Leaving teaching and transitioning to a corporate L&D job came with a salary bump, as well as a wider variety of financial benefits and offerings as part of my total compensation package.
I had to learn to manage my money more actively because I had more choices available. It also helped that my first non-teaching job was in the financial services industry.
So how do I do it?
First, automate as much as possible. Your money should be pulled into investments, retirement accounts, and savings before it ever hits your checking account.
Then, there are a few tools that will make managing your money so much easier.
I started using the YNAB app to gain a view of my spending. Yes, it’s a budgeting app, but a few years in and I now have data insights into exactly how much I spend each much on very specific categories like Rideshares/Parking/Transit (in Atlanta everything is a parking deck) and Big Brother (car registration, tax prep, passport renewals, etc.)
YNAB is synced to all of my accounts and tracks my spending automatically.
For longer term planning, I have a Google sheet with two tabs:
- The net worth tracker from The Measure of a Plan.
- The conscious spending plan from Ramit Sethi to allocate money monthly.
These three tools show me different granular levels – the net worth tracker is a long term plan, the conscious spending plan is the monthly allocation, and YNAB looks at individual transactions. I update them on the first of each month.
Between YNAB, the net worth tracker, and the conscious spending plan, I now have more confidence around personal finance than ever before.
How has actively managing my money helped my mental health? Money anxiety is a thing of the past, and emergencies aren’t really a thing anymore.
Feel free to copy my system, or share yours!
View original post on LinkedIn.
Day Learning Design 