Reason for doing this: This will be sorta keeping tabs on my milestones (which I setup arbitrarily) and maybe inspire someone out there who started from 0, that there is hope of one day making it big.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about my personal life (don't want to stalker). But, just so you have some general idea about me: Male, in my late 20s, student with a part-time job, no debt, no other asset (I will be updating this as well in my concurrent posts down the line).
Current "short-term" end goal: $100k CDN Long-term goal: Based on my own perspective, to have enough money to not have to worry about money while living a comfortable lifestyle. To me, this means traveling comfortably (business class flights), helping out close-family and friends, specially my parents (I want them to have the best life), and the general (buy a nice house, 1/2 rental units, maybe even start a business, yada yada (the opportunities are endless)...you get the idea.
So, I've reached my first milestone (10k CDN, didn't put in the title cause that looks very not-dramatic lol), YAY!! It took sometime, but I'm here. When I first started, it felt like it would happen much later. But weirdly, once I started saving and investing, I found all these avenues I could save money in and put it in the market. So, I did that.
Things I learned along the way:
-
Fuck everyone else! Seriously tho, I see so many people buying shit they don't need and asking me to go on shopping trips with them on boxing day/black friday. I'm like, no! And they buy all the nice shit, and are quick to jump on sales and "saving so much money" on the apple ipad, airpods, jackets, and shoes they don't need. Also, this branches into other big ticket items. I wish I could tell so many people, "no, you don't need that $1000 phone. Doesn't matter if it's $700 now. That's not saving money, you're losing $700."
-
This is more related to investing. I lost a lot of money, the last time I got into investing (or I should say currency trading/swing trading). I lost a lot of money because I was trying to time the market, and I got emotional and sabotaged myself. This time, I'm in for the long haul. See ya in 30 years, lol!
-
Treat yourself along the way. I realized I love to cook, or have dinners with friends/family. So, that's what I spend my money on. Once a month or once every two months, I try to arrange a dinner with my loved ones, and have fun! So, I generally let myself spend money in this avenue as I'm pretty strict on other stuff.
-
Two bank accounts. One I use regularly, the other just for saving. I've noticed, if I see money sitting in my checking account (on the one I use for everything), I feel okay spending money on stuff I wouldn't buy otherwise (like going to McD, cause I have money). However, when I usually keep like 5/10 bucks in the checking account, I tend to keep away from spending money on unnecessary shit.
-
This sorta relates to no 4. When I receive some extra money (whether through holiday bonus or something similar), I deposit it into my TFSA. I might just keep it as cash for a while (until it snowballs into a big amount to buy into an equity). Just doing this has kept me from not spending that bonus amount. Putting something in a TFSA makes me think that it's untouchable. I know I'm not gonna take anything out until I've got an emergency.
-
Slow and steady. Even if you have only $50 to put away, don't think that's a small amount (cause it's not). 10 of those, and you have $500. Even though it might feel like you're not getting ahead, I promise you will start seeing the numbers go into 4 digits soon. And don't compare yourself to others. If you see someone celebrating their 1 million/10 millions milestone, remember that they also started from where you have. Or maybe their parents did, then hope that one day you can pass 1 million or more to your child (so that they can be in a similar position).
That's pretty much all I have for now. Also, don't take my advice completely, use your own judgement and utilize it in your own situation. We all have different lives and maybe you know something I don't. In which case, feel free to leave your note in the comments, so that I can learn from you.
Thank you for reading this far down! Cheers! and happy almost new year :)
December 30, 2020 at 05:40AM
