Good Financial Reads: Choosing Your Lifestyle
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Catch up on some of the latest posts with this week's roundup:
How to Live a Better Life in One, Hard Step
by Steven Sivak, Innovate WealthI know…the title sounds a lot like click-bait, the kind that takes you down an internet rabbit hole. I want to tell you about one (really hard) step you can take to live a better life. I could write it in one sentence, but without some context, it’s probably not going to carry much meaning. If you can stick with me as I weave my way through these pages, I promise to arm you with a real chance to get a handle on some financial stress.
I’m not qualified to speak to psychology, or what really makes the brain tick, but I have spent many hours talking with people about their individual definition of success. I’ve seen how finance, emotion, and ambition mix in real life, and how it can affect decisions big and small. Over a decade of conversations later, I can safely write this article, with most of the credit to the books I reference below for tying this up in a bow.
How Lifestyle Creep Can Ruin Your Future
by Jared Paul, Capable Wealth
The other day I was hanging out with my brother. He proudly announced to me that he had purchased tickets to the Yankees playoff game for he and his wife.
Once the Yankees had solidified their spot in the playoffs, he had gone online to see how much tickets were. Having never been to a playoff game, he was excited to finally make it to one....
Save Half of Your Income – Financial Independence in less than 15 years.
by Kyle Mast, Clarity Financial LLC
This strategy for financial independence is simple and does not require any fancy calculations to prove its validity. Saving and investing half of your income nearly guarantees that you will be financially independent in less than 15 years. Of course there are no complete guarantees when it comes to money, but this comes very close.
There are two sides that make this equation work. Your savings and your spending.
The Time Value of Time
by Morgan Ranstrom, Trailhead Planners
One of the most important things we consume in our lives is time. Admittedly, it sounds crass to say we ‘consume’ time, but to heck with it – we already ‘kill’ it and ‘burn’ it, we might as well be a bit more intentional about how we ‘spend’ it! Most of us barter time for money. More money, in many cases, necessitates more time. This can be as simple as having to come into the office a couple Saturdays a month or being available by email after traditional work hours. It can also mean taking on another job or project to earn a little extra income.
In many cases, putting more time in for financial gain is worth it.
Be Aware Of Lifestyle Creep
by Michelle Smalenberger, Financial Design Studio, Inc.
Have you ever found that as you earn more income you spend more? This is what’s known as lifestyle creep.
This means that as your income increases so do your expenses. So year by year you slowly earn more over time. Therefore your expenses go up over time too. So one thing to be thoughtful of is trying to maintain the same level of lifestyle over time.
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