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Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#21

Post by samoa42 »

aliceryhl wrote: post #12

I mostly just have two accounts: a private and a shared account. The shared account is very simple: Every month me and my boyfriend tops it up to 5000 USD, we have a debit card to it each, and all shared expenses including rent come out of this account. By topping it off to a high number like this, we ensure we wont run out within a month, and we just use the debit card for things we need. For my private stuff I have…

> but I'm a poor student

with savings, a personal and a additional 5k usd checking account... sry to burst your bubble but thats called wealthy for most ppl on earth.

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#22

Post by Hackbraten »

_l4jh wrote: post #16

The thing that really worked for me was I only ever buy in person with cash. I almost never use my debit card in person. This simple thing changed my relationship with what I buy. Obviously my mortgage and other monthly payments are direct debit but unless the purchase is several hundred Euros or more I will pay in cash. I always have €200 in cash on me which is enough to cover me at least a week. Then whatever I hav…

How do you feel paying in cash helps compared to cards? I honestly don’t get it. For me, withdrawing and paying cash simply adds unnecessary complexity, and on top of that, it destroys any paper trail you may need for tracking your individual budgets. How come people (mostly in Germany, from my experience) are so obsessed with cash?

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#23

Post by sshine »

Hackbraten wrote: post #22
_l4jh wrote: post #16

The thing that really worked for me was I only ever buy in person with cash. I almost never use my debit card in person. This simple thing changed my relationship with what I buy. Obviously my mortgage and other monthly payments are direct debit but unless the purchase is several hundred Euros or more I will pay in cash. I always have €200 in cash on me which is enough to cover me at least a week. Then whatever I hav…

How do you feel paying in cash helps compared to cards? I honestly don’t get it. For me, withdrawing and paying cash simply adds unnecessary complexity, and on top of that, it destroys any paper trail you may need for tracking your individual budgets. How come people (mostly in Germany, from my experience) are so obsessed with cash?

Having recently received private financial advisory, my advisor recommended that I do exactly this:

Withdraw cash weekly, use only that cash to pay for food.

Supposedly, it will make you more aware of how your spending affects your balance.

Swiping a card "feels free".

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#24

Post by csomar »

I struggled with this before but then I found Banktivity. I have dozens of accounts/cards/debit/credit/savings/investments etc... and Banktivity helps in keeping track of my overall "wealth".

The way I do it is to budget a yearly (or half year) expenses beforehand and then channel it through whatever account for expenses. I'm lucky enough to live in a very cheap place and make enough so I don't have to live pay-check to pay-check.

If I make more than I think enough to cover my next period, I usually spend that on a new Tech gadget, Travel or into savings. But I rarely save these days as I'm trying to maximize my lifestyle before I'm 70 year-old with too much money and little to do.

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#25

Post by stevenicr »

Does anyone have a method for setting a rule, when random-amount deposits into account, take 30% and move to other account? The amount changes every week, so it needs to be percentage not a static number.

Seeing some interesting things in this thread, may be that some of them are normal for Europe or what have you.

Other things talk about automatic this and auto that - but not specific about what makes it automatic? You bank web site?

Interesting just thinking about how some of these things are working, and if there are business account type solutions that are similar.

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#26

Post by smileysteve »

Hackbraten wrote: post #22
_l4jh wrote: post #16

The thing that really worked for me was I only ever buy in person with cash. I almost never use my debit card in person. This simple thing changed my relationship with what I buy. Obviously my mortgage and other monthly payments are direct debit but unless the purchase is several hundred Euros or more I will pay in cash. I always have €200 in cash on me which is enough to cover me at least a week. Then whatever I hav…

How do you feel paying in cash helps compared to cards? I honestly don’t get it. For me, withdrawing and paying cash simply adds unnecessary complexity, and on top of that, it destroys any paper trail you may need for tracking your individual budgets. How come people (mostly in Germany, from my experience) are so obsessed with cash?

The idea is that all of that unnecessary complexity helps make the expenses more tangible. So you're paying with 20s instead of a swipe.

This isn't as much of a problem for the thrifty whom feel similar anxiety in using a card. Most likely people who are actively keeping a mental track of where their balance is after every purchase - or using a ledger.

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#27

Post by astura »

Hackbraten wrote: post #22
_l4jh wrote: post #16

The thing that really worked for me was I only ever buy in person with cash. I almost never use my debit card in person. This simple thing changed my relationship with what I buy. Obviously my mortgage and other monthly payments are direct debit but unless the purchase is several hundred Euros or more I will pay in cash. I always have €200 in cash on me which is enough to cover me at least a week. Then whatever I hav…

How do you feel paying in cash helps compared to cards? I honestly don’t get it. For me, withdrawing and paying cash simply adds unnecessary complexity, and on top of that, it destroys any paper trail you may need for tracking your individual budgets. How come people (mostly in Germany, from my experience) are so obsessed with cash?

The idea is you spend less if getting your money is unnecessarily complicated. Plus since you can physically see your money going away it "hurts" more so you'll be more likely to spend less. This doesn't "work" for everyone.

OTOH what really helped a family member of mine understand how much he was spending was getting a credit card. He was on all cash for years and then moved to all debit. Never had any idea what he was spending because if he needed cash he'd just hit up the ATM or when he was using debit just swipe. He always spent less than he had/made but he wasn't paying attention to the amount on a larger scale. Once he got a credit card (at my suggestion) and started putting everyday purchases on it the bill would come at the end of the month. When he say down to pay it off he had to confront the entirety of the money he spent that month. He'd say "what the hell did I spend ${amount} on?" and he'd comb through the transactions and get a much better idea of his spending habits and was able to reduce the purchases that weren't providing him much value.

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#29

Post by sneak »

Hackbraten wrote: post #22
_l4jh wrote: post #16

The thing that really worked for me was I only ever buy in person with cash. I almost never use my debit card in person. This simple thing changed my relationship with what I buy. Obviously my mortgage and other monthly payments are direct debit but unless the purchase is several hundred Euros or more I will pay in cash. I always have €200 in cash on me which is enough to cover me at least a week. Then whatever I hav…

How do you feel paying in cash helps compared to cards? I honestly don’t get it. For me, withdrawing and paying cash simply adds unnecessary complexity, and on top of that, it destroys any paper trail you may need for tracking your individual budgets. How come people (mostly in Germany, from my experience) are so obsessed with cash?

This could easily be rephrased as “How come people are so obsessed with using payment systems with real-time warrantless government surveillance for all purchases?”

I honestly don’t get it. Why would you pay a percent or two to be surveilled? It creates a time stamped track log, too, which can be easily cross-referenced with (also surveilled) cellphone position.

https://www.wired.com/2010/12/realtime/

Re: Ask HN: What is your financial “setup”?

#30

Post by sneak »

tra3 wrote: post #2

YNAB ( https://www.youneedabudget.com ) for budgeting and tracking spending. It forces you to pre-allocate your funds which ensures that you don't overspend unconsciously via credit cards. I've been very successful with it. > Anything that follows the "don't make me think" philosophy? I don't think that exists. YNAB requires pretty diligent tracking, but the payout (heh) is huge.

The only time I’ve been able to unconsciously spend with credit cards is via automatic billing that manages to batch when I am asleep.
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