I’m so excited to be featured on the Millennial Money Guide! Thanks for the support!
Read the article below.
Tag: plan
Paydays till retirement
How many paydays do you have left until you reach retirement age? Have you ever calculated this?
Perhaps you plan to retire early which means you have even less paydays left, you better work out exactly how many.
Let’s assume you work in a standard job where you get paid monthly. That would mean 12 paydays each year. If you are 35 now and plan to retire at age 65, that would work out to 360 paydays.
So what exactly does this mean?
This is simply a number to help you with your retirement planning and goal setting. You cannot simply have a goal to “save as much as I can”, or “save enough” as these goals are hard to quantify. In fact, you will never know if you have reached your goals.
Your retirement plan needs to include specific amounts. You will most probably want a large pension fund, perhaps you aim to have other income such as rental, and maybe you have assets which you specifically plan to sell when you reach retirement age. These are all great, but they need to be realistic and you need to reassess them often.
Using your “paydays ’til retirement” number you can easily plan and track how you are doing wth regards your retirement plan. You have a set time period and set amount and can use various methods to plan, predict and assess your situation.
Let’s assume you have 360 paydays left, and your goal is to have 2 million in a retirement fund at retirement age. You can simply create a spreadsheet with 360 rows. Show your current fund balance, your current contributions, assumed growth (rather assume a lower growth and plan accordingly) and assumed salary (and contribution) increase (again, take a lower assumption).
This will then show you whether you’re on track or not.
This kind of planning doesn’t take into account major life changes that could happen, and we cannot predict the country and global economy. In fact, don’t try to make things too complicated. Just do some basic calculations and see where you stand.
If you have a financial advisor they can of course assist you greatly with this as they have wonderful software and tools to take into account all sorts of scenarios. It’s definitely worth contacting someone if you feel you need help.
If you’re wondering how to decide what your goal amount should be, that is more complicated and we’ll cover that in some articles soon. In the meantime though, it’s best to read up as much as you can and to consult a financial planner who can assist.
Your number of paydays until retirement will slowly count down. Think of it as a ticking time-bomb… are you ready?
Grocery shopping like a pro
Want to make your money stretch?
Want to be sure that you’re getting the most for your money?
Want to spend less time in the store?
Use these 6 tips to make the best of your time and money when grocery shopping:
1 – Know your budget
The first and most important point is to have a budget! If you don’t have one yet then you may want to start by taking the 30-challenge of tracking your everyday expenses. This will give you a good idea of where and how you’re currently spending your money. This is a great way to start your budget.
If you already have a budget; well-done!
2 – Make a list
Having a shopping list will not only clear your mind and take the “I’m forgetting something” feeling away, it can also speed up your shopping. You can keep a list on your fridge or on your phone and add to whenever you find you need something. Then, before your next shop, read it through and add any extra items you need. Be like Santa and check your list twice.
If you are doing a big shopping spree then categorize your groceries by the following (or something similar that works for you):
- Fruit & Veg (fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs)
- Frozen goods (anything in the freezers)
- Dairy (any dairy goods)
- Meat (if you eat it)
- Dry goods / Other (tins, spices, bread, juices and anything that you would store in your cupboard at home)
- Toiletries (not really groceries but needed)
- Cleaning products
Generally stores keep similar type items together and if you have a list of what you need from each area it saves you from walking around the store several times. You can categorize your items in whatever way makes the most sense to you, but don’t make your system too complicated as you probably won’t keep it up then.
3 – Don’t shop when you are hungry
If you’re hungry you’ll probably pick things off the shelf that you want to eat now! You’ll also over-cater for your next meal as your poor starving brain cannot deal with the sight of all the food. Another concern is that if you are really hungry and feeling that your blood sugar is low, then you will most likely rush to get through your shopping as quickly as possible. Saving money and sticking to a budget will be your lowest priority. Hangry is a real word!
Keep yourself from temptation and rather delay your shopping trip if you’re hungry.
4 – Check prices per unit
Stores change their prices often and we’re conditioned to think that the larger quantity “bulk buying” is always cheaper. Well, it isn’t! Don’t assume something is cheaper just because it’s in a bigger box or because the packaging tells you to “buy in bulk and save”. Always check the price per unit. Not all stores display the “per unit” price but that’s when you need to take out a calculator and work out which size is best to buy.
5 – Use cash
If you only take cash to the store and no credit or debit cards then you really have no option to spend too much. The embarrassment of not having enough money will surely drive even the most out of control shopper to calculate exactly what they have in their trolley. It’s amazing how good you become at shopping when you only have a set amount of cash and no more.
6 – Join the store loyalty program
Most stores have a loyalty card (points card) of some variety. The savings vary but if you shop at the same store often then it is worth joining their program and using whatever savings are offered to you.
Be aware of the marketing though and remember that they will try to entice you to spend more. So remember your budget and shopping list and don’t be tempted to veer off.
Keep Motivated
It’s easy to lose focus on your goals and to get stuck in the relentless routine of working to survive and surviving to work. The day-to-day rush of life can be exhausting and leave you with little time to sit back and think. There are however a few easy things that you can implement to help you stay focused on your financial goals.
Remind yourself everyday
A great way to stay focused on your goal is to remind yourself of it every day! Try one of these ideas:
- Create an image to save as your background on computer or other device.
- Get creative and make a hand-drawn poster stating your goal. Stick it up somewhere.
- Type it up in a word processor and print it out nice and large to display.
- Create a business-card cut-out that you can keep in your wallet.
- Display your goal on a small sticker on the inside of your windscreen so that you see it as you start driving.
- Use post-it notes around the office or house.
Track it
Visually track your progress. Either with a spreadsheet or a hand-written poster. I like to track my goals by months (years or days) left until the “due” date as well as a percentage of achievement. Financial goals are generally easy to calculate progress – if you have an amount and a number of months you can quickly work out a percentage of progress. This doesn’t work for all goals, but you definitely need to be able to track your goal else you’ll never know if you achieved it!
Discuss it
It’s vitally important to discuss your goals and progress with someone you trust. If you’re married this really should be your spouse as financial goals affect you both as a unit. If you are not yet married you could discuss these with a close friend or your financial advisor.
Talking about your goals make them “more real” and helps you to stay focussed as you are now accountable to someone.
Community
Find a like-minded community of people who can encourage you and keep you motivated. Real-life relationships are best, but an online community such as Twitter or Facebook can be very useful too.
Why Save?
This site is all about saving, budgeting and in general taking charge of your money. But saving is hard and requires you to make sacrifices. Is it really worth the effort? You might think that it’s silly to work so hard and then not spend your money; surely that’s why you work and earn money in the first place!
Well, to start with, you need to find balance as you do need to enjoy life and spend money on things that can bring you joy. You need to spend time with loved ones and have fun. There is an old saying “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. We don’t want to become dull (and possibly cantankerous) simply because we focus so hard on saving that we forget how to live. To help you find this balance you definitely need to create a budget and a plan.
There is of course the concept of “living for today and enjoying each day to its fullest” but at the same time we need to look at “the bigger picture”. Saving is your tool to reach your goals and dreams. This is something that is completely in your control and the amount you save, the goals you make and the success is all up to you!
Many people feel that they simply don’t earn enough in order to reach any goals and thus don’t even bother trying. If you seriously look at what you earn and what you spend, you may find that there is actually more than you think. Unless you can find a way to earn more money, you should certainly be looking at where your money is disappearing to.
Here are some reasons why you should save (make your own list of keywords to get you started).
- Better retirement plan
- Less stress knowing that you have some money saved in the bank
- A debt-free (thus stress free) life
- Your children’s education
- Your dream trip overseas
- Your health (being able to afford better choices)
Why not start right away with your first goal?
A new way to measure your wealth
Most people measure their wealth by looking at the value of their house and cars and other things they have. They see value and wealth in their “stuff”. Of course, you can include the value of your pension fund and other investments you have. This is definitely a valid way to measure your wealth (provided of course that the assets you’re taking into account are actually paid off), but I’d like to propose a new way to measure and track your wealth.
It all comes down to one simple question. How many months could you survive without a job? Another way to look at it is to remember that you could be retrenched or fired very easily – whenever your current employer decides that they no longer need you. How long can you survive without any income?
How to calculate this?
Firstly, you need to know what you monthly living expenses are. For this you need a budget. You can manipulate your budget a little as not having a job would definitely cause you to priorities your spending and you would almost certainly immediately stop all frivolous spending. Don’t forget about your debts as you would still need to be paying these! So know how much you need each month to service debts and survive?
Then, how much money do you have available? Think of any savings you have, or money that you could access. Only take into account money that is actually your own. By this I mean that you could possibly access a lot of money from your home-loan, or you could take a personal loan; but that is simply debt. How much money do you have that is your money and that you can access now? Some retirement and pension funds have rules about what age you can access the money at, so think about your situation right now. Don’t forget any other income you may have that would not be affected, such as rental, commission, royalties, etc (At this point we’re not looking at selling assets in order to survive, rather just look at cash and investments)
This excise could help you to relieve some stress if you see that you would actually survive many months without your income, but at the same time this could highlight to you if your finances are in a terrible state. Perhaps you won’t be able to survive even just one month.
When you lose your income, it doesn’t really matter what house you live in, what car you drive or how many diamond rings you have. These things can’t find you food on a day-to-day basis. Having lots of debt makes the situation worse and you could really end up in an awful situation!
The results:
Whatever stage you may be at, set yourself a goal to improve your situation.
0 months – This should be a HUGE WARNING sign to you to take charge of your financial situation immediately!
1 – 3 months – You are not in a great situation, but there is a little leeway should something happen regarding your income. Your situation is definitely not good.
4 – 6 months – You are probably better off than most people but don’t feel too comfortable here as things are still not great. You would most probably survive a job loss as you have some time to find a new job, but it would be a stressful situation!
6 – 12 months – If you are in this bracket then you should feel some relief that you could survive some tough financial circumstances. You are in a good position but don’t think about early retirement or that year of travel yet.
More than 12 months – well done, you are on your way to financial freedom! Don’t forget to keep checking your situation regularly and set goals towards the ultimate goal of Financial Freedom.
Pay yourself first
This is one of those things that you’ve probably heard many times before and you know you should do it, but most likely you don’t. So let’s look at what is meant by paying yourself first, and how it will help you save.
To pay yourself first really means that once you have set up a monthly budget and worked out how much you can save each month, then you should transfer that amount into a savings pocket immediately after being paid. If your bank allows, you can set up a recurring payment to transfer the money each month.
We’re used to setting up payments for accounts and debt repayments, but we seldom take our savings “payment” seriously. You should think of this as another account that you have to pay.
The advantage of transferring the savings amount out to a Savings Pocket immediately is that you cannot be tempted to spend it. You can’t spend what you don’t have (well you can with a credit card but that is a discipline you need to solve for yourself)
Challenge
Work out how much you can save (either actual savings or extra payments towards debt) and set up an automatic payment now to transfer this money. If you’re not sure how to create a budget, read this blog.
