knows that they are being used by choice, to kick start progress on one's goals and are, moreover, in place for a fixed period of time. -
Pic. not showing, same for last blog post, FYI.
I'll have to check out mint.com
I've cut back on eating out and drinking; it's made a huge difference in my wallet and my waist line-health. -
Hey guys,
For those of you who can't see the pic, try clearing your cache and refreshing the page.
We recently made some changes to the blog (added some new pages and stuff) and that may be what's screwing it up.
I'll have Jason chime in and fix it soon.
-Nate -
Ever since college started, I've been keeping my own spreadsheet of transactions on my debit card.
It's been handy to see where my bank's online summary differs from my own record keeping. In fact, week or two ago, my bank didn't credit me a refund that I had to dispute. -
I have a tracker in excel that records my spending.
The best thing i ever did money wise -
You know, the problem with being a professional tech geek is that when someone says something along the lines of "try clearing your cache" you immediately get a surge of professional pride and take offence :)
It's not a caching problem, it looks like the image directory isn't being mapped correctly by whatever server you're currently using (I'd assume Apache since it's running PHP and the error messages are ugly ;-) None of the images pointing at the /img/ directory are showing across the site, and the homepage is looking a little odd (can't remember what it looked like before).
Anyway, great blog post as usual, just being nosey, how're you currently training Nate? -
For anyone having issues with images on the site:
I've gone in and updated a couple things to hopefully clear up the issue. However, keep in mind that I've set this site to never look for updated files to speed up load times, so clearing your cache may help clear up the issue.
Tom:
If you could let me know what error messages you're seeing, I'd appreciate it. So far I've pulled this site up in Firefox, Chrome, and Safari on Mac, as well as Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, and Firefox on Windows, and I can't seem to duplicate the error. And seeing as this isn't an issue that's being experienced by everyone, I have a hard time believing that it's a server issue.
If anyone sees any issues, please send me the error text (or a screenshot) to [email protected]
Thanks! -
Wow, I didn't even know I was missing images, but there they are. Happy you brought them back. =)
-
I didn't realize I was missing pictures until now. Thanks.
-
Not fitness related, well not the body kind, but very important - great post Nate - felt like you were talking about me here - getting my financial life in order from complete shambles was a long, hard road but I finally turned it around - money is definitely not a subject taught well enough in schools, probably because nobody doing the teaching has any. Good job driving the point home - if anyone else out there is still hard headed about this, reminders like this should wake them up.
-
I highly recommend that people check out Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com) for some money advice.
He does a 3-hour radio show, a 1-hour show on Fox Business and has a few books out (I'd recommend the Total Money Makeover book out of all of them). He's not a get rich quick guy, nor is he going to teach you how to 'invest' in real estate or any late-night infomercial crap. He teaches you to realize that you are the only reason you are broke, and only you can change your financial future. He is hugely Anti-Debt (except for a conventional mortgage).
What I like about him is how he focuses on one thing at a time. His process is broken down into small steps with the overall goal being wealth generation:
1. Save $1000 and put it in a money market or savings account. This is only to be used for emergencies (not for a date or a clothing sale)
2. Create a debt snowball by listing all your debts smallest to largest. Pay the minimum on everything but the smallest debt. Once you pay that off, roll that money into the next smallest, etc.
3. Save 3-6 months of living expenses
4. Invest 15% of your income into Roth IRA's and/or Pre-Tax Retirement accounts
5. If you have kids, set up Education Savings Accounts
6. Pay off the house early
7. Build wealth, prosper, and bask in the fact that you never have to use debt again.
I'm getting married in a month, and by doing Dave's plan, my fiance and I will be debt free and able to pay cash for the rest of my college within a year. -
@David
Now that's inspiring! Nice work, man. Very good tips.
-Nate -
Hey Nate, speaking of weekly food budgets, how much do you spend a week on yourself?
I'd love to be able to eat 'proper' good food, grass fed beef, cage free eggs, organic fruit etc, but I just don't see how I can afford it! Being a student DOES suck sometimes haha
thanks man! -
Being a student, I only get 62 dollars to spend on food a week. Any tips on how to eat well like you do whilst keeping to such a small budget?
thanks again! -
Getting your financial situation in order is probably one of the most important things you can do to alleviate stress. Being a finance guy I live in excel so I have a budget set up that I look at regularly and I plan for big purchases. Instead of in-pulse buying I have a wish list in excel and on Amazon of things I want. Sometimes they sit there and I never end up buying them. Others sit there and I allow myself a certain amount of money each month to buy things off my list. And I allow unspent balances to roll over and accumulate to buy higher priced items. For food, I make a menu every Sunday for the next week and then put a grocery list together.
Thanks for the post Nate.
COMMENT RULES: Critical posts are fine, but if you're rude I'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your personal name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. But most of all, have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Tim Ferriss for the inspiration.)
Luka Hocevar 11:25am Sep 14, 2009