Saving

How to save your first $100k

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Guru investor Charlie Munger once said “The first $100,000 is a bitch”.  It sure is.  When you start out investing and saving, your money will gain very little from compounding.  Most of your growth will come from putting aside money from your salary and other side income.

Once you hit $100k though, things will start to become a little easier.  For many people $100k seems completely unreachable.  But there are countless stories of people who have been dilligent with their finances and managed to overcome that barrier.  Here are some tips you can use on your journey to ammassing your first $100k.

Read moreHow to save your first $100k

18 Ways to live a more frugal lifestyle and have more money

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Living a frugal lifestyle is not something that just happens overnight.  But over time you can make lots of little changes that will all add up to more money in your bank account.  Here are some my top tips for living a frugal life, let me know your tips in the comments.

Get your finances in order

  1. Start Investing and not just Saving – Using a “savings” account to save money over the long term isn’t very smart.  You actually end up losing money due to inflation and the low interest rates.  You’re better off investing.  There are lots of different ways to start investing and the good news is you can start with as little as $10.
  2. Setup an Emergency Fund – An Emergency fund will help you in the future when unexpected expenses come up.  Setting up an emergency fund is simple and is something all young people should do.
  3. Set yourself saving goals – It’s hard to be frugal if you’re not working towards a bigger goal.  My partner and I recently decided to buy a house together.  So we have a goal of saving the deposit.  This energised my saving efforts.  Come up with a bigger goal that you want to work towards and record your progress over time.
  4. Pay off your debts – Before you start investing or savings, it’s often smartest to pay down or pay off completely your debts.  It’s easy to put them to one side and forget they exist, but you’ll be much happier if you actively try and work on any debt.
  5. Stop gambling – Gambling in Australia is a huge problem for many young people.  In the long run, you’re never going to make a profit gambling.  There are services available to help you stop gambling – even if you don’t think it’s a problem.  If you want to gamble, do it on something like Bitcoin where at least you have a chance of making money in the long term.

Read more18 Ways to live a more frugal lifestyle and have more money

How to build an Emergency Fund

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An emergency fund is money set aside in a bank account to cover unexpected expenses.  Here is why you need one and how to setup an emergency fund quickly.

Unexpected Expenses

At some point in life we are all going to face unexpected expenses.  These might include:

  • Hospital Visits and emergency care
  • Car repairs
  • Home appliance repairs or replacements
  • Unemployment

These expenses can be in the thousands of dollars.  In a worst case scenario you could be faced with both unemployment and an unexpected expense.  

Read moreHow to build an Emergency Fund

Does Raiz Work?

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Raiz is an Australian micro-investing app that invests your spare change in a diversified portfolio.  I’ve been using Raiz (previously known as Acorns) for the past year and I’m going to share my results so you can get a clearer idea of what it does and whether its a good tool for you.

If you’ve been using Raiz, let me know in the comments if you’ve been having success.

Read moreDoes Raiz Work?