Have you ever thought to yourself – I hope I’ll be able to save 500$ this month ? ……………

The months turn into years and the hope turns into desperation.

For years, I found myself in this situation time and again. I would vow to myself that I would budget X amount for groceries, Y amount for eating out, Z amount for the bills …. and save up the rest.

I believed in budgeting. I believed that if you failed to plan , you planned to fail .

The only problem is , I dislike budgeting. I dislike plans in general. Or rules. If I create a restriction on myself , saying ‘ Thou shalt not spend more than 10$ a week on eating out’ , my whole being conspires against that rule with an intensity and resolve that I wish I showed in other, more useful things.

I was the only one who had to deal with this problem of mine , until I got married.

Both me and my wife agreed that we needed to save more – but that was where the agreement ended. I spent money on eating out twice or thrice a week , and she spent money on buying an inexpensive dress when we “walked by” Goodwill .. I kept mentioning to her that it did not help that Goodwill was right in front of our home, and she was quick to point out that it also did not help that the Thai Restaurant was on the other end of the city.

In other words, we knew we had to budget but we couldn’t do it.

Are you able to relate to our story ? It should be no surprise to know that money is the #1 topic of argument among couples in America. Trust me, I’ve been eavesdropping.

This is such an important problem that needs to be addressed because if left unchecked it will result in a poor bank account balance and a unhappy family.

Why do we suck at budgeting ?

I first thought that I was the problem , that I had to discipline myself and be more , uh … budgety ?

But then I looked around at my friends and family and noticed that everyone did the same thing , but no one talked about it because they all felt like losers …

From my personal experience , I can tell that the main problem I faced was “Analysis Paralysis”.

That’s a fancy way of saying that if you have too many options, you don’t know what to select , so you select none.

When I think of budgeting , I think of where to put that money and it drives me nuts !

Down payment for a house ? Stock market ? Cryptocurrency ? Rental properties ?

Because  I have so many options to be rich , I take time to think about it , and end up poor.

The second major problem I face is of discipline.

I am just terrible at doing the very simple task of sending money from my bank account to my investment accounts on a consistent basis. I can do it for a few months in a row, but then I just lose interest and spend my bank balance on things that I later end up referencing to as a ‘piece of shit’.

In other words, I am a lazy bum , and I do not think that is going to change anytime soon unfortunately.

After marriage there came an additional problem ( Not my wife. I love my wife and so should you.( YOUR wife)) :

My spouse and I have different priorities on what to spend money on.

What I realized over time is that these problems are not unique to us, most people go through the same issue year after year , unable to find a solution.

Is there a magic bullet to address these problems at once ?

No. See you in the next post.

Good news : Yes .

What is Automation ?

Automation is taking yourself out of the picture. Automation is paying yourself first instead of paying yourself last. You do not start the month by budgeting groceries and ending the month by saving what’s left. Instead you set up automatic payments from your bank account for a given date every month and you spend the remaining money guilt free.

No more second guessing what to budget money on and what not to , no more fights with the spouse on the topic of money ( you can move on to different topics ) and just less stress and worry overall.

This is the way to be rich. The best thing is , you do not even need discipline !

This works because we are lazy by nature and once we set up automatic payments to our investment accounts , we are not going to make the simple effort of deactivating it for a long long time !

Me and my wife have set up an automatic payment of half of our take home pay to our investment accounts , scheduled for the 3rd of every month. We no longer get caught up in the analysis paralysis phase of “But maybe the stock market will crash in a month so let’s wait until next month ?” or “Do we really want to invest in real estate now?”

Linking up our investment accounts to our bank accounts took less than 10 minutes and has turned out to be one of the best 10 minutes we ever invested , because it reaps us benefits for a lifetime !

Action Items for you :

An ounce of action is worth more than a ton of knowledge. If you have not done this already , I urge you to invest the next 10 minutes of your time to set up automatic payments from your online bank account to your investment accounts. If you are not sure of where to invest your money in, I will be soon be coming up with a post on what I consider the best investment , but if you are in a hurry and want a quick answer , here it is :

My bank account

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund

And yes, the S&P 500 Index Fund is also another excellent option and the two are very similar in terms of performance, so if you invest in any one of them, you should be good.

Why do I think that is the best option ? I will be providing more information on that in a future post.

For now, decide on how much money you are going to invest every month (I highly suggest you aim for 50% or higher if possible) and then link your account to any existing investment accounts for automatic monthly payments. I highly suggest that you also automate your rent, utility and other bill payments as well. This way you will avoid any late fees in the future and it saves you a ton of stress.

This is a super effective tried and proven method to get rich without worrying too much.

What is more important, you can spend the remaining money on whatever you enjoy with the full satisfaction of knowing that your money is working for you. You can enjoy your today, knowing that tomorrow you’ll be just fine !