Money especially matters when you treat it with respect. It is crazy how when I was a young adult and made twice the money I make now, I never had any. Once I met my DH and we began sharing we realized we had some goals in common and some bad habits in common. Having another person made me want to become more accountable and responsible. So, we discussed our goals and I wrote down our plan to get us out of debt on a napkin early in our dating relationship, as a preparation to discuss marriage. My DH was going to just turn it over to me, but I wanted us both to work on it. Not just one dictating to the other - that would spell disaster. If not sooner, then later. So, we both have become much more about saving some and spending some. Making some investments and eventually we have a path to retirement. Looking back, I think that even just little daily poor decisions about money had a cumulative effect. Similarly, making better decisions has a cumulative effect. As a young career person, one presentation by our HR department at our Fortune 500 Insurance Company made me commit to a 401(k). The concept of compounding interest is powerful displayed in tables for comparison. Today, I am all about the bucket system. Some buckets are literally stashes of cash and some are virtual buckets online, but the idea of saving for something separately from a combined pool of money has been very helpful for me. Little daily decisions turn into yearly decisions and that behavior becomes habit. I have a friend I enjoy coffee with, he said that when he was growing up and learning the right way to behave, instant gratification made him consider everything as negotiable. You are negotiating with yourself for what you value. I relate to that a lot. Today I can consider long term goals over instant gratification and having a little money put aside here and there is my new value. It is NOT negotiable. I told DH that when we pay off our retirement home later this month after our city house sells, I already have a years worth of home insurance and real estate property taxes saved up. Then right away, I will begin saving month to month small amounts to pay 2019 amounts. He was pretty happy when I told him our plan.
Happy June and happy pay day everyone!
It is so true that bad habits with money are cumulative. Nobody winds up in a bad place with money from one or two decisions. It's a whole string of small, bad decisions over a course of many years that leads you to a financial hole.
ReplyDeleteLikewise it's a long string of good habits with money over a course of many years that can lead you to a retirement on your own terms.
I hope your house sale goes through soon and that RH mortgage can get retired too. 8-)))
My DH and myself have been much better as a team. And both of us are marveling at the novel experience of having a paid for house. It will help so much, because we are anxious about our huge reduction in income!
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