Ideas on Personal Finance
Why saving strategies don’t work Saving money is the most powerful way to get to Financial Independence (FI). However, spending money is fun and saving is not. So it is important to have saving strategies that are easy to follow and can be sustained. I learned this the hard way when I started saving. I … Read more
Transportation does not seem like a big expense item. But there are many components in the transportation area – vehicle cost, maintenance, repairs, insurance, petrol / gas, etc. Add all this together, and transportation can be up to 10% of monthly expenses. How I save money on transportation 1. Not Leasing or Financing a Car … Read more
I was skeptical if I should save money on health insurance. As it turns out, I was able to save a lot by making a few changes! Health insurance was the second biggest spend item for the Finer household (after housing). For the longest time, I did not pay attention to how much we paid … Read more
After struggling to track our spending for a long time, we came up with a simple method. This helped us gain many insights into our spending and eventually helped us get to Financial Independence (FI) a lot sooner. Background: Tracking Our Spend Just like everyone else, we were skeptical about tracking our spending. It is … Read more
This article is part of the My FI Journey series – click here to access the full journey. The Journey Begins I have started focusing on Investing. I am learning that it is not easy to beat the market – I am making money, but the market is up more. It would have been better just leaving my … Read more
Traditional ways of reducing grocery spending (coupon clipping, price comparison, checking items on sale, etc.) were time-consuming and tedious. So we came up with simpler strategies. The average American household spends $6,000 a year on groceries. If you also include the spending on restaurants, the number goes above $10,000 a year. Not to mention more … Read more
Of all the ways to achieve Financial Freedom / Early Retirement (Earning, Saving, Investing), Saving is the most important. Pillars of Financial Independence / Early Retirement There are only three ways to achieve Financial Independence (FI): Earning: Earn more money Saving: Spend less money (Save more) Investing: Invest the savings wisely All three pillars are … Read more
Einstein said that compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. Compounding takes time, but it can provide a big boost to your finances. Compounding: Simple, yet powerful You really don’t know something well until you experience it first hand. I knew how compounding worked in theory. But over the years, I have … Read more
Although this is an ancient proverb, it still rings true. Trying to make a quick buck is enticing and might work sometimes. If someone is a great investor and can consistently pick winning stocks, that is great. However, for most investors – building wealth takes persistence and a lot of patience. I have been investing … Read more
A classic quote that I have, sadly, seen play out many times. Spending money to impress others is nothing new. However, it has been supercharged now with the overabundance of credit and the proliferation of social media. The sad part of this is that there is no end to buying bigger / better things. No … Read more