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Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#51

Post by monksy »

voisin wrote: post #7
monksy wrote: post #2

Mint and spreadsheets to do forecasting. The forecasting strategies mostly came from "I will teach you to be rich"

Can you elaborate on which strategies you use for forecasting from IWTYTBR?

Laddering, advice from the investments, etc. It's a good book, get it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#53

Post by hef19898 »

Gabriel_Martin wrote: post #43
spurdoman77 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot bitcoin. Lots of bitcoin on the side. That way you can retire in peace.

this is terrible advice. They should put it all on red.

What an amateur advice. Every sophisticated roulette player know you don't do that.

You put it all on Pair.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#54

Post by mcmullen »

I use ledger [0] for all my personal finances. It's probably a little too nerdy for some folks but works perfectly for me: the combination of plain text [1] and the command line keeps me interested.

I highly recommend ledger for any (easily bored) programmer who wants to track their finances (and learn some basic accounting). Note other flavours exist too [2].

[0] https://www.ledger-cli.org [1] https://plaintextaccounting.org [2] https://hledger.org

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#55

Post by ziga »

rgharris wrote: post #12

Lots of reading (books, blogs, etc.) has been helpful for me the past few years and it seems like I pickup new things all the time. A few things I use/reference: - YNAB (You Need A Budget) - budgeting/tracking app, plus lots of great content on how to use the software and generally manage your budget/expenses - /r/personalfinance subreddit - checkout their wiki [1] and flowchart [2] in particular for a really helpful…

I'd second Bogleheads (both wiki and forums) as a great resource for personal finance and investing. This is a good starting point:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_personal_fi...

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#56

Post by tempsy »

I don't keep a strict budget, I am just generally frugal and don't spend a lot of money outside of food, groceries, coffee, and rent/utilities. I also only rarely drink for special occasions, which cuts a lot of expenses as well.

As far as travel expenses go I've been casually churning credit cards for a couple years now. A few new sign up bonuses on travel credit cards pays for most of my personal travel needs every year.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#57

Post by tw600040 »

I wish I learnt a few things earlier. like benefits of Roth IRA, why contributing to 401K is better even though the money is locked in until 60 etc.. felt incredibly stupid not starting them both in 20s. wonder what other no-brainer things like these are there. if any, please do share

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#58

Post by hef19898 »

allovernow wrote: post #6

I live well enough within my means that I don't have to bother with any kind of accounting. On a typical tech salary living in a relatively cheap COL area, I bought a house about half of the price I could afford. I exclusively purchase used vehicles (partly because I am am enthusiast and enjoy working on them, but even a 10 year old low mileage modern vehicle is pretty reliable and cheap to maintain), and I don't sho…

Yeah, that's what we do as well. After the first couple of years in my first job, during which I spent a little bit more on stuff I couldn't afford before (sport equipment and such) but within my means, we stopped spending at a level below what our combined salaries would allow. It's a nice feeling to have enough buffer for a couple of months. And the opportunity to opt for a lower salary without any financial risk. Generally sound advice to live below ones means. And stay there.

EDIT: One thing that helped a lot in doing so was to treat any bonuses, whether that is stock, years end bonuses or any variable salary elements, as just that. A bonus. Don't plan with it as part of your salary, put it aside. And only use it for stuff, like, a house. Or true emergencies.

Also, have a separate bank account at different bank. Put every month, even a small sum is enough, on that account. Every month. Every year. And never look at that account, ever. Until the world is to end and you need cash. Until that point, don't even think about that account, never ever. Forget it is there.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?

#59

Post by hello_moto »

kevmojay wrote: post #47
allovernow wrote: post #6

I live well enough within my means that I don't have to bother with any kind of accounting. On a typical tech salary living in a relatively cheap COL area, I bought a house about half of the price I could afford. I exclusively purchase used vehicles (partly because I am am enthusiast and enjoy working on them, but even a 10 year old low mileage modern vehicle is pretty reliable and cheap to maintain), and I don't sho…

I agree with your conclusion but for me personally, I am afraid of spending even though I have money to spend. And when I do spend the money, it gives me a lot of anxiety. I started keeping track of my budget so I can comfortably spend without the stress.

I feel like you need a goal or you need some sort of framework to make yourself feel safe.

Say here's just an example (DO NOT QUOTE THIS): Most people don't know how much money they should have for retirement. The FIRE movement suggest Expense * 25 = Your Nest so you can take 4% annually. People don't have to follow the FIRE lifestyle but the calculation itself could give some deadline/goals to keep yourself "sane" because Mathematically it looks "sound" (better than NOBODY KNOWS!).

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