Sometimes I think about money and I wonder how America got into the situation it is today, where everyone thinks being in debt is the bee's knees.
The most compelling idea I've come up with recently is pensions. A pension is basically guaranteed pay at regular intervals for the rest of your life. If you have guaranteed pay for life, there is no reason to save up. There isn't any need to save for hard times if you will always have money coming in.
So I think that could have something to do with the rise of debt in America.
But these days pensions are no where to be found. So just like every other point in history, people need to be conservative with their resources to ensure they can make it through hard times when they come.
That's all I have to say about it I guess.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Wayne does the money management
I always hear about people having a hard time managing their money and accumulating savings... I've never really had that problem, though to be fair I have been blessed with a good paying job and a supportive family.
Anyway, here is my money management strategy and it seems to work really well for me.
Accounts:
Checking
Savings
Rent / Emergency savings
Investments
I try to keep my checking as close to $2,000 as I can. The way this usually works is that I start the week with $2,000 in checking. I spend some amount of that money during the week, lets say $200. So, payday rolls around and my check gets deposited into my checking account. At this point I have some amount > $2,000 in checking. The next step is the important part: I immediately move whatever amount is greater than $2,000 in savings.
This leaves me again with $2,000 in checking. I chose $2,000 because it is significantly more than I usually spend during a week. This gives me breathing room in case something major comes up. The money that I move into savings I basically pretend does not exist. This keeps me from being tempted to spend it on stupid stuff. I have $2,000. I don't have good weeks or bad weeks, I just have $2,000. This leads to sort of a ratcheting up of savings. You gain a little ground each week and then refuse to give up any.
Of course life is not always that simple, which is where the other accounts come into play. Savings is what I view as the "Oh shit, something bad happened" account. I try not to ever dip into it, but if I had to it wouldn't be the end of the world. I try to keep this account above $2,000 but not more than $10,000.
The Rent / Emergency savings is my "Oh shit, things went really really wrong" account. I keep 6 months of rent payments in this account. This gives me breathing room to keep a roof over my head if I ever am out on my luck. This account is filled up after you have your $2,000 in general savings. After you get it filled to the 6 months of rent amount, you don't need to touch it again, except to maybe add to it if your rent / mortgage goes up.
When I get to the point that I have around $10,000 in my general savings account, I take usually $5,000 of it and buy shares of Index funds. You want to buy Index funds because they are based off how the market as a whole is performing, rather than you trying to pick specific companies that will do well. Index funds have also been shown to perform just as well if not better than Mutual funds over time. Plus Index funds have lower fees.
Anyway, the main point of the whole system is to have a maximum limit on your checking account (Also I don't use credit cards, I don't believe in buying things I can't pay for in cash). This keeps you from thinking "I have quite a bit of money right now, so its probably okay to splurge on this thing". No, you have $2,000. You have it every week and whatever you make over that goes into savings and you never look at it again. Except that when you do look at it, you notice the number is growing, which motivates you to find ways to spend less so the amount you have in savings grows.
So that's how Wayne dos the money management.
Anyway, here is my money management strategy and it seems to work really well for me.
Accounts:
Checking
Savings
Rent / Emergency savings
Investments
I try to keep my checking as close to $2,000 as I can. The way this usually works is that I start the week with $2,000 in checking. I spend some amount of that money during the week, lets say $200. So, payday rolls around and my check gets deposited into my checking account. At this point I have some amount > $2,000 in checking. The next step is the important part: I immediately move whatever amount is greater than $2,000 in savings.
This leaves me again with $2,000 in checking. I chose $2,000 because it is significantly more than I usually spend during a week. This gives me breathing room in case something major comes up. The money that I move into savings I basically pretend does not exist. This keeps me from being tempted to spend it on stupid stuff. I have $2,000. I don't have good weeks or bad weeks, I just have $2,000. This leads to sort of a ratcheting up of savings. You gain a little ground each week and then refuse to give up any.
Of course life is not always that simple, which is where the other accounts come into play. Savings is what I view as the "Oh shit, something bad happened" account. I try not to ever dip into it, but if I had to it wouldn't be the end of the world. I try to keep this account above $2,000 but not more than $10,000.
The Rent / Emergency savings is my "Oh shit, things went really really wrong" account. I keep 6 months of rent payments in this account. This gives me breathing room to keep a roof over my head if I ever am out on my luck. This account is filled up after you have your $2,000 in general savings. After you get it filled to the 6 months of rent amount, you don't need to touch it again, except to maybe add to it if your rent / mortgage goes up.
When I get to the point that I have around $10,000 in my general savings account, I take usually $5,000 of it and buy shares of Index funds. You want to buy Index funds because they are based off how the market as a whole is performing, rather than you trying to pick specific companies that will do well. Index funds have also been shown to perform just as well if not better than Mutual funds over time. Plus Index funds have lower fees.
Anyway, the main point of the whole system is to have a maximum limit on your checking account (Also I don't use credit cards, I don't believe in buying things I can't pay for in cash). This keeps you from thinking "I have quite a bit of money right now, so its probably okay to splurge on this thing". No, you have $2,000. You have it every week and whatever you make over that goes into savings and you never look at it again. Except that when you do look at it, you notice the number is growing, which motivates you to find ways to spend less so the amount you have in savings grows.
So that's how Wayne dos the money management.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Wayne does the worrying
So in general I would say that I'm a pretty laid back and care free person. I live my life and don't worry about things much. But there is one thing that I come back to again and again. Health insurance.
I don't understand health insurance much. I haven't been to the doctor in 5? years. But I know you are supposed to have it. And I know the main way to have it is to have a big kid office job and have them pay for it. So here I am and I have my fancy job and it gives me insurance (that I don't use, but you're supposed to have it, so all clear). The problem though, my insurance covers me, but not my wife. Right now she is covered on her parents' insurance, but we are rapidly getting to the age where we can't do that anymore.
So then I start to wonder how we will do that. I could get it through work, but apparently if I did that it would be like $10,000 a year. Which is equivalent to 50% of our other yearly living expenses. I don't know what most people spend a year to be alive, but $10k a year to be covered in case you go to the doctor seems ridiculous. Especially when you are young and don't go.
Pretty sure I make too much to get the new government healthcare stuff, which is kind of lame because I'm pretty sure Amy is in the income bracket where she would be covered just fine by it.
So anyway, health insurance is dumb and it is basically the only expense in my life that I don't have a grasp on. And I don't like it.
I don't understand health insurance much. I haven't been to the doctor in 5? years. But I know you are supposed to have it. And I know the main way to have it is to have a big kid office job and have them pay for it. So here I am and I have my fancy job and it gives me insurance (that I don't use, but you're supposed to have it, so all clear). The problem though, my insurance covers me, but not my wife. Right now she is covered on her parents' insurance, but we are rapidly getting to the age where we can't do that anymore.
So then I start to wonder how we will do that. I could get it through work, but apparently if I did that it would be like $10,000 a year. Which is equivalent to 50% of our other yearly living expenses. I don't know what most people spend a year to be alive, but $10k a year to be covered in case you go to the doctor seems ridiculous. Especially when you are young and don't go.
Pretty sure I make too much to get the new government healthcare stuff, which is kind of lame because I'm pretty sure Amy is in the income bracket where she would be covered just fine by it.
So anyway, health insurance is dumb and it is basically the only expense in my life that I don't have a grasp on. And I don't like it.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Wayne does the reflection (Feb 25)
Along a similar vein as yesterday's post I suppose. Trying to decide what I want to do with my life (be when I grow up, if you will).
Ideas that currently sound appealing to me:
- Live in a small house somewhere. Big houses seem like a waste of space. I think people can do with a lot less room than they figure they need. Having less room also encourages you to go out and be somewhere else. Getting out of the house is good for you I think. Especially if that somewhere else is out on a walk or something like that.
- Live in a small town / the country. Big cities don't appeal to me I think. I guess I would like to live close enough to civilization that I don't need to drive an hour to see another person.
- Have a garden. I think a garden would do me good. I like plants.
- Have a nice tree. Trees seem nice. They have character.
- Make enough money to get by, but not so much that I start to get greedy or feel like I need it. It always gets to me when people talk about how they don't have enough money. Bypassing the whole third world country argument, if you are even moderately middle class you have enough money. If you are making minimum wage trying to support a family, then you have something to complain about. If you work a middle of the road office job, you are just spending too damn much. My two cents.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
Ideas that currently sound appealing to me:
- Live in a small house somewhere. Big houses seem like a waste of space. I think people can do with a lot less room than they figure they need. Having less room also encourages you to go out and be somewhere else. Getting out of the house is good for you I think. Especially if that somewhere else is out on a walk or something like that.
- Live in a small town / the country. Big cities don't appeal to me I think. I guess I would like to live close enough to civilization that I don't need to drive an hour to see another person.
- Have a garden. I think a garden would do me good. I like plants.
- Have a nice tree. Trees seem nice. They have character.
- Make enough money to get by, but not so much that I start to get greedy or feel like I need it. It always gets to me when people talk about how they don't have enough money. Bypassing the whole third world country argument, if you are even moderately middle class you have enough money. If you are making minimum wage trying to support a family, then you have something to complain about. If you work a middle of the road office job, you are just spending too damn much. My two cents.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wayne does the life (Feb 24 2014)
Sometimes I'm not sure what to think about things. Today marks 2 years that I've been at my current job. It's been good as far as making money and putting it away. I've learned a lot from practice that you can't quite pick up just based on what you learn in classes. So I am grateful for the time I have spent there. I just feel sometimes that life is now on autopilot and I'm not really advancing.
I guess advancing is a bit of an uncertain term. You have to specify what you are advancing toward. I don't really have any interest in "climbing the corporate ladder" or whatever. Mostly I just want to live my life and not have to worry about much and not have to slave away.
Some of it stems from the fact that I think I saw Fight Club at exactly the wrong point in my life. The movie gets pretty whacky by the end, but the first half has some solid advice I think. Mainly the line "We work jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need" always resonated with me. Toward that end, I've tried to limit my spending so that I don't end up in that position. Maybe the makes me a crappy American or something. I just don't have any desire to be in debt.
Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll do, but I think I will like to work towards living deliberately. Doing things to move myself towards some goal, rather than just rolling with the tide and seeing where I end up. I think I've done more than enough of that lately.
I guess advancing is a bit of an uncertain term. You have to specify what you are advancing toward. I don't really have any interest in "climbing the corporate ladder" or whatever. Mostly I just want to live my life and not have to worry about much and not have to slave away.
Some of it stems from the fact that I think I saw Fight Club at exactly the wrong point in my life. The movie gets pretty whacky by the end, but the first half has some solid advice I think. Mainly the line "We work jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need" always resonated with me. Toward that end, I've tried to limit my spending so that I don't end up in that position. Maybe the makes me a crappy American or something. I just don't have any desire to be in debt.
Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll do, but I think I will like to work towards living deliberately. Doing things to move myself towards some goal, rather than just rolling with the tide and seeing where I end up. I think I've done more than enough of that lately.
Wayne Does The Gardening (Feb 24 2014)
A quick update on the plants in my window garden.
The potato I am growing in a 5 gallon bucket is really starting to take off. Potatoes seem to grow slowly until all the sudden they grow quickly. Maybe it has to do with them having enough leaves to catch the sun. I am planning to get some straw and bury the stem since I hear that makes the plant want to make more potatoes. We'll see what happens.
The mint plant is slowly starting to come back. It has maybe 5 - 10 shoots starting to grow leaves. A far cry from how it was before it died off, but on its way back to health.
There is a cilantro starting to grow in the pot I'm growing the kale in. Last year I had a cilantro growing in there and after it died, I planted some of the seeds in the pot. Guess now that winter is almost over, the seeds have decided its a good time to sprout.
I'm attempting to grow a ginger plant, but it hasn't decided to sprout any roots yet. I have it sitting with its base in some water. That is supposed to encourage things to sprout I think. So far no luck.
The potato I am growing in a 5 gallon bucket is really starting to take off. Potatoes seem to grow slowly until all the sudden they grow quickly. Maybe it has to do with them having enough leaves to catch the sun. I am planning to get some straw and bury the stem since I hear that makes the plant want to make more potatoes. We'll see what happens.
The mint plant is slowly starting to come back. It has maybe 5 - 10 shoots starting to grow leaves. A far cry from how it was before it died off, but on its way back to health.
There is a cilantro starting to grow in the pot I'm growing the kale in. Last year I had a cilantro growing in there and after it died, I planted some of the seeds in the pot. Guess now that winter is almost over, the seeds have decided its a good time to sprout.
I'm attempting to grow a ginger plant, but it hasn't decided to sprout any roots yet. I have it sitting with its base in some water. That is supposed to encourage things to sprout I think. So far no luck.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Wayne Does The Gardening
I live in an apartment, so I don't have a yard to put an actual garden. But I do have a sort of window garden going on. Currently I have the following: 5 apple saplings, 3 potato plants, 1 mint plant, 1 pot of basil plants, 1 kale, 1 pot of green onions, 1 pineapple, 1 Christmas cactus, 1 aloe vera.
I started the apples from seed last spring. They spent the year in 8" pots, but this winter I moved them to 5 gallon buckets. I hope that will give them room to grow for a while longer. One thing I am concerned about is that since the trees are inside, they didn't really get the full winter experience. They lost a bunch of their leaves, which I hope is them being dormant for the winter and not them just being dead. Spring will tell...
I forgot to water the mint plant one week last month and then noticed that it had completely dried up and died. I gave it a bunch of water and now two weeks later it looks like I have several new leaves starting. I've always heard that it is a very hearty plant, so I'm glad that it's bouncing back.
The green onions, pineapple, and kale we grew from leftovers of food we bought at the grocery store. The green onions are in a pot suspended over water, and I trained their roots to reach down into the water. They seem to really like it that way. They never get thirsty but they also aren't drowning. I think it is actually pretty similar to how root systems work outside, so I might try to repeat it for some of my other plants. We'll see.
I'm currently trying to sprout a ginger plant from a chunk of ginger root we had sitting in our fridge. I attempted to do it last year, but the ginger just rotted. Maybe this year I will have better luck.
Anyway, that is my garden. I hope to move some of the pots outside once it starts to warm up.
-- Wayne
I started the apples from seed last spring. They spent the year in 8" pots, but this winter I moved them to 5 gallon buckets. I hope that will give them room to grow for a while longer. One thing I am concerned about is that since the trees are inside, they didn't really get the full winter experience. They lost a bunch of their leaves, which I hope is them being dormant for the winter and not them just being dead. Spring will tell...
I forgot to water the mint plant one week last month and then noticed that it had completely dried up and died. I gave it a bunch of water and now two weeks later it looks like I have several new leaves starting. I've always heard that it is a very hearty plant, so I'm glad that it's bouncing back.
The green onions, pineapple, and kale we grew from leftovers of food we bought at the grocery store. The green onions are in a pot suspended over water, and I trained their roots to reach down into the water. They seem to really like it that way. They never get thirsty but they also aren't drowning. I think it is actually pretty similar to how root systems work outside, so I might try to repeat it for some of my other plants. We'll see.
I'm currently trying to sprout a ginger plant from a chunk of ginger root we had sitting in our fridge. I attempted to do it last year, but the ginger just rotted. Maybe this year I will have better luck.
Anyway, that is my garden. I hope to move some of the pots outside once it starts to warm up.
-- Wayne
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