I started saving for retirement at age 22. I started small putting in the required minimum. From then on every time I got a raise I increased my contribution by 1% keeping the rest in my budget until I was saving the maximum that my company matched. So I contributed 7% of my income which the company matched letting me save 14%.. I retired early at age 63.
@@paulofell9939 not at all, it really shows that even by doing the “right” thing (starting to save early) doesn’t really pay off. Unfortunately this is why most people can’t retire, or have to come out of retirement to survive.
I don't do that (and many will think it's dumb), I save the money myself instead of gambling it with the stock market (that's all it is). All it takes is a stock market crash, great depression to lose it all. I use all that money to pay off my house first. The first thing they'll take when sh*t hits the fan is your retirement money. Look at France.
@@pri.sci.lla. I think more people need to get out of the system buy some land raise your own food. It really doesn't make sense to me. We work for things we can't even take with us
I started saving money and being frugal 8 years ago, when I was 25. I started because...I stopped smoking and had all this extra money. Now I had a lot of cash in my saving account and I started travel! I've always want to do that but I never had a money before (when I smoked cigaretts). It's a blast! I'm married now, and my husband makes over 3 times as I do. He even said that I don't need to work. But I want to. Having my own money is a such of freedom. I still make my groceries like Christina (clearans food, generics brands etc.) and my parents thinks that this is weird. But who cares ;)
Tip for Christmas with kids: We give our kids gifts on st Nicholas day dec 6th. It is wonderful! No stress to get to church or to visit family, the kids have time to enjoy their presents and they are not tempted every single day for the rest of the month with changing their list etc. And we can focus on Jesus on Christmas Day.
Fun thing I'm realizing (that Minimal Mom has continually preached): if you declutter your kitchen, you are more likely to cook. Hubs & I would go out multiple times a week to eat but since we moved into a smaller apt with a more concise kitchen, we've been cooking & even eating leftovers so much more!
For me it was a huge mind shift from "I deserve a treat of eating out" to "Why am I paying 3x more for unhealthy food? Don't I deserve to take that money and line my own pockets instead of a restaurant owner?"
Your local library!! Tons of free entertainment options to be had there! Books, music, movies, access to computers with internet etc. At mine they have free crafts and events for kids (and adults!) all the time. I hear some libraries even have lending libraries for tools and things I never would've thought they'd have!
I needed to hear this. My husband was off work ALL of last year due to health reasons, plus I lost my job. We exhausted our savings, and accumulated debt in the process (we were debt free going into it thankfully). Now we feel like we're starting from scratch all over again. He's 55, and we do have some in retirement, but not enough. I'm putting everything extra on bills, then plan to catch up on retirement savings. Life happens, and health problems or job loss can throw a huge monkey wrench into plans.
Honestly I would pay myself first towards retirement, and then prioritize the bills afterwards. Because I wish that was what I had done when I worked somewhere that had a match. Life is unpredictable, there will always be bills and there will not always be enough money. I am not in a situation I planned to be in when I retired and I wish I had saved more towards retirement which would help now with the bills. But whatever you decide I do wish you good luck in the future.
@@jmbirdsong5605 People are losing so much of their retirements right now. So, you may actually be at the same $ amount now as you would have been had you been contributing more. My stomach turns every time I have to check my retirement. Most people have lost between 25-50% of their retirement savings over the last 2 years.
Same, girl!!! I (Female, 52)had 2 back surgeries and a knee replacement and was off a whole year while my husband (59)lost his job for 5 months before finding a new one. Burned through savings, cash in tye safe, etc, etc. We are now both working but we are so far behind getting back on track for retirement.
I was off for over a year due to surgeries, so I get this. I'm now paying off debt like mad with an end date of summer 2024. That includes student loans. When I started out, I had 60k in student loans! Now I'm down to 10k.
I wish I could have seen this video when I was 23 😣 in a terrible financial place at 35 now. They need practical info like this in schools. We never learned anything like this.
@@matemahe Canadian here and briefly they touched on budgeting when I was maybe 15 but it was like ‘you’re a single parent of a 6 year old kid who has these expenses and you make $5000 a month, balance this budget’ never anything about taxes or retirement savings
I started putting $25/month into a 401k when I was 20 yrs old. Best thing I ever did! The amount was adjusted as finances allowed. Hubs started much later in life but together we’ve been able to live debt free for years, send our kids to college with no loans or need for them to work and most recently build our dream retirement home. It wasn’t easy and we made plenty of mistakes along the way. But well worth it in the end. Great advise Christine!
i was one of those ppl you described in the beginning. I never knew whats going on with my finances. I hated not toknow, but I just didnt wanna look at the disaster. A few month ago (when it was really bad finacially), i took some time, started an excel sheet and dug thru all my papers. I listed my income and spendings. Turns out its not as bad as i thought. I started to pay things of i thought i couldnt afford to pay off and I list everything i spend immediatly! Excel does the math for me. It feels so good. And dare I say, I am very proud of myself for doing that. I highly suggest to everybody who is not doing that, to do it!
I'm part of the 1% living outside the US..watching from Europe! We have mandatory retirement contributions, but everything else are actionable tips! thank you Christine!
@@happycook6737 I had no idea! In our case we have 2 different contributions: one to social security: 11% of your income (for everyone), and the "IRS" monthly retention which in my case is over 18% of my income (this one is dependant on your salary it increases the percentage)
@@happycook6737same in Swizerland. Even though we have social security, it is not nearly enough to get by here. So people have 1 or 2 retirement complements. Mine are not enough as I was a stay at home mom and still work only part-time. So it is something I think about a lot
Love your financial videos. My ex was a financial disaster. After our divorce (for other reasons) I restarted from scratch (actually less than scratch, lost all money invested in our home) at age 35. I was able to retire at age 60. I put all of every raise into savings unless I was feeling the pinch of not being able to pay my bills then I kept 1% of each raise and banked the rest. I worked more than one job when able. By the time I retired I had no debt of any kind, and a fully paid off home. I’ve been retired now for eight years and, live comfortable and still save money each month.
My mom went theough the same thing but she was married for 35 years. She started from scratch and is no financialy stable on single income , and she never able to be while married. Sometimes starting again is not such a bad thing
I've just done the same thing, and I admit I 'm anxious about my future. I always worked, but I wasn't in control of our joint fiances, or even my own personal ones until the end... Left an abusive relationship at 35, took nothing with me but a car the bank owns , my cat and 1300 of personal savings he couldn't get to. I'm looking at going back to school, just trying to get my feet under me with a job that'll pay my bills first.
This was all extremely good advice. As an older gal (I'm 64) I would like to add that it would be prudent to think about purchasing long term care insurance while your young and healthy. My husband and I did not do this, and he is now going to have to be placed in a memory care facility over an hour from where I live in a different state. There are no facilities that I can afford in my town. They are all 8-10K a month. It is not fun to think about and plan for, but you never know what is going to happen 30-40 years down the road as far as your health goes.
My husband and I are hovering around 40. We looked into long term care insurance and unfortunately many aren't offering it anymore. I was also advised that since dementia runs in my husband's family, he would probably be denied anyways
@@No-sv6mu I'm sorry to hear that No. I guess the best you can do is put aside $ so that if you have to face this later you'll at least have some money to help with the cost of care.
My husband and I have put these suggestions into practice the entirety of our married life. We raised a son, put him through university, and taught him these money management tips. We are now comfortably retired at ages 60 & 62. These tips WORK!
I told the ‘kids’ at work to save $50 a month. A couple of comments were, “I can’t afford it”. I watched them spend that much in coffee for the month, Amazon shopping, etc. wish I had someone tell me that as a kid. We were not so well informed back then.
I also recommend prepaying for funeral expenses at a young age, especially if you know you will always be in the area. If not, making sure to have someone you trust as your pay upon death on bank accounts. My family has had 3 deaths recently. One was my 30 year old cousin. Even with a will in place it takes months or years for loved ones to access funds. It is definitely an expensive burden to put on loved ones and you just never know what will happen.
This helped tremendously when my FIL passed. Also think about all the fees not included in a funeral. Like the additional fee for setting the slab in place, headstone, etc.
I recommend cremation and no funeral. Instead of a funeral gather in someone's home, etc. Funerals are ridiculous wastes of money with some costing $20k and up. Basic cremation is under $2k.
Saving money for Christmas has been a life saver for us. We love having big Christmas's for our kids and the last 3-4 years or so I finally started getting serious about saving and NOT TOUCHING the Christmas account. We have automatic drafts come out 2x a month for it and Christmas season is a lot let stressful because of it.
I recommend saving for a year's worth of bills. I had to back surgeries and a knee replacement, I'm 52 PLUS, my husband lost his job for 5 months of that. We burned through savings, cash in the safe, etc, etc. 3-6 months saving for emergencies is CRAP!!! DOUBLE EVERYTHING!
If you had a bootcamp for finances there would be a lot that would sign up. ✋️ I am thankful for one thing. I work for a Public Service agency and made all my required payments (income driven) and as of today, 1st day of Spring I no longer have Student Loan debt!! I am the poster child for having made wrong choices on this...where my life is concerned. I praise Jesus I owned it, paid, and now FREE!! I love your advise Christine, and you lead by example!❤
We are a few months away to being debt free...the closer we get,I can feel the freedom!I used to get a dopamine rush from shopping...NOW I GET ONE AS I PAY OFF A DEBT!!!
This was one of the most useful segments that I have seen regarding Money $$ Practical, no-nonsense advice. I wish I had gotten this info when I was young! And the young people seeing this, PLEASE take & use her advice. No one ever said “ I’m sorry I saved for my retirement”!
I was one of those people that didn't think about money. I spent carelessly and didn't save. I had no idea how much I was wasting on earing out and buying clothes I didn't need. I have changed and love channels like yours. I am tracking my spending and using money responsibly now.
I remember going to the public library with my father to pour over the Morningstar books in the reference section when I became eligible to contribute to my 401K. He convinced me to put in 10% (never changed it) and when I transferred it to an IRA after 23 years at that job it was a very hefty sum. Still working on reducing debt but my future self will be set.
I did not make the wisest financial choices when I was in my late teens and early 20s but, fortunately, I woke up and got my finances in order little by little. I started contributing to my company's 401k plan early (late 20s). That was one of the best things I could have done. I eventually started paying off debt. Becoming debt-free was the second game-changer in my financial journey (with contributing to a 401k being #1 for me). My financial journey was not easy. It was hard to go to a second or third job to pay off debt while friends were out having fun but what a difference it made in the long run. There was such a weight off my shoulders when I became debt-free. And stress that I didn't even really know I had was suddenly gone, too. The journey is so worth it.
We learned this year that a heart attack & the surgery to implant a pacemaker/defibrillator costs well over 300k & counting! Thankfully between insurance & our emergency fund, I'm not losing sleep over the bills. Couldn't have done it if we hadn't chosen to live frugally & get totally debt free years ago.
Two things come to mind: 1) As you enter your 50s, when shopping think about replacing worn out items rather than accumulating new items. At this point in your life, you probably have what you need (and more). 2) Sit your 5th or 6th grader down in front of a computer and show them a compound interest calculator. I grew up before computers/internet and I had a vague concept of how compound interest works but being able to punch in numbers and see the calculations really helps see how money can grow.
My husband yells at his coworkers. Their company matches the first 3% fully and then 50% for the next 3%. They were all young and the other guys wanted to have the money available to party. Husband told them they are leaving free money on the table. Now it's been awhile. We are getting close to 40. Husband has nearly $280,000 in his 401k and his coworkers the same age have less than $50,000. I have a Roth Ira. Time is your best friend when investing. We have made lots of sacrifices, but we also take yearly nice vacations. We just don't go out to eat often, no Starbucks, we invest wisely. So many people we know are in such a bad position financially. They can absolutely work on fixing it. But it will be harder since there is less time
In Belgium pension saving is linked to taxes so there is a limit each year. It's around 1000 euro's per year. You can save more but then the taxereturn ist high. So I save the max amount and then use my taxereturn to save for the next year
You’ve talked multiple times about the importance of life insurance and I finally talked to someone through work and found out how amazingly affordable an INCREDIBLE peace of mind can be. My family thanks you 😊
Hi there. Im still listening to your video but i had to comment. If you like saving money on groceries many times im ordering from Amazon. I do compare prices everywhere every day and i have saved a lot of money shopping Amazon for groceries. I live in CANADA in the rurals. Amazon delivers to me because i am a Prime Member and get so many movies etc with my membership. I would never dream about giving up my membership ever. Every time someone steps in their car to go to the store to buy You are spending a lot of money. I love the fact that Amazon delivers quickly. Back to your Video.
so many great points… i use my credit card wisely on a budget and payoff each month, i accumulate cash back and that is my christmas savings, along with our change jar, kids always get what they want, and no stress savings…
Great advice, Christine. Another great tip is to increase your 401k paycheck deduction when you get a raise. You don’t have to increase by the entire raise amount - try to increase it by half your raise.
This was fantastic information. Thank you. I kept a sign in my classroom that said " A Goal Without a Plan is a Wish". I had students all the time what that ment. I was more than happy to tell them the importance of a goal for their education and their finances to help them to make it a goal and not a wish. I always prayed that they took it to heart. I am now retired and enjoying my retirement. However, I give all the credit to my parents who taught me and my siblings about setting goals.
All some great simple basic ideas…everyone needs to start with at least number one. You can’t move forward if you don’t know where you are starting. I’m so excited to say that I will be able to retire in about 7 years at age 52. 🎉🎉 I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!
Something that people need to know about their money and debt. You don't need a lot of money to get out of debt. We paid off over $50,000 with our social securtiy and we didn't have more then a hundred or 2 in our savings. It's easier than you think if you truly want to get out of debt.
The easiest and best savings account I ever opened was the one right after I paid off my vehicle loan. I kept “making my payment” but into a separate savings account from all my other savings accounts. You’re already used to making the payment. Why not continue and let that savings account rapidly build?
I had to flee FOO abuse and was constantly getting bullied at work. I was always in the poor house. The key for me was working on my childhood trauma and mental health. Super hard to ever “get ahead” if you are always having to quit jobs Bcuz of bullies and abuse (the cycle tends to repeat itself until you learn). Also just not excelling at work really Bcuz of the low self esteem. Plus if you’re a single parent. Another thing similar is breaking anything to do with poverty mentality to where you can’t ever imagine getting beyond bare bones survival. I had to create my own never known before stability and also be able to envision a better future before I could even think about any of this other stuff. I wasn’t usually a crazy spender, but seems like I was always never having enough or barely surviving. Better these days esp Bcuz the last time I was bullied at work, I kind of “snapped” and turned the tables on the “downtrodden life” for good.
I never allocated any raises during that raise year. That meant that it accumulated until the next raise when I would acknowledge that I had that increased income and redo my budget. And not use that increase ... BUT that excess that I accumulated went to an IRA to supplement my employer retirement benefits. I retired early in February and that ended up being the sexiest money ever!
I miss when Quicken had a budget function. I saved every receipt and input what category each cost went into, then could look to see where I was over, or under, spending. "I need a new coat, let's see what I've spent on clothes this past year." "I want that new album, what's my entertainment budget look like ..."
@@americafirst9144 LOL, I go to his channel, search for "budget," and get like a hundred videos in return. The first one though mentioned the software so THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping.
I'd love more money content from you! I follow every channel, so wherever you feel it fits best, I'll watch it. ;) I like to geek out about money/savings/investing, too, but I don't have a lot of people to geek out with about it, so I appreciate your videos a lot. Topics that come to mind: - how to learn to spend/use money after saving for a long time and getting used to that instead of spending them; - how to stay excited about a goal that's far-reaching (like retirement); mortgage is huge, too, but there's that sense that you can move the line closer and closer, and while in theory you can do the same with retirement if you invest enough, it somehow doesn't feel the same; - your investing mindset and/or strategy; - how to talk with other people about money; - how you come up with/prioritize which goals to focus on ... or anything, really! I really enjoy your budget breakdown videos on the podcast channel. Thanks for everything that you do!
I wish I could save for retirement. I live pay check to paycheck. I make 40k a year but I only contribute 50 a month. My debt to income ratio is high bc I bought a house in 2022.
If you are a low wage worker, do not put your money in a traditional IRA or 401K. If the only way to get matching from your employer is to use the traditional, find out from your HR how soon you can roll it out to a ROTH IRA. With a traditional IRA you are deferring the taxes, with a Roth you pay your taxes and put the money in and it grows tax free. You want to pay your taxes now, when you’re in a 10% tax bracket, and take your money out at retirement tax free. If you have a successful career you could be in a 37% tax bracket when you retire. You don’t want to pay 37% on the minimum wage you earned when you were 18 years old.
I have bad health . I have a lot of medical bills after insurance!!! I can no longer work but the wonderful state of Oklahoma keeps denying me disability!!!! So we carry medical debt all the time ! I am at my wits end trying to figure out how to keep this under control but have savings and put away enough for retirement.
I have a way of doing this that doesn't change my quality of life. We pay for vacations with cash but still go on them even though we still owe money on our house. Disagree with the taxes as it matters how many deductions you have and not what you make. If you have more deductions than the standard deductions, then get a tax advisor (my father used to be one before he retired). Agree with saving money and that's have a savings account with at least a few months pay in it. I used to help people retire (licensed) and the one thing that matters the most is going into retirement without debt.
Started my first 401k the same month I turned 18 and now I have my second 401k with my new job and I’m in the process of combining them 😇 ((edit: I’m currently 23))
That’s awesome! I was a mom of 3 finishing my second degree at your age and wish I would have started retirement and savings as soon as I got that second degree! All those lost years 😢I’m 46 now and have only been saving for 10 years.
@@korriefisher4545 hey thanks!! I’ve been pretty ridiculous about saving money since I got my first job. Honestly, I think it’s been wired into my head to save save save money bc I watched my parents struggle paycheck to paycheck after the ‘08 recession. That being said tho… a mom of 3 at my age, definitely resolves for a different story line and children are expensive! And you grew up in different economical times than me, both generations still dealing with horrible inflation but the job market was way worse back then than it is now. Nowadays, all employers heavily encourage you to start a 401k and benefits if they have them VS the economic crisis, high unemployment rates, etc of the 2000s/2010 era. You should be proud of yourself too! You’ve come a long way!
Some may disagree, but if you have kids and you are still trying to get your career going see if you are eligible for WIC! No shame in it. We are benefiting from it while my husband is in college (and both of us working btw, just not making a ton yet) and then will be helping fund it when we graduate and get the well paying jobs.
When I was single and for the first several years of my marriage, I always did a spreadsheet with paper and pen. It is a visual aid and will help you understand how much money is coming in and how much money is going out. Yes, you do have to watch those paycheck stubs, which now for most people is online. You need to make sure you're being paid correctly. You need to make sure your taxes and other allotments are correct. You need to make sure if they're crediting the right amount of vacation time or sick time. I am in my 70s and about five years ago, I decided to do a spreadsheet again, but this time on my computer. I started out with 15 columns, and now I have 32 columns. The 32 columns came about because I wanted to finite our expenditures. Example a receipt from Walmart for $168. Well, some of that was food. Some of that bill was clothing. Some of that bill could have been for car windshield wipers etc. It is so good to know where we are spending our money, and how much money we are spending.
I watch this video and I do all these things. But I started my adult life with 60k student loan debt and I'm not the only one. When your student loan debt is a mortgage payment in size, it's really hard to pull ahead. I think this is good advice for older people but younger people should have advice like: buy used cars, save for expenses that adults have (medical, dental, vehicle, etc.). Thrift what you can. Buy cheap but healthy foods, watch the salt and cholesterol. Then live at your parents, if you can, or with roommates and put ALL your money onto the student loan debt. Pay it off in 5 years. Keep expenses low low low until that debt is gone. Don't eat out, no vacations, no cats/dogs, etc etc etc. That's what I'm telling my teens every day. Prepping them for college and living at home through it to save as much as possible. Even with that, they are looking at $20-30k in debt.
Christine, I am glad you put this on here, I saw the whiteboard video about that family budget on your podcast channel, and you could do one of those on here. (What to save for, what to pay off) It is so relevant to being frugal and I found it eye opening and interesting.
She’s talking about retail therapy or buying stuff because you see it on RUclips and you wanna make it too so then you go by all the products to make it and then in my case I put it in a tote forgot I had it and bought it three more times so when I started going through all my craft supplies I’ll donated 14 totes full of craft supplies it’s crazy how it adds up that was close to $500 that I could’ve had for something else now don’t get me wrong I didn’t spend it all in one day that took like four years but still that’s crazy and you don’t realize you’re doing it cause it’s a little here in a little dare but it adds up over time
Love the videos, other great women to follow (in addition to Christine) would be the budget mom & Tori Dunlap ("You don't have to stop spending money- you just have to stop spending money on shit you don't care about.)
I know that in the long run I am doing the right thing financially but it is really difficult for me in the short-run because I only have about $50 a month for food and yet it's all because of increased maintenance fee on rental properties that I can't sell without incurring a huge capital gains tax I also need to prove that I have at least $3,500 a month in income if I ever need to move into a one-bedroom apartment that requires that you have three times the amount of the rent as income. They don't even accept a Year's worth of payment in advance or accept my net worth statements
Christine, you should show the tax ramifications of having a 401k and/or an IRA. People don't realize that by putting money in these saving vehicles their taxable income is reduced, and therefore their taxes go down. Show a comparison of investing in a 401k and their tax bill versus not investing, etc. Some people think they can't afford to pay bills and save at the same time.
It's great you have this is the US. I live in Europe and there is no such thing. I do my best to save money in an account and I have 3 types of private pensions (one is mandatory). I sense it's not enough but it is all I can afford.
People may also be able to do the comparison themselves using a contribution calculator in their 401k portal. If it’s not there, you can probably find one online.
Amen! Thank you for putting this info out there. I work in the financial sector and am shocked at how many adults don’ t know basic financial info. Appreciate you doing this ❤🎉
How do you save when you are on permanent disability? I dont have debt. No car payment and i keep credit card to zero every month. I dont go out to eat. I have used every tactic to save only to have a medical bill or car issue to pay for. I haven’t bought clothes in a few years. What can I do to change things
Apparently you can do it without paying yourself first. Lol. Cause we did it. We have over a year and 1/2 of living expenses saved up, no debt (not even house or cars) and our checking acct has always had $2000 padding that we don’t touch. It’s not as much as you said we need but that amount has always worked for us, I get paid every time I work and hubby gets paid every 2 weeks so it works for us. Great tips Christine. We have followed most but we have long term care policies and are putting less in retirement than you mentioned. ❤❤❤ Forgot to say we also don’t budget. I took a personal finance class when I was a young married (54 now) and budgeting made me super anxious bc on paper we couldn’t pay our bills however I knew in real life we ALWAYS paid our bills and on time. I got rid of the spreadsheet and we have always just watched our spending. It works and I don’t have anxiety over that 😆 I always thought I was super frugal til I started watching you 🤣🤣🤣
utilize employer matching benefits, and no more. Then throw everything else at your debt until it's gone. Then throw all that at your retirement. Set benchmark goals and celebrate.
Great advice Christine! I'm one of the non-USA 1%, single disabled household and started saving for retirement in my 20s. It is NOT easy but I just keep thinking of the freedom it will give me in the future. I'm delaying my usual annual lump sum retirement saving this year because inflation is insane in the UK, and I've had some unexpected emergency expenses. As soon as my emergency buffer is topped back up I'll make this year's payment.
Here in Canada (Québec), it is mandatory to save for retirement and also, most companies put the same amount (or a lower percentage) of money in your retirement fund as you do so it's really worth it.
Thank you for explaining pay yourself first, I always assumed it was investing but I'm not there yet, other then retirement, but I definitely do a lot of savings for sinking funds, etc.
I have not started to save for retirement. that is my goal for this year. What is some of the side hustle ideals that you have come up with. My oldest is getting ready to graduate high school and I have a middle school child.
I felt like you were looking right at me when you said to stop the midnight amazon shopping 🙈 I have been working hard the last year to kill my debts and am almost out of the hole! I have multiple 401ks from all my jobs. My next investments are starting my kids savings accounts and working on building another sort of retirement fund. I think i haven't been paying myself for a very long time. Thanks for all the info!
Have a job but I haven't been paid since mid October 2022. Living off my emergency fund until everything is sorted. So liberating not to feel stressed about my daily needs.
I have a decent pay, I only buy needs but I don't see how I can save that much money... maybe it's easier in the states, but in canada living is a luxury.
That was a good talk. I so agree with you to get a CPA for your taxes, that has saved us a ton of headaches. We have been able to get money back too, which we used to pay off debt.
Great information. This year was the start of getting debt paid off. I use my side hustle to pay off a credit card since it is 40 or 50 bucks each sale. Tax refund went to debt and I have an extra 300 go out each year in state taxes so I get it back at beginning of year. Plus my job is bad about dropping ball on my county taxes. Chipping away but always progress.
My husband's work just introduced a simple IRA option (they've never offered retirement) with employer matching up to like 3% or something. My husband started contributing 5% and was feeling excited about having over a grand in there within 3 months, until he received his statement from the firm showing he had lost half of that money, since that money was placed in stocks by the firm. He immediately stopped contributing, and now we are looking into other options. We don't fully understand how stocks work, which is the point of the firm, so what are we supposed to do? Just sit on it and potentially lose all the money or wait to see if it eventually gains? It doesn't feel safe.
Go through all your bills… I’ve cut >$250 month by shopping phone and internet plans. That’s money to invest or prepay the mortgage. Also, look into CDs at your bank. If you don’t need some of your money for 12 months, you can make 4% fully FDIC insured.
Sooo helpful! I love how you talk about money (& just talk in general😂). Your delivery is superb & of course the info is always top notch as well. Maybe a money mindset video would be helpful (unless you already have some of those which I’ll go look up now😂). Thanks Christine!
Love this video! I love how she said that the most expensive hobby is retail therapy. I also think horses are a good fit for the most expensive hobby. 😂 Horse people know what's up!
"Stop late night browsing on Amazon."
My husband yelled "AMEN, HALLELUJAH! from the other room.
😅
😂
😂😂😂😂😂
Husbands will be United on this front!!🤣
For this I make a wishlist and if I still want it in a month I start saving up for it
I started saving for retirement at age 22. I started small putting in the required minimum. From then on every time I got a raise I increased my contribution by 1% keeping the rest in my budget until I was saving the maximum that my company matched. So I contributed 7% of my income which the company matched letting me save 14%.. I retired early at age 63.
Katie you are one of the smart ones!
Am I the only one who finds it sad that we are so enslaved that 22-63 is considered retiring early. 💔
@@paulofell9939 not at all, it really shows that even by doing the “right” thing (starting to save early) doesn’t really pay off. Unfortunately this is why most people can’t retire, or have to come out of retirement to survive.
I don't do that (and many will think it's dumb), I save the money myself instead of gambling it with the stock market (that's all it is). All it takes is a stock market crash, great depression to lose it all. I use all that money to pay off my house first. The first thing they'll take when sh*t hits the fan is your retirement money. Look at France.
@@pri.sci.lla. I think more people need to get out of the system buy some land raise your own food. It really doesn't make sense to me. We work for things we can't even take with us
I started saving money and being frugal 8 years ago, when I was 25. I started because...I stopped smoking and had all this extra money.
Now I had a lot of cash in my saving account and I started travel! I've always want to do that but I never had a money before (when I smoked cigaretts). It's a blast! I'm married now, and my husband makes over 3 times as I do. He even said that I don't need to work. But I want to. Having my own money is a such of freedom.
I still make my groceries like Christina (clearans food, generics brands etc.) and my parents thinks that this is weird. But who cares ;)
We are Debt free, mortgage free, and retired early.
Such great advice here.
Saving for retirement is very important.
Us too!
As we did and are too.
@@andielliott7721 You are one of the Smart Ones!! Enjoy your retirement you deserve it!😁
Us too- still frugal. This is super solid advice.
Tip for Christmas with kids:
We give our kids gifts on st Nicholas day dec 6th. It is wonderful! No stress to get to church or to visit family, the kids have time to enjoy their presents and they are not tempted every single day for the rest of the month with changing their list etc. And we can focus on Jesus on Christmas Day.
Fun thing I'm realizing (that Minimal Mom has continually preached): if you declutter your kitchen, you are more likely to cook. Hubs & I would go out multiple times a week to eat but since we moved into a smaller apt with a more concise kitchen, we've been cooking & even eating leftovers so much more!
For me it was a huge mind shift from "I deserve a treat of eating out" to "Why am I paying 3x more for unhealthy food? Don't I deserve to take that money and line my own pockets instead of a restaurant owner?"
@@happycook6737 for sure. We still go out some buy maybe once or twice a week (mostly weekends) & it's a lot easier to say nah let's just eat at home
So true! I've also noticed that if I make sure the kitchen is clean before bed I'm more likely to make good decisions the next day.
Yes!!!
Your local library!! Tons of free entertainment options to be had there! Books, music, movies, access to computers with internet etc. At mine they have free crafts and events for kids (and adults!) all the time. I hear some libraries even have lending libraries for tools and things I never would've thought they'd have!
I needed to hear this. My husband was off work ALL of last year due to health reasons, plus I lost my job. We exhausted our savings, and accumulated debt in the process (we were debt free going into it thankfully). Now we feel like we're starting from scratch all over again. He's 55, and we do have some in retirement, but not enough. I'm putting everything extra on bills, then plan to catch up on retirement savings. Life happens, and health problems or job loss can throw a huge monkey wrench into plans.
Honestly I would pay myself first towards retirement, and then prioritize the bills afterwards. Because I wish that was what I had done when I worked somewhere that had a match. Life is unpredictable, there will always be bills and there will not always be enough money. I am not in a situation I planned to be in when I retired and I wish I had saved more towards retirement which would help now with the bills. But whatever you decide I do wish you good luck in the future.
@@jmbirdsong5605 People are losing so much of their retirements right now. So, you may actually be at the same $ amount now as you would have been had you been contributing more. My stomach turns every time I have to check my retirement. Most people have lost between 25-50% of their retirement savings over the last 2 years.
Same, girl!!!
I
(Female, 52)had 2 back surgeries and a knee replacement and was off a whole year while my husband (59)lost his job for 5 months before finding a new one. Burned through savings, cash in tye safe, etc, etc. We are now both working but we are so far behind getting back on track for retirement.
I was off for over a year due to surgeries, so I get this. I'm now paying off debt like mad with an end date of summer 2024. That includes student loans. When I started out, I had 60k in student loans! Now I'm down to 10k.
I wish I could have seen this video when I was 23 😣 in a terrible financial place at 35 now. They need practical info like this in schools. We never learned anything like this.
I hate that ppl claim this but its literally taught in basic math class. Plus American history touches base on taxes too
@@matemahe Canadian here and briefly they touched on budgeting when I was maybe 15 but it was like ‘you’re a single parent of a 6 year old kid who has these expenses and you make $5000 a month, balance this budget’ never anything about taxes or retirement savings
Good luck in your journey! You can't change the past but over time and using the tips things will get better. You can do it!
I started putting $25/month into a 401k when I was 20 yrs old. Best thing I ever did! The amount was adjusted as finances allowed. Hubs started much later in life but together we’ve been able to live debt free for years, send our kids to college with no loans or need for them to work and most recently build our dream retirement home. It wasn’t easy and we made plenty of mistakes along the way. But well worth it in the end. Great advise Christine!
i was one of those ppl you described in the beginning. I never knew whats going on with my finances. I hated not toknow, but I just didnt wanna look at the disaster. A few month ago (when it was really bad finacially), i took some time, started an excel sheet and dug thru all my papers. I listed my income and spendings. Turns out its not as bad as i thought. I started to pay things of i thought i couldnt afford to pay off and I list everything i spend immediatly! Excel does the math for me. It feels so good. And dare I say, I am very proud of myself for doing that. I highly suggest to everybody who is not doing that, to do it!
I'm part of the 1% living outside the US..watching from Europe! We have mandatory retirement contributions, but everything else are actionable tips! thank you Christine!
We have a mandatory retirement contribution in the USA called social security. The problem is people think it will be enough but it won't be.
@@happycook6737 I had no idea! In our case we have 2 different contributions: one to social security: 11% of your income (for everyone), and the "IRS" monthly retention which in my case is over 18% of my income (this one is dependant on your salary it increases the percentage)
@@happycook6737same in Swizerland. Even though we have social security, it is not nearly enough to get by here. So people have 1 or 2 retirement complements.
Mine are not enough as I was a stay at home mom and still work only part-time.
So it is something I think about a lot
And make a will! So if you die before retiring, the people you love or the organization you appreciate gets your hard earned and hard saved money.
Love your financial videos. My ex was a financial disaster. After our divorce (for other reasons) I restarted from scratch (actually less than scratch, lost all money invested in our home) at age 35. I was able to retire at age 60. I put all of every raise into savings unless I was feeling the pinch of not being able to pay my bills then I kept 1% of each raise and banked the rest. I worked more than one job when able. By the time I retired I had no debt of any kind, and a fully paid off home. I’ve been retired now for eight years and, live comfortable and still save money each month.
My mom went theough the same thing but she was married for 35 years. She started from scratch and is no financialy stable on single income , and she never able to be while married.
Sometimes starting again is not such a bad thing
I've just done the same thing, and I admit I 'm anxious about my future. I always worked, but I wasn't in control of our joint fiances, or even my own personal ones until the end... Left an abusive relationship at 35, took nothing with me but a car the bank owns , my cat and 1300 of personal savings he couldn't get to. I'm looking at going back to school, just trying to get my feet under me with a job that'll pay my bills first.
I am the poster child for not being ready for retirement. Wurst thing was helping family too much and now I am living on SS and it is scary.
This was all extremely good advice. As an older gal (I'm 64) I would like to add that it would be prudent to think about purchasing long term care insurance while your young and healthy. My husband and I did not do this, and he is now going to have to be placed in a memory care facility over an hour from where I live in a different state. There are no facilities that I can afford in my town. They are all 8-10K a month. It is not fun to think about and plan for, but you never know what is going to happen 30-40 years down the road as far as your health goes.
I wish we had done this as well. Will you be relocating to be near or making the long drive?
@@mountaingarden8823 I will make the drive. Thank you for your comment Mountain Garden.
My husband and I are hovering around 40. We looked into long term care insurance and unfortunately many aren't offering it anymore. I was also advised that since dementia runs in my husband's family, he would probably be denied anyways
@@No-sv6mu I'm sorry to hear that No. I guess the best you can do is put aside $ so that if you have to face this later you'll at least have some money to help with the cost of care.
No long term care insurance reimburses 8-10000 per month anyway. Save as much as you can and do the best that you can.
My husband and I have put these suggestions into practice the entirety of our married life. We raised a son, put him through university, and taught him these money management tips. We are now comfortably retired at ages 60 & 62. These tips WORK!
I told the ‘kids’ at work to save $50 a month. A couple of comments were, “I can’t afford it”. I watched them spend that much in coffee for the month, Amazon shopping, etc. wish I had someone tell me that as a kid. We were not so well informed back then.
I also recommend prepaying for funeral expenses at a young age, especially if you know you will always be in the area. If not, making sure to have someone you trust as your pay upon death on bank accounts. My family has had 3 deaths recently. One was my 30 year old cousin. Even with a will in place it takes months or years for loved ones to access funds. It is definitely an expensive burden to put on loved ones and you just never know what will happen.
This helped tremendously when my FIL passed. Also think about all the fees not included in a funeral. Like the additional fee for setting the slab in place, headstone, etc.
I recommend cremation and no funeral. Instead of a funeral gather in someone's home, etc. Funerals are ridiculous wastes of money with some costing $20k and up. Basic cremation is under $2k.
Saving money for Christmas has been a life saver for us. We love having big Christmas's for our kids and the last 3-4 years or so I finally started getting serious about saving and NOT TOUCHING the Christmas account. We have automatic drafts come out 2x a month for it and Christmas season is a lot let stressful because of it.
I recommend saving for a year's worth of bills. I had to back surgeries and a knee replacement, I'm 52 PLUS, my husband lost his job for 5 months of that. We burned through savings, cash in the safe, etc, etc. 3-6 months saving for emergencies is CRAP!!!
DOUBLE EVERYTHING!
If you had a bootcamp for finances there would be a lot that would sign up. ✋️
I am thankful for one thing. I work for a Public Service agency and made all my required payments (income driven) and as of today, 1st day of Spring I no longer have Student Loan debt!! I am the poster child for having made wrong choices on this...where my life is concerned. I praise Jesus I owned it, paid, and now FREE!! I love your advise Christine, and you lead by example!❤
We are a few months away to being debt free...the closer we get,I can feel the freedom!I used to get a dopamine rush from shopping...NOW I GET ONE AS I PAY OFF A DEBT!!!
This was one of the most useful segments that I have seen regarding Money $$ Practical, no-nonsense advice. I wish I had gotten this info when I was young! And the young people seeing this, PLEASE take & use her advice. No one ever said “ I’m sorry I saved for my retirement”!
This was good la MN d practical, but what about people who live paycheck to paycheck with things like daycare bills and car emergencies?
I was one of those people that didn't think about money. I spent carelessly and didn't save. I had no idea how much I was wasting on earing out and buying clothes I didn't need. I have changed and love channels like yours. I am tracking my spending and using money responsibly now.
I remember going to the public library with my father to pour over the Morningstar books in the reference section when I became eligible to contribute to my 401K. He convinced me to put in 10% (never changed it) and when I transferred it to an IRA after 23 years at that job it was a very hefty sum. Still working on reducing debt but my future self will be set.
I did not make the wisest financial choices when I was in my late teens and early 20s but, fortunately, I woke up and got my finances in order little by little. I started contributing to my company's 401k plan early (late 20s). That was one of the best things I could have done. I eventually started paying off debt. Becoming debt-free was the second game-changer in my financial journey (with contributing to a 401k being #1 for me). My financial journey was not easy. It was hard to go to a second or third job to pay off debt while friends were out having fun but what a difference it made in the long run. There was such a weight off my shoulders when I became debt-free. And stress that I didn't even really know I had was suddenly gone, too. The journey is so worth it.
That's the same thing I did. It helps financially but not good for a good relationship with other friends and family. That's where you miss out!
We learned this year that a heart attack & the surgery to implant a pacemaker/defibrillator costs well over 300k & counting! Thankfully between insurance & our emergency fund, I'm not losing sleep over the bills. Couldn't have done it if we hadn't chosen to live frugally & get totally debt free years ago.
Two things come to mind:
1) As you enter your 50s, when shopping think about replacing worn out items rather than accumulating new items. At this point in your life, you probably have what you need (and more).
2) Sit your 5th or 6th grader down in front of a computer and show them a compound interest calculator. I grew up before computers/internet and I had a vague concept of how compound interest works but being able to punch in numbers and see the calculations really helps see how money can grow.
My husband yells at his coworkers. Their company matches the first 3% fully and then 50% for the next 3%. They were all young and the other guys wanted to have the money available to party. Husband told them they are leaving free money on the table. Now it's been awhile. We are getting close to 40. Husband has nearly $280,000 in his 401k and his coworkers the same age have less than $50,000. I have a Roth Ira. Time is your best friend when investing.
We have made lots of sacrifices, but we also take yearly nice vacations. We just don't go out to eat often, no Starbucks, we invest wisely. So many people we know are in such a bad position financially. They can absolutely work on fixing it. But it will be harder since there is less time
I've been saving for retirement since 18 and my husband since like 23. We were the only ones in our friends group for the longest time!
And watch Dave Ramsey!!😊👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
In Belgium pension saving is linked to taxes so there is a limit each year. It's around 1000 euro's per year. You can save more but then the taxereturn ist high. So I save the max amount and then use my taxereturn to save for the next year
You’ve talked multiple times about the importance of life insurance and I finally talked to someone through work and found out how amazingly affordable an INCREDIBLE peace of mind can be. My family thanks you 😊
Hi there. Im still listening to your video but i had to comment. If you like saving money on groceries many times im ordering from Amazon. I do compare prices everywhere every day and i have saved a lot of money shopping Amazon for groceries. I live in CANADA in the rurals. Amazon delivers to me because i am a Prime Member and get so many movies etc with my membership. I would never dream about giving up my membership ever.
Every time someone steps in their car to go to the store to buy
You are spending a lot of money. I love the fact that Amazon delivers quickly. Back to your Video.
so many great points… i use my credit card wisely on a budget and payoff each month, i accumulate cash back and that is my christmas savings, along with our change jar, kids always get what they want, and no stress savings…
Great advice, Christine. Another great tip is to increase your 401k paycheck deduction when you get a raise. You don’t have to increase by the entire raise amount - try to increase it by half your raise.
My 401k plan has an option to increment by 1% every year. Set it and forget it!
I love this lady videos she makes videos that matter to real people
Love your show!!! Hello from Canada. For other Canadians watching the 401K(USA) is equivalent to our RRSP. A Roth is similar to a Canadian TFSA.
This was fantastic information. Thank you. I kept a sign in my classroom that said " A Goal Without a Plan is a Wish". I had students all the time what that ment. I was more than happy to tell them the importance of a goal for their education and their finances to help them to make it a goal and not a wish. I always prayed that they took it to heart. I am now retired and enjoying my retirement. However, I give all the credit to my parents who taught me and my siblings about setting goals.
Christine, you are wonderful. 😁
I'm glad you mentioned the spousal IRA. So many people don't realize that is an option, and I have a feeling a lot of people are missing out on that.
You are such a burst of positive energy, thank you for all the great content
All some great simple basic ideas…everyone needs to start with at least number one. You can’t move forward if you don’t know where you are starting.
I’m so excited to say that I will be able to retire in about 7 years at age 52. 🎉🎉 I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!
Something that people need to know about their money and debt. You don't need a lot of money to get out of debt. We paid off over $50,000 with our social securtiy and we didn't have more then a hundred or 2 in our savings. It's easier than you think if you truly want to get out of debt.
The easiest and best savings account I ever opened was the one right after I paid off my vehicle loan. I kept “making my payment” but into a separate savings account from all my other savings accounts. You’re already used to making the payment. Why not continue and let that savings account rapidly build?
I had to flee FOO abuse and was constantly getting bullied at work. I was always in the poor house. The key for me was working on my childhood trauma and mental health. Super hard to ever “get ahead” if you are always having to quit jobs Bcuz of bullies and abuse (the cycle tends to repeat itself until you learn). Also just not excelling at work really Bcuz of the low self esteem. Plus if you’re a single parent. Another thing similar is breaking anything to do with poverty mentality to where you can’t ever imagine getting beyond bare bones survival. I had to create my own never known before stability and also be able to envision a better future before I could even think about any of this other stuff. I wasn’t usually a crazy spender, but seems like I was always never having enough or barely surviving. Better these days esp Bcuz the last time I was bullied at work, I kind of “snapped” and turned the tables on the “downtrodden life” for good.
I never allocated any raises during that raise year. That meant that it accumulated until the next raise when I would acknowledge that I had that increased income and redo my budget. And not use that increase ... BUT that excess that I accumulated went to an IRA to supplement my employer retirement benefits.
I retired early in February and that ended up being the sexiest money ever!
I miss when Quicken had a budget function. I saved every receipt and input what category each cost went into, then could look to see where I was over, or under, spending. "I need a new coat, let's see what I've spent on clothes this past year." "I want that new album, what's my entertainment budget look like ..."
I think Dave Ramsey has free budgeting software on his site.
@@americafirst9144 LOL, I go to his channel, search for "budget," and get like a hundred videos in return. The first one though mentioned the software so THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping.
I'd love more money content from you! I follow every channel, so wherever you feel it fits best, I'll watch it. ;) I like to geek out about money/savings/investing, too, but I don't have a lot of people to geek out with about it, so I appreciate your videos a lot.
Topics that come to mind:
- how to learn to spend/use money after saving for a long time and getting used to that instead of spending them;
- how to stay excited about a goal that's far-reaching (like retirement); mortgage is huge, too, but there's that sense that you can move the line closer and closer, and while in theory you can do the same with retirement if you invest enough, it somehow doesn't feel the same;
- your investing mindset and/or strategy;
- how to talk with other people about money;
- how you come up with/prioritize which goals to focus on
... or anything, really! I really enjoy your budget breakdown videos on the podcast channel.
Thanks for everything that you do!
Thanks I needed this
I wish I could save for retirement. I live pay check to paycheck. I make 40k a year but I only contribute 50 a month. My debt to income ratio is high bc I bought a house in 2022.
If you are a low wage worker, do not put your money in a traditional IRA or 401K. If the only way to get matching from your employer is to use the traditional, find out from your HR how soon you can roll it out to a ROTH IRA. With a traditional IRA you are deferring the taxes, with a Roth you pay your taxes and put the money in and it grows tax free. You want to pay your taxes now, when you’re in a 10% tax bracket, and take your money out at retirement tax free. If you have a successful career you could be in a 37% tax bracket when you retire. You don’t want to pay 37% on the minimum wage you earned when you were 18 years old.
Busted -- 1:30 am !!!! Love visiting you and I learn everyday.!!!
I have bad health . I have a lot of medical bills after insurance!!! I can no longer work but the wonderful state of Oklahoma keeps denying me disability!!!! So we carry medical debt all the time ! I am at my wits end trying to figure out how to keep this under control but have savings and put away enough for retirement.
I have a lady that helps me budget but it's all so frustrating, we need to do some work to our house and I'm trying to figuer out what to do
I have a way of doing this that doesn't change my quality of life. We pay for vacations with cash but still go on them even though we still owe money on our house. Disagree with the taxes as it matters how many deductions you have and not what you make. If you have more deductions than the standard deductions, then get a tax advisor (my father used to be one before he retired). Agree with saving money and that's have a savings account with at least a few months pay in it. I used to help people retire (licensed) and the one thing that matters the most is going into retirement without debt.
Every time I get a raise I bump mine up 1%. Adds up…3,4,5!😊
I live in Dallas and yes, you nailed it, people go to shows and concerts and sporting events. And restaurants. So expensive here.
Started my first 401k the same month I turned 18 and now I have my second 401k with my new job and I’m in the process of combining them 😇 ((edit: I’m currently 23))
That’s awesome! I was a mom of 3 finishing my second degree at your age and wish I would have started retirement and savings as soon as I got that second degree! All those lost years 😢I’m 46 now and have only been saving for 10 years.
@@korriefisher4545 hey thanks!! I’ve been pretty ridiculous about saving money since I got my first job. Honestly, I think it’s been wired into my head to save save save money bc I watched my parents struggle paycheck to paycheck after the ‘08 recession.
That being said tho… a mom of 3 at my age, definitely resolves for a different story line and children are expensive! And you grew up in different economical times than me, both generations still dealing with horrible inflation but the job market was way worse back then than it is now. Nowadays, all employers heavily encourage you to start a 401k and benefits if they have them VS the economic crisis, high unemployment rates, etc of the 2000s/2010 era. You should be proud of yourself too! You’ve come a long way!
Some may disagree, but if you have kids and you are still trying to get your career going see if you are eligible for WIC! No shame in it. We are benefiting from it while my husband is in college (and both of us working btw, just not making a ton yet) and then will be helping fund it when we graduate and get the well paying jobs.
I work in retial and I do good not shopping this going to be hard. I debt free and shop for just needs
When I was single and for the first several years of my marriage, I always did a spreadsheet with paper and pen. It is a visual aid and will help you understand how much money is coming in and how much money is going out. Yes, you do have to watch those paycheck stubs, which now for most people is online. You need to make sure you're being paid correctly. You need to make sure your taxes and other allotments are correct. You need to make sure if they're crediting the right amount of vacation time or sick time. I am in my 70s and about five years ago, I decided to do a spreadsheet again, but this time on my computer. I started out with 15 columns, and now I have 32 columns.
The 32 columns came about because I wanted to finite our expenditures. Example a receipt from Walmart for $168. Well, some of that was food. Some of that bill was clothing. Some of that bill could have been for car windshield wipers etc. It is so good to know where we are spending our money, and how much money we are spending.
I watch this video and I do all these things. But I started my adult life with 60k student loan debt and I'm not the only one. When your student loan debt is a mortgage payment in size, it's really hard to pull ahead. I think this is good advice for older people but younger people should have advice like: buy used cars, save for expenses that adults have (medical, dental, vehicle, etc.). Thrift what you can. Buy cheap but healthy foods, watch the salt and cholesterol. Then live at your parents, if you can, or with roommates and put ALL your money onto the student loan debt. Pay it off in 5 years. Keep expenses low low low until that debt is gone. Don't eat out, no vacations, no cats/dogs, etc etc etc. That's what I'm telling my teens every day. Prepping them for college and living at home through it to save as much as possible. Even with that, they are looking at $20-30k in debt.
Christine, I am glad you put this on here, I saw the whiteboard video about that family budget on your podcast channel, and you could do one of those on here. (What to save for, what to pay off) It is so relevant to being frugal and I found it eye opening and interesting.
She’s talking about retail therapy or buying stuff because you see it on RUclips and you wanna make it too so then you go by all the products to make it and then in my case I put it in a tote forgot I had it and bought it three more times so when I started going through all my craft supplies I’ll donated 14 totes full of craft supplies it’s crazy how it adds up that was close to $500 that I could’ve had for something else now don’t get me wrong I didn’t spend it all in one day that took like four years but still that’s crazy and you don’t realize you’re doing it cause it’s a little here in a little dare but it adds up over time
Love the videos, other great women to follow (in addition to Christine) would be the budget mom & Tori Dunlap ("You don't have to stop spending money- you just have to stop spending money on shit you don't care about.)
I'd love to hear more on how you paid off your house early. We are working on that rn ourselves.
I know that in the long run I am doing the right thing financially but it is really difficult for me in the short-run because I only have about $50 a month for food and yet it's all because of increased maintenance fee on rental properties that I can't sell without incurring a huge capital gains tax
I also need to prove that I have at least $3,500 a month in income if I ever need to move into a one-bedroom apartment that requires that you have three times the amount of the rent as income. They don't even accept a Year's worth of payment in advance or accept my net worth statements
Yes to.pay yourself first. ❤🎉
Christine, you should show the tax ramifications of having a 401k and/or an IRA. People don't realize that by putting money in these saving vehicles their taxable income is reduced, and therefore their taxes go down. Show a comparison of investing in a 401k and their tax bill versus not investing, etc. Some people think they can't afford to pay bills and save at the same time.
It's great you have this is the US.
I live in Europe and there is no such thing. I do my best to save money in an account and I have 3 types of private pensions (one is mandatory). I sense it's not enough but it is all I can afford.
People may also be able to do the comparison themselves using a contribution calculator in their 401k portal. If it’s not there, you can probably find one online.
Amen! Thank you for putting this info out there. I work in the financial sector and am shocked at how many adults don’ t know basic financial info. Appreciate you doing this ❤🎉
How do you save when you are on permanent disability? I dont have debt. No car payment and i keep credit card to zero every month. I dont go out to eat. I have used every tactic to save only to have a medical bill or car issue to pay for. I haven’t bought clothes in a few years. What can I do to change things
Apparently you can do it without paying yourself first. Lol. Cause we did it. We have over a year and 1/2 of living expenses saved up, no debt (not even house or cars) and our checking acct has always had $2000 padding that we don’t touch. It’s not as much as you said we need but that amount has always worked for us, I get paid every time I work and hubby gets paid every 2 weeks so it works for us. Great tips Christine. We have followed most but we have long term care policies and are putting less in retirement than you mentioned. ❤❤❤ Forgot to say we also don’t budget. I took a personal finance class when I was a young married (54 now) and budgeting made me super anxious bc on paper we couldn’t pay our bills however I knew in real life we ALWAYS paid our bills and on time. I got rid of the spreadsheet and we have always just watched our spending. It works and I don’t have anxiety over that 😆 I always thought I was super frugal til I started watching you 🤣🤣🤣
I check my bank sometimes multiple times a day.
How do you save for retirement when you are paying off debt?
That's a good motivator toget out of debt,use some of that,so get going
utilize employer matching benefits, and no more. Then throw everything else at your debt until it's gone. Then throw all that at your retirement. Set benchmark goals and celebrate.
@@FrugalFitDad my husband doesn’t have any retirement options through his employer. What other options do you recommend?
Great advice Christine! I'm one of the non-USA 1%, single disabled household and started saving for retirement in my 20s. It is NOT easy but I just keep thinking of the freedom it will give me in the future. I'm delaying my usual annual lump sum retirement saving this year because inflation is insane in the UK, and I've had some unexpected emergency expenses. As soon as my emergency buffer is topped back up I'll make this year's payment.
The other two things sure in life are dishes 🍽️ and laundry 🧺. Ben Franklin probably never did housework. 12:16
Here in Canada (Québec), it is mandatory to save for retirement and also, most companies put the same amount (or a lower percentage) of money in your retirement fund as you do so it's really worth it.
Thank you for explaining pay yourself first, I always assumed it was investing but I'm not there yet, other then retirement, but I definitely do a lot of savings for sinking funds, etc.
This is what should be taught in school. Sometimes I wonder about these “AP” courses that are a waste of time for practical application
Wise! Everything you said in this video is worth listening and DOING!
Good for you, Christine. This needs to be said.
I have not started to save for retirement. that is my goal for this year. What is some of the side hustle ideals that you have come up with. My oldest is getting ready to graduate high school and I have a middle school child.
I felt like you were looking right at me when you said to stop the midnight amazon shopping 🙈 I have been working hard the last year to kill my debts and am almost out of the hole! I have multiple 401ks from all my jobs. My next investments are starting my kids savings accounts and working on building another sort of retirement fund. I think i haven't been paying myself for a very long time. Thanks for all the info!
Christine, I love your advice. Would love to see a video on advice for young first time home owners. Purchasing vs renting or building. Thanks!
I love Your sense of humor and personality.
Fantastic video - will be sharing!
Have a job but I haven't been paid since mid October 2022. Living off my emergency fund until everything is sorted. So liberating not to feel stressed about my daily needs.
I love that Saturday night sketch. It is great. 😂😂😂😂
I have a decent pay, I only buy needs but I don't see how I can save that much money... maybe it's easier in the states, but in canada living is a luxury.
Difficult here too, many Americans don't have enough money to afford a $400 emergency
Great, clear explanation of why and how to budget. Great job! Thank you!
That was a good talk. I so agree with you to get a CPA for your taxes, that has saved us a ton of headaches. We have been able to get money back too, which we used to pay off debt.
You’re a Ramsey follower! (I think). Love to see how your advice completely lines up with grandpa Dave’s advice. ❤️
Great information. This year was the start of getting debt paid off. I use my side hustle to pay off a credit card since it is 40 or 50 bucks each sale. Tax refund went to debt and I have an extra 300 go out each year in state taxes so I get it back at beginning of year. Plus my job is bad about dropping ball on my county taxes. Chipping away but always progress.
My husband's work just introduced a simple IRA option (they've never offered retirement) with employer matching up to like 3% or something. My husband started contributing 5% and was feeling excited about having over a grand in there within 3 months, until he received his statement from the firm showing he had lost half of that money, since that money was placed in stocks by the firm. He immediately stopped contributing, and now we are looking into other options. We don't fully understand how stocks work, which is the point of the firm, so what are we supposed to do? Just sit on it and potentially lose all the money or wait to see if it eventually gains? It doesn't feel safe.
Go through all your bills… I’ve cut >$250 month by shopping phone and internet plans. That’s money to invest or prepay the mortgage.
Also, look into CDs at your bank. If you don’t need some of your money for 12 months, you can make 4% fully FDIC insured.
Sooo helpful! I love how you talk about money (& just talk in general😂). Your delivery is superb & of course the info is always top notch as well. Maybe a money mindset video would be helpful (unless you already have some of those which I’ll go look up now😂). Thanks Christine!
You are such a gift, Christine 💜 Love your videos!
Thank you so much!
Love this video! I love how she said that the most expensive hobby is retail therapy. I also think horses are a good fit for the most expensive hobby. 😂 Horse people know what's up!