Comments on: Here, let me just tell you how much you spend

By: Personal Finance Carnival #1 « PJ EVANS

Personal Finance Carnival #1 « PJ EVANS — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 04:14:01 +0000

[...] Here, let me just tell you how much you spend [...]

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:33:22 +0000

I think if you have the basic system of saving and money management down in practice, then you’re positioned to be more successful (at least on a management side) of business opportunities that may come along. So a little of both would be nice, with emphasis on the first.

By: Her Every Cent Counts

Her Every Cent Counts — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 00:56:47 +0000

It’s so easy to end up spending more than you make. I just wrapped up my first year of a full-time employee and I was under the impression that I was making ‘x’ amount per month when at the end of the tax year I realized I owed hundreds of dollars to the IRS. So much for breaking even.

Life in the Valley is painfully expensive for an entry-level employee. I’m fascinated by entrepreneurship but I’ve only managed to fit in a few freelance web design and writing projects outside of my full-time job. The extra cash is great, but I wonder how much “extra” I should do per month. I’m starting a new job that pays much better than my current job soon, so that’s exciting (I think I will start breaking even if I spend as I do now with my new salary) but that still leaves little to put away. I look forward to more budgeting advice on your site as I really need help in that area of my life.

By: Nikhil Bhat

Nikhil Bhat — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:44:40 +0000

Ramit, the question is this: did you get her number?

By: mariobox

mariobox — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:59:27 +0000

Good question Ramit…The approach I find most useful is to learn some basics on personal finance and creating a system that can be put on autopilot, with the idea of dedicating most of our energy and creativity to find ways to make more money (through personal entrepreneurship). Saving is pretty easy and it can be summarized by developing good habits and learning how to do a budget. The basics of nvesting is also easy: max out your 401K, open and fund a Roth IRA and put the rest in an index fund (and don’t forget to build a short term (5 year) cash fund for planned expenses and emergencies). Then, put as many bills on auto payment so you don’t have to think about them. After that, you may just need to spend a couple of hours a month on keeping an eye on your money and see how are you doing, while using the rest of your time to figure out how to make more money, hopefully doing something you enjoy.

By: Scarfish

Scarfish — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:56:22 +0000

Well, clearly we want it all in all possible ways–we want to save, invest AND spend, AND we want you to write about personal finance, frugality, investing, and entrepreneur topics. And we are nt demanding at all!

In all seriousness, personal finance is by necessity a well-rounded discipline. If you save, but do not invest, you are not benefitting as much as you could. If you match your job’s retirement plan or do a Roth every year, but don’t save for short-term purchases and buy on credit, you’re moving in too directions at once. If you scrimp and save, but are being underpaid and acting as a martyr, you’re doing yourself no favors. We need to combine investing smarts, learning to live below our means, long and short-term planning, and finding a career path (company or self directed) that gives us at least the hope of earning more money over time. I think in all of those areas, anyone who’s reading financial blogs can still use help–so why not cover them all?

By: How Much a Typical Fresh Grad Spend?

How Much a Typical Fresh Grad Spend? — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:00:51 +0000

[...] read Ramit’s recent article. He stated that an girl working for Google spends $1,200/month on rent, $1,000/month recreation [...]

By: communicatrix

communicatrix — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:26:19 +0000

If you’re too lazy to do this, I hate you.

Damn, Ramit. You’re the funniest financial blogger out there.

Keep ‘em coming. You speak the truth!

By: rvb1977

rvb1977 — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:28:23 +0000

Nothing worse than being at Sears to buy a new car battery and watching a middle-class dad take his 16 year old kid to buy rims. What a waste of money!

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:24:25 +0000

Ramit,

If the comments above are representative of your blog’s population of readers, I’d say that we’re quite diverse and we want it all.

Personally, I think that the topics tie together quite well anyway. For the youngin’s who are likely fresh in their careers (or still in school), money is tight, so budgeting, saving and banking are great topics on the road to financial freedom.

For guys (and gals) like me, with a few working years under our belts, we may be in a better position to put away some above and beyond the standard 401k/403b/TSP options. So investing and entrepreneurial advice may be our cup of tea.

For the older guys and gals who are getting towards retirement or are already there, they may be looking for tips on how to make their savings/investments/etc last through their non-working years.

Personally, entrepreneurship isn’t a current interest of mine. For now, investing in a diverse portfolio for the long haul and in CDs for short term savings (3-years or less) is working for me.

As always, I enjoy your blog as is… keep up the good work!