Stop spending on games :(
It’s a tie between getting rid of my car and learning to stop “trading”. Cars are just the worst in terms of finances, and you can save bank if you’re able to move somewhere walkable. Only buy stocks you’re happy to hold for five years or more. A good test is “if the price crashes, would I be excited to buy more?”
Coincidentally, having cars as a hobby has been the worst financial decision of my life lol.
Hobbies aren’t supposed to be about whether they’re a good financial consideration, they’re about passion, self fulfillment and looking after yourself.
This is of course true, but sometimes what you’re getting out of a hobby is not worth the resources you put in.
I think, at least for non-savvy people, that buying individual stocks is not a great idea anyway. If you’re investing to have long term capital gains something like the MSCI World ETF would probably be the better choice. If you invested in that specific index fund in 2016 you’d have doubled your money by now, even during this economic downturn. Sure, you can make more money in a shorter time day trading but that shit is damn near a full time job and more risky unless you heavily diversify your portfolio (which you should do anyway).
Another poster mentioned stocks of the company he works for. My company for example distributes a good amount of their yearly profits to their employees. Meaning that once a year you can choose between a couple hundred bucks one-time payout or get a bunch of company stocks for a heavily discounted price, but they’re trade-locked for two years. At the beginning of 2020 I chose the stock option and the shares got bought right at the beginning of the covid dip. When 2022 rolled around I had essentially quintupled my initial investment in the discounted stocks. So that’s another great tip, provided you company offers similar plans.
Counterpoint to company stock is, if the company has trouble, your stock is likely to plummet at the same time as you lose your job. Definitely go for discounted shares/options, but consider dumping them (ie, diversifying) as soon as you can.
I joined a hotel company a couple of years ago where they offered stock options, which is good and I appreciated it. But there were a lot of people that had worked there for decades just because they felt invested in the company. Meanwhile, working conditions were absolutely awful and the culture was the worst I’ve ever experienced. And I kept thinking how crazy it must have been during COVID as the stock tanked and everyone was staring down the barrel of layoffs. Like, if your employer is your entire retirement plan then you could be in huge trouble all at once.
Buying shares in a company I work at when it started up. I’ve had a 500% return in dividends over 7 years so far.
Putting all the money and labor into one horse is generally not a good financial advice. Glad it worked out for you.
Paying off all our credit cards and cancelling them and living off cheque / savings accounts rather than credit.
We did this about 5 years ago before COVID uncertainty and the current cost of living crisis and I’m just so relieved we don’t have to worry about paying anything off.
If you’re good about treating it like cash, credit cards aren’t a bad thing. The cashback/rewards are nice as they are not taxable. (At least in the US)
That said, for some the temptation of credit is too much.
The gamification of credit card points can be a problem, too (overspending on stuff you don’t really need or want to get those rewards). I use a credit card for this, too, but it can be murky waters if you don’t have really good planning and impulse control (which I will admit I don’t always have myself).
The cashback ones are better than the points collectors. Though they both have some positives.
With the cash back ones you just get money back for spending money that you would have already spent. If you spend enough to get more cash back than the fees for the year then you are ahead. With the points ones if you use them up once a year to get something that you would then not have to spend money on including the yearly fees then you are also ahead.
I get enough enough points to get a gift card for my favorite steakhouse. So we don’t pay each year for our two yearly visits to the steakhouse because of points.
Consistently investing in mutual funds for last 7 years (Systematic Investment Plan)
Bonus: not caring about what others think of my clothes, car, jewellery or gadgets.
not caring about what others think of my clothes, car, jewellery or gadgets.
That really goes a long way.
