Hey, Im wondering how do people go about managing their financials, between paying off loans, saving money and investing. Do people feel like they are making the best decisions when it comes to money?
Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#2Mint and spreadsheets to do forecasting.
The forecasting strategies mostly came from "I will teach you to be rich"
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#3I collected data and figured out my family's average costs per week absent fixed expenses.
I have a spreadsheet that has a row for each week. I have it set up so that whenever my wife or I get paid, it adds that to the balance. Whenever a fixed expense is due, it subtracts it. It also subtracts the average costs per week for each week, and accounts for yearly projected bonuses etc.
The spreadsheet also shows any loans/loan payments.
Every few weeks I pay off my credit cards, go and look at my bank account balances, and compare that to the expected values in the spreadsheet. If they don't match, I figure out why and note that on the spreadsheet (i.e., unexpected surgery on dog, unexpected car repair, etc.).
The spreadsheet has conditional formatting that shows green if my bank balances are above my reserve amount for each week (including in the future), yellow if close, and red if under. I can see what my bank balances should be out through 3037 or so, when all my kids should be in college.
With that kind of a spreadsheet, you can instantly see when any loans you have will be paid off, and whether you can afford any purchase you're thinking of.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#4I use Ynab now. I used to use Hledger. Both are good but Ynab is easier for my wife to use. But the key idea is that you try to allocate your money before its spent. That way you know how much to spend.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#5It's all in my brain. It's not a good idea and I know I should be keeping a budget, but every time I try, I end up ending reaching the conclusion that I should just focus on making more money instead. I have reasonable rent, no debt outside of a small car note and state-school student loans, and have good credit. I live a simple life, and I max out my 401k match + a personal IRA. There's not a large amount left over that matters all that much, and fiddling with Excel won't change that.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#6I 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 shop for the fun of shopping.
The result is a guaranteed growing savings which I periodically invest in various assets while trivially maintaining a buffer for emergencies.
The trick is to live modestly even if you have money. Also, stocks are basically equivalent to savings, since with modern tech liquidating funds and transferring them to your bank in an emergency can take as little as minutes.
There's so much uncertainty in money management that you're probably IMO wasting your time micromanaging. Pick a couple decent assets, or even an index fund, diversify with a little bit of gold or alternative market hedges, and leave the funds alone. There's no reason to overthink money management if you plan everything with a healthy buffer - but that requires self control. Less stress this way though.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#7Mint 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?
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#8Every Friday I have a two hour window blocked on my calendar to work on financials. I review and categorize all transactions for the week, review how I am doing on my budget, check my credit score, pay bills, and check in on my goals (paying off debt, savings, etc.). I use Mint as my primary bookkeeping software, I also use Trello as a checklist to make sure I do everything each week and can also manage one time tasks.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#9I don't pay too close of attention to it, I'm fortunate enough that I don't have to watch my finances closely.
I try to keep as little in my checking account as possible. I have enough in a high yield savings account to probably last me a year. I max out my 401k. I have some money in six month treasury bills that gets reinvested whenever they mature. I have a recurring monthly transfer into a brokerage account that I put in a high dividend index fund. The only debt I carry is a mortgage that I overpay on. Anything leftover at the end of the month I throw into a Betterment account.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your financials?
#10i’m 28, i make 36k per year, i have a masters degree and two bachelors degrees, all in hard science. i pay $800/month for rent, i ride public transportation, i try to cook at home, i don’t socialize. i can save about $5k per year. i’m comfortable and could live for a lifetime on less than $40k per year.