Budgeting is a very crucial part of your finances that will either break you or make you survive into another month. I have a very unpopular belief that says, if we take away the inflation issue, take away the wage issue and wage theft problem in America. I do believe that a lot of people are just simply bad with money.
And I'm no bank-level financial advisor or anything. I've been able to sustain all of my expenses without a hitch. I've paid my monthly loans on time, actually, pretty well in advance we'll say because as soon as I see bills come up infront of me, I want them out of my face as soon as possible.
I always advise people when they're out on their own and that's to watch their numbers. Always total the amount you'll be paid by the month, if it's fixed income. Then, take all of the expenses you're paying for by the month and total them up. Then, subtract the amount of your expenses from the total earning and you'll figure how much you've got left to work with and how you'll spend it if you want to. Saving is also key.
I'm not here to tell you what to do with your money. People get vehemently defensive when you point out the flaws of their spending habits, always treating it as a control issue when you're just simply finding what's wrong with it as they complain all of the time as to why they're broke.
But all I will say in regards to that, is that, you really need to weigh your needs from your wants. Impulsivity is a bad driver in how it ruins our finances. I've done things where I'd be in a store and I'd take something I thought I'd really want to have and I'd carry it around for a while. Eventually over time, the feeling of wanting that thing, washes away because I know that it is simply an impulse issue.
I do get concerned when people lay out their budget plans. They spend triple the amount of groceries for just themselves. They actually even make budgets for bad money sinks like weed and alcohol. They never save anything, it's always spending by the paycheck. You'll never know if something will come up that'll require a specific amount of money and you'll find yourself in a tough situation where you are having to decide whether you want the lights on for another month or your car tire needs to be replaced because you've neglected it for so long that the threads are worn.
My plan is to combine a big income with a healthy hatred for buying things. It's working great so far, but I've hit the limit for what I can chuck into retirement funds so I'm not sure what I'll do when the money number gets too big.
Invest into non retirement accounts. When you have 30x your yearly expenses invested, you can safely retire.
If your 401k, Roth IRA, and Traditional IRA are all maxed out… A) great job! and B) put it into a regular investment account (not recommending Robinhood, but that’s the easiest example). There’s no max on that.
*Roth IRA OR Traditional IRA.
+1 to the good advice, keep investing in a brokerage account. Vanguard has great index funds and you could go with a 3 fund portfolio like VTSAX/VTIAX/VBTLX. I found the target date fund and built the ratios off that but there's plenty of people who do something like 60/30/10 and let it sit.
I recommend M1 for ease of use, but don't bother with their bank account. I use SoFi and Schwab for my investment accounts. Schwab only for treasuries.
donate to food banks or sum shit
Do what I do and chunk it into a self directed investment account. A 3 fund portfolio is easy to set up and runs on autopilot.