Personal finance doesn’t have to be hard. At the end of the day it’s just about making sure you don’t spend more than you are making, making sure you are saving/investing, and making sure you have the appropriate safety nets in place. Of course in the real world it feels a lot more difficult, with more bills and more expenses (that are feeling more expensive all the time) and not as much of a paycheck as we would like. It’s a constant struggle, even for a personal finance blogger like me. I too stress about my spending, try to find ways to increase my income and worry about the future. 

I’ve been running this blog for over 10 years and have learned a few tricks along the way. These personal finance hacks are pretty easy to get setup with and many of them are of the set and forget genre – meaning you’ll setup a good habit now and not have to worry about it later! Here are a few of my favorites:

Pull money aside pre-paycheck

It’s hard to miss money that you don’t have, and I use this trick to help me save for retirement. I know myself well and if I have an extra dollar in my budget, there’s a good chance I’ll consider saving it, but there’s also a good chance some expense will pop up that the dollar goes towards instead. What I do is have my employer pull money out of my paycheck for a variety of purposes. I have them pull out 15% for my 401(k) retirement plan. I have them pull out 15% for my employer stock purchase plan (which I use to buy company stock at a discount). I also have them pull out money for insurance including my HSA / FSA for daycare. This is all money I never end up seeing in my checking account and therefore don’t miss it! I do notice the money when I log in to my retirement or twice a year when I purchase company stock and it’s a great feeling! It’s nice being able to guarantee to myself that I am saving for my future without really thinking about it!

Keep a budget

There are a lot of budgeting tools out there ranging from the more tech friendly (i.e. YNAB or EveryDollar) to the low tech (a spreadsheet). I have a great budgeting template that I use and it doesn’t take me more than 30 minutes to update each week. What I love most about it is the peace of mind it provides me. By using it I am confident I am a) not overspending (i.e. more than I’m bringing in or have saved for and b) not undersaving (i.e. if I have money leftover I can move it into an index fund via my stock brokerage account or into a high yield savings account). A budget is simply a measuring stick to help you figure out whether or not you’re meeting your personal finance goals. It’s not a “tool that always says no” – it’s a tool that helps you say yes but also understand why you need to say no. 

Take advantage of tax-preferred accounts

I don’t like paying taxes more than anyone else but I do pay them as I appreciate living in my home country of the US for all the public services and benefits it provides. Sure it’s not perfect but we have roads, schools, ambulance/fire, national parks, an army to protect us and a safe banking system where I can feel good about saving my money. However if there are legal ways to reduce my taxes, I will work to do so. The government has setup all sorts of tax-preferred plans for us to use. They want us to do certain things like save for retirement or for healthcare expenses and they give us tax breaks to do so. I’m currently participating in: a Traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), a 529, a HSA, a FSA Dependent care and an after-tax 401(k). My employer offers these as benefits but if they didn’t I would still be able to take advantage of most of them! 

KISS with investing

Keep it Simple Silly is a great mantra I learned long ago and I’ve tried to hold onto it when it comes to investing. When it comes to where I invest my money, I keep 95% of it in a low cost index fund. A low cost index fund basically buys all the stocks in the market, and doesn’t charge you much of a fee to do so. Investing is a bit like horse racing – sure you might place your bet on the winning horse…or you might not. So instead of picking one (i.e. one stock) why not pick them all? And unlike in horse betting where they obviously make it not financially feasible to bet all the horses and win…in the stock market you can. An index fund knows there are lots of winners and losers and overall on average you’ll end up doing better than you had if you picked individual stocks. 

Use a credit card for 95% of my spending

I find that a credit card makes it easier for me personally to keep track of…and I can get credit card rewards by using it too. I like making one (or 5 since I have 5 credit cards) big payment from my checking account at the end of the month vs having debit / check transactions all throughout the month. This helps a bit with cash flow and I find it a bit easier to manage. Of course I have to make sure I have enough in my checking account to pay for this but seeing as how I keep a good budget, this hasn’t been a problem thus far. I always like to say that the second you have to pay interest on a credit card, you’ve lost all the value of any points/miles/cash back you have received!

Do a periodic check on my progress

I’m a big believer in tracking the small victories to help me stay motivated in my overall quest towards financial independence. I also like to try to not obsess over the daily ups and downs of the stock market; I used to do that and ended up worrying too much about my money. So, what I do now is once a month I check all my accounts and track my ‘net worth’. It has been incredibly motivating for me and has encouraged me to keep going in my progress. It’s not easy and doesn’t feel great keeping such a tight budget and having to say ‘no’ to things I want to spend money on (why I now buy that $5 latte) but seeing my overall progress in saving for retirement, paying off our house and saving for the kids’ retirement really helps me remember why I’m saying ‘no’ and trying to be financially responsible! 

Personal finance doesn’t have to be hard! These personal financial hacks work for me and might end up working for you too!