Comments on: One Financial Goal to Rule Them All

By: Forbrugslån

Forbrugslån — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:36:05 +0000

Having close to USD 20,000 in your bank account it all times will not only provide you with an emergency fund but also with a more positive mood and feeling of safety every day.

By: Christina

Christina — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:08:03 +0000

Really helpful, I’ll definitely automate a certain portion of my earnings…I just wish I could automate it since I’m a freelance and get my checks personally, once I had the money, I just can’t help it….but I will surely try to figure out something. Thanks for the advice.

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:05:40 +0000

This post reminds me of the motivational quotes:
“Don’t underestimate the power of persistence” and “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step”. As Monevator says this can apply to everything: losing weight, saving money etc.

Most of us have heard of these quotes but in reality it can seem too hard to make that first step or keep going when we hit a rough patch.

My top tip? At least at first, only try 1 thing at a time: -don’t try improving a little on EVERY part of your life simultaneously, otherwise you may lose motivation. Improve a little on one metric and once you gain traction you can move onto the next little improvement.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:21:43 +0000

I think the ‘doing a little better each month’ (or even each day) philosophy works in all sorts of areas of life.

I was on TV in my late 20s (look at me! ) and I thought I was looking overweight and rough… I lamented my lost youth and so on. Happily I decided to just try and look a little bit better each day (by eating better, doing weights etc). It worked.

The parallel with personal finance is as you say very clear.

By: Advicehound

Advicehound — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:01:51 +0000

I really liked this post. Though we are making progress in our debt repayment, lately it has been very frustrating. In the world of personal finance, it seems the articles feel the need to make lists of ways to improve. This tip is simple and easily puts things in perspective. Thanks for a great article.

By: Keith Morris

Keith Morris — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:57:23 +0000

Nice post! Doing a little better each month is a great goal, and I like that you’ve mentioned some action steps that people can take right away to get started. One thing that has helped me tremendously is to start tracking my spending and setting up a budget. It was my new year resolution. Now I have a baseline in January’s spending, and can start making adjustments. In order to set goals for yourself, you have to be able to measure your progress, so tracking is important.

There is some additional information here about setting goals and why they’re important: http://www.lifetuner.org/topics/25-saving/articles/22-why_you_need_goals_and_how_to_set_them