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Emotional Spending is Awesome

January 25, 2017

Making decisions based on your emotions is usually a recipe for misfortune. In fact, personal finance 101 discourages emotional spending. But…emotional spending is awesome in certain situations.

Why do I say this? Because right now the world feels very bleak. A part of my brain is telling me it’s always been this way. It still doesn’t help the emotional part of my mind from thinking about all that’s going on right now. People are scared, they feel afraid, angry, and unsure of how to continue to move forward.

The past few months have left people to try and make sense of the environment around them and how to foster growth and change in the face of active resistance. It’s been confusing, sad and frustrating. Providing budgeting and saving tips feels empty without addressing the emotional impact people have had lately. All the money tips in the world won’t help if your emotional confidence doesn’t feel full.

Formulating words, messages, and bonding with others. Connecting with people and letting them know they’re understood has been more important than ever.

In times of negative emotions and bleak outlooks, generosity becomes critical. Helping one another out and being there for people. There are a few ways to do this. Donate money or donate your time. Look up organizations that need help and see if you can donate a set amount to them. Find charities whose mission you passionately agree with and get involved with helping them out.

Below is a list of some popular organizations you can learn more about and consider donating to. Use a site like Charity Navigator to figure out the financial health and accountability of different charities.

Planned Parenthood: There has been lots of talk of defunding Planned Parenthood. For decades the organization has provided reproductive health services to women at affordable costs. Half of your donation will go to your local Planned Parenthood affiliate and half to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Donate here.

Center for Reproductive Rights: advocates for reproductive rights, access to birth control, and unbiased information on reproductive health. Donate here.

National Resources Defense Council: They work to safeguard the earth, its people, plants, animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Donate here.

Trevor Project: They provides 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth. Donate here.

National Immigration Law Center: fighting for the rights of low-income immigrants through litigation, policy analysis, and advocacy. Donate or find out how you can attend a training here: Donate here.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund: provides legal assistance to poor African Americans and civil rights and voting rights activists. They bring lawsuits against any violators of civil rights. Donate here.

Do you want to voice your concern to Senators and representatives? Call them! Talking on the phone is a weird foreign thing nowadays but calling (compared to tweeting or Facebooking) is the most effective way to reach them. Find their phone numbers here. Find your congressional district here.

For personal finance, consider getting involved with the Rockstar Community Fund. They do various initiatives focusing on helping one another out, spreading joy, and helping people kick down their debt.

Aside from donating money and voicing concerns, find other ways to connect with people and help out. Take time to express gratitude to someone you know, whether it be an old friend, family member, or someone else. Make discussion a habit and don’t rely too much on survivorship bias. Learn from others outside of your circle and viewpoint. Understand different perspectives and scenarios.

Practicing generosity, using your emotions, opens you up to a new state of mind. For me, it helps me appreciate what I have and develop a develop a deeper motivation for going after stuff.

Emotional spending is awesome and can be used for good. The “spend” part doesn’t always have to involve money. Generosity is spread in many ways. Make time for it.

How do you practice generosity?

What I Would Tell My 22-Year-Old Self

January 16, 2017

Ah, to be 22-years-old again. Young. Full of life. Everything is ahead of you. Life in your early twenties is often a time of fast changes. You graduate college, move different places, start new jobs and begin to figure out what you want and don’t want out of life. It’s a time period of exploration.

Although, a time of exploration usually leads to many confusing periods. You don’t know if you want to stay at this job. You’re not sure if you want to keep doing this career. Should you switch careers? How do you change careers without having to go back to school? Should you break up with your significant other? Why is dating so hard? Oh, and crap, you forgot to turn off the A/C before leaving the house.

As Taylor Swift so eloquently put in her pop anthem “Feelin 22”, you’re often happy, sad, and confused all at the same time.

When I look back on my 22-year-old self, I see a guy who sort of knows what he wants out of life but feels confused amidst all the constant changes. Being young and fresh out of college, a lot of options are pushed at you.

Older adults look at you like you’re an alien when you say you’re not sure if you want to buy a house. According to old fuzzy logic, homeownership is the best thing there is. Renting is just throwing money away *eye roll*. You understand what people are saying but you can’t even imagine saving up the ungodly amount needed for a down payment on a house.

Material possessions get pushed on you at every corner. It’s all under the guise of ‘you deserve it!’. Buy a new car because your old one just won’t do anymore. Go out to eat constantly and call it networking, or brunch, or both. Get the nicest apartment, sans-roommates, that you can get. Those student loans are fine. Just paying the minimums on them is fine (spoiler alert: no it isn’t).

So, my younger self, a lot of things are going to get pushed on you during your twenties. There is going to be an intense pressure by society, peers, and family to constantly be upgrading your lifestyle. Don’t fall into it.

Lifestyle inflation can be a dangerous thing. Don’t contribute too much to it. Let your friends pass you up. They can have their nice cars, restaurant food, big houses, and debt. Focus on you. Stay in your lane! Figure out your why, find your goals and chase them like there is no tomorrow.

Relax and breathe. There is no need to be so stressed out at this point in your life. Right now, you’re relatively string-free. There is no mortgage, kids, or partner holding you down. Relax! Take deep breaths! Everything will work out.

Life is an experience. Learn to enjoy the ride!

*record scratch*

*freeze frame*

Yeah…no. Let me explain. I actually am 22. Right now. Right at this very moment (I just had my half birthday last month!). So why am I writing a list to my 22-year-old self when I am…22? It’s because I’ve been noticing an alarming trend in many of these “what I would tell my younger self” articles. The people writing them seem to almost romanticize their younger self. It’s as if they’ve lost touch with how things were in the situation they look back on.

Let’s assume you just saw a person get in a fender bender. No one gets hurt but the person’s car gets totaled. The people in the car accident would, fittingly, be distraught and stressed. They just totaled their car and they’re already stressed enough about money. After a few years pass, the person looks back on the ordeal and gives a faint smile. I would have told myself to not be so stressed! They reminisce.

It’s easy to offer advice like that. Advice that downplays past situations and even sort of romanticizes them. College commencement address speakers love to offer the ‘embrace failure!’ advice. It’s easier to say that than think about a 22-year-old scraping by with very little after going through a setback.

So, what would I tell my 22-year old self? Listen to advice that doesn’t lean too much on survivorship bias. Remember to take risks, but have them be calculated risks. And most of all, pay attention to advice that doesn’t overly romanticize past times.

To other twenty-somethings out there, I’d refer them to this article, which is filled with solid, sound tips. It’s a good, informative read, sans all the fluffy romanticism.

What do you think of those “what I would tell my younger self” lists?

We’re All Time Travelers

December 8, 2016

Yesterday while fiddling with my phone, I hit the music player and started playing Imagine Dragon’s It’s Time. For a few brief seconds, I felt like I had been transported back to another time.

The transient period went in an out as I listened to the song. Imagine Dragons has been one of my favorites for the last several years. They’re a rock band that rose to fame in 2012 with the hit single “It’s Time”. Some would describe their sound as a variety of indie rock. Just in case you were interested in knowing!

As I listened to the song over and over, memories rushed back to me. Memories from my first year of college when I had blasted the song on repeat. It was a getup type anthem I used for motivation whenever I needed to study or do a shift at work I wasn’t all that excited about.

I continued listening to it throughout the rest of my freshman year. It stuck with me and even when I stopped playing it for awhile when it come on again, the music would instantly take me back.

Listening to it felt like time travel.

Usually, the only time you hear about time travel with the personal finance world is when it comes to compound interest. A young twenty-something gets advice from someone who’s older, wiser, and somewhat regretful about not putting enough money away while they were young.

Or you hear about it when it comes to the apocalyptic outlook the media throws on the social security system.

It’s going to fade away in 2034! BOO!

Those things deal with it but there are additional things time travel touches.

When not all purchases are bad

When you’re money conscious, focused on simple living or even have a frugal mindset, contemplating purchases can be daunting. There’s all this talk about avoiding lifestyle inflation, only buying things you need and value, and decluttering to just the essentials.

Well, what exactly counts as “essential”? Does your iPhone count as non-essential even though you love taking photos with it? Do your book purchases look like an unnecessary luxury even though you’re a dedicated bookaholic?

Simple lesson: purchases aren’t always bad. When you’re buying something because you know it will help you in some way, it can actually be a good thing. And yes, even when that certain something is a big ticket item.

It’s all about investing in yourself. The purchases/investments you make today could set you up towards success.

The idea of decluttering and paring down to just essentials involves going through your possessions. Possessions you’ve accumulated over the years. Possessions that, when you touch them, take you back to the time and mindset when you bought it.

Let’s say you want to learn photography. You’re probably going to want to buy a professional grade DSLR or mirrorless down the line as you develop your skills.

A few years down the line, when that camera is sitting on your table, you’re going to look at it and be taken back to the time when you decided to invest in something and purchase it. It’s a feel good kind of time travel. Except, in this case, you bought something you used to enhance your personal development, rather than something like shoes or a few $12 cocktails.

Habit building

One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1999 film Superstar! starring Saturday Night Live alumni Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell. It’s hilarious in lots of aspects, not the least being the fact that the “high schoolers” were real-life thirty-somethings.

In the film, the main character Mary Catherine Gallager decides to enroll in the school’s talent show. Against some (hilarious) adversity, she perseveres and ends up winning the show.

I know this is a fictional comedic example but it’s refreshing nonetheless. And it shows (in a funny way) how if you start small and keep at something, remaining consistent, you will get where you want to be.

Daily actions are a flavor of compound interest. The actual compound interest is the gold standard that will help you build wealth. Daily actions are the things that help you build personal development wealth. Instead of investing growth, we’re talking about building a habit around something you want to do in life.

Music

With music, aside from my love for Imagine Dragons, there are other songs that when I listen to them, bring me back to remembering a different time.

Listening to American Author’s Best Day of My Life helps me remember my second year of college, when I first started learning web design. In the hours before I walked across stage to accept my college diploma, I replayed One Republic’s Something I Need several times.

We’re all time travelers. We have the ability to look back and see what worked and what didn’t (anybody still sporting frosted tips? No? Okay…). Whether it be through song, building a habit, or making an investment through a purchase, we have the ability to shape ourselves toward something.

I’d like to think my 18-year-old self, the one who jammed out to Imagine Dragons, would be proud that I finally started to be more strategic about investing in myself. Not just from getting better with my money, but learning the importance of investing in myself.

Putting money aside every month for retirement no longer feels like throwing it towards some mysterious time period 40 years from now. Listening to Imagine Dragon’s It’s Time, and thinking of my 18-year-old broke college self, I remember I don’t really want that life anymore. Not contributing to retirement and being at the mercy of social security would give me that similar lifestyle I know I no longer want. It’s a gentle nudge from me…to me, to keep put money aside every month for my older self.

Retirement contributions and investing for personal development are just two of the ways I think of in terms of time travel. What’s yours?

Does Age Matter When It Comes to Money?

December 2, 2016

Recently, while listening to an episode of the Stacking Benjamins podcast about beginner savings advice, a sound bite caught my attention.

One of the show’s guests mentioned how many people don’t reach financial maturity until age 30-35.

I immediately slammed my hands against my desk and blurted out a long “YESSSSS”. Several co-workers proceeded to stare at me in confusion.

It wasn’t that I was excited about people not achieving financial maturity until their thirties. The line connected with me because of the several times people have brushed me off whenever I discussed personal finance.

“You’re only 22! You don’t know anything about personal finance!”

That was the general saying people gave whenever I had anything more than the short, small talk discussion about money. Older adults would dismiss me due to my age, saying that I surely didn’t know that much about personal finance because I was young.

To be honest, it got to me for a while. I would feel under confident whenever I had to mention this blog to people outside of the blogosphere/online world. People couldn’t comprehend why I would be writing about money instead of, I don’t know, working a retail job and partying on the weekends (that’s what the youngins do, right? :)).

The feeling of inadequacy happened even when I attended FinCon, the financial media conference, where everyone is so welcoming. There were established bloggers who were older than me and had several financial experiences under their belt. Certified financial planners were in attendance. The idea of being too young to talk about personal finance definitely got to me.

In a society that likes to have a hate/love talk about all things mortgages and investing, many older adults didn’t know what personal finance topics I would even talk about that would connect with twenty-something young professionals.

So what exactly do you write about on your blog? They would ask with a perplexed expression. It didn’t register with them. They didn’t know why a young twenty-something would want to write about money and love talking about it. In their eyes, they thought the only thing someone my age needed to know about personal finance was to start investing sooner since the magical compound interest train would leave once you hit 30.

Their mindset was relatable in a way, given how many personal finance articles and websites typically just focus on the strict cut and dry rules of how to save money, make money, and make a budget.

The unique behavioral attitudes towards money and things like the psychology of debt and diversity in personal finance are still under-represented.

Before sites like The Financial Diet, there weren’t many places for twenty-somethings to talk about money in a casual, relatable way. Outside of just the “x things to do” and “how-to” articles.

There are several things I talk about on this blog that really should be discussed more among twenty-somethings: refinancing student loans, understanding the psychology behind debt, how to go about picking your first or second credit card, how to pick funds for your 401k and IRA, properly saving for an emergency fund, NOT financing new cars, and learning about how to be more intentional with your spending.

I like covering those things and mixing in personal development with it. Because personal finance isn’t just numbers and following a rule book. It’s a process. Aligning your financial self with your goals to be the best you want to be. Being financial fit.

Will people discredit me, because of my age, when it comes to personal finance?

I don’t seem to be the only personal finance blogger who wonders this.

There was an episode of The Afford Anything podcast that featured several young personal finance bloggers. When the question of if age reduced credibility when talking about money, all four of the show’s guest agreed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever said a word about investing that has been taken seriously by an older person” – Emma Lincoln

I pondered the idea of being an anonymous blogger and how much of a difference it would make. Personally, it doesn’t seem like it would be any different considering most of the “you’re so young, what do you know” comments happen in the real-life, offline world.

I may not have 40 to 50 years of life in me or the experience of dealing with a mortgage but I do have 22 years within me. 22 years of filled with seeing my parents struggle with credit card debt and overconsumption, the experience of taking out and contending with student loans, and most importantly, being around an age group who couldn’t care less about money (but really should).

My questions to you are this: When did you achieve financial maturity? When do you think most people achieve it?

Don’t Leave. Fight.

November 16, 2016

This past week has been a whirlwind with the election, even more so being abroad and hearing about it.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 9th, I sat at my desk, grading papers. My hands were tensed up and I could barely concentrate and kept making mistakes with the grading.

I had forgotten to top up my phone that day so I didn’t have mobile data to furiously check Twitter every five minutes. All of the teachers were banned from talking about the election in the office. Everything felt like it was halted in a slow motion. I did my work and continued to go on with my day. The lingering feeling still stayed. In the back of my mind, I knew madness was going on back in the U.S. and on social media, Twitter especially.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats to see what the outcome would be.

Then I heard the news. From one of the Filipino teachers. Then from one of my Thai teachers.

Not too long afterward, I started getting messages from friends about it, with some saying how lucky I was to not be in the U.S. during this time. This has been said to me a lot lately in the past few months, many of them coming from Americans. The…I bet you’re glad you’re not in the U.S. right now! comments.

Thinking back to the long lead-up to this election, I remember the constant comments of people saying they would leave the country if Trump was elected president. Some were said in jest while many contained an actionable tone. Celebrities continuously made their announcements to the public of fleeing abroad. My brother talked about moving to Ireland (he has citizenship there), and several travelers I have encountered these past few months talked about how they loved not being in America.

The traveler, with all the melodramatic-ness in their voice, would proclaim how they disliked America and dreamed of permanently moving abroad.

Fellow English teachers who, with a few months or years of English teaching experience behind them, would state that they would never return to America.

In these talks, the same general negatives about America would be spouted: the rising health insurance costs, gun violence, low stagnant salaries, seedy politicians, and rising costs of living. These would be contrasted by talking about how delightful it was to be in a low cost of living place like Thailand and how it was “so cheap” to travel Southeast Asia.

These people kept the conversations firmly veered in talking about the negatives of America and never about why it really was “so cheap” to live in Southeast Asia. They were the types of travelers who, while certainly in the minority, were ones I actively tried to avoid.

I moved from America to Thailand in March 2016. These past eight months living abroad, keeping up with the election cycle, and seeing America from an outside view has been interesting to experience. I’ve gotten to see how people around the world keep up with American news.

And it’s been disappointing.

Fellow Americans, who, while denouncing their own country, would travel abroad and spout messages of taking charge of one’s life and embracing change. It didn’t add up.

They visited countries, talked of the rich history via long Instragram captions, and extolled the virtues of travel and being a worldly citizen…all while ignoring their homeland of America. It looked like all they wanted to do was watch America from the sidelines. Not participating, not being involved, and not staying up to date on news.

The biggest discouraging moment to witness is seeing someone give up when faced with an obstacle. That person is in office!? I’m leaving the country! The course of action is to leave rather than stay and work to improve. To participate in change.

Somewhere along the way, people have forgotten to remember the small everyday wins. They’ve forgotten to push forward and push past adversity. The bench is warm and nobody wants to get up and go out.

When they do get up, it’s not always in the best way. Making slapstick jokes on Twitter, liking political-themed memes on Instagram, arguing with someone on Facebook about it, and signing an online petition every now and then shouldn’t be the course of action.

It’s about stepping up, making efforts to educate yourself on the different perspectives, contributing to causes you care about, and understanding that progress isn’t always linear.

Don’t leave. Stay and continue making change, however small it may seem at first.

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