If you missed my recent TBF episode with Ramit Sethi, then stop what you’re doing and go listen! He’s a personal finance expert, entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. We chat about how to build a rich life, how to automate your money to work for you, why investing should be boring, why financial advisors might not be a good idea, how to efficiently pay off debt, renting vs. buying, how to shift shame and restrictive attitudes about money, what to do when the market is down and so much more. So, if you’re wondering how to become a rich b*tch, then here are five things that are probably holding you back.
You don’t have a positive relationship with money
Ramit explains how we try to have a healthy relationship with food, our work/life balance, and with friends and family, however we rarely ever think about our relationship with money. So many people have a negative attitude towards money. A lot of us live in fear that we’ll never have enough, but very few of us actually crunch the numbers or figure out how much money we actually need. Being conscious of the way you think about money and how you talk about money will help you better understand the relationship with it.
You don’t know where your money is going
So many of us just bury our heads in the sand and hope for the best. Rather than a budget, Ramit suggests having a conscious spending plan. Nobody likes being told how much money they can and cannot spend, but having a plan will make it so you know exactly where your money is going, rather than wondering where it went. This will also help you feel better about your future because you know exactly how much money you’ve allocated to the things you love most – aka no more feeling guilty about your Starbucks addiction, handbag collection or Target runs.
You have no idea how much you should be spending
Let’s be honest, most of us never learned a thing about money. All those math classes we were forced to take yet nothing about finances. However, there are a ton of great books about personal finances out there, including Ramit’s book I Will Teach You To Be Rich. In his book, he suggests a few simple guidelines: 50-60% of your income should be spent on fixed costs/essentials (housing, food, transportation, insurance, etc.); 10% should be saved; and 20-35% should be spent on guilt-free spending.
You put your finances on the back burner
If you’re constantly putting that financial to-do list off until tomorrow, you’re wasting precious time (and money). You don’t need to know the nuances of compounding interest to know that money makes money over time. So, make it a priority to set up that retirement account, find a bank with a higher interest rate, or cancel those subscriptions that you no longer use. The longer you put off thinking about your finances, the longer you miss out on investment growth opportunities.
You’re trying to time the market
Timing the market is practically impossible. Even the most savvy investors make mistakes. The market can be volatile and the last thing you want to do is lose money because you were trying to play the game. So, make wise investments and avoid making emotional decisions. Ramit suggests buying when the market is down and selling when it’s high. Other than that, have an allocation strategy that suits your retirement goals and risk tolerance.
If you want to learn more about personal finances, I’m linking a few of my favorite books down below.