Tag: 100stepsmission

Step 27: Build a 3 months living fund

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ 1 Comment
Step 27 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: Build a 3 Months Living Fund
Step 27: Build a 3 Months Living Fund

Once you have built your emergency fund of $1000 (or the equivalent in yourn own currency) for unexpected or emergency expenses, you are going to continue with the new savings goal in line with our mission to reaching financial independence. In this step we look at the ins and outs of a 3 months living fund and you are going to start working towards putting together this fund.

The rationale behind a 3 months living fund is that it would cover your basic living expenses if for whatever reason you no longer receive an income. This might be because you lose your job, are unable to work or voluntarily decide to take time out of work, for example to care for an elderly parent or sick relative or because you want to take time to focus on something else. It a safety net that ties you over for at least three months that will at least cover your basic living expenses for some months, leaving you time to find a new job, an alternative income or just allowing you to take those three months off before returning back to work. Continue reading “Step 27: Build a 3 months living fund” →

Step 26: Open a new savings account

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ 1 Comment
Step 26 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: Open a New Savings Account
Step 26: Open a New Savings Account

Now that you know all about the power of interest over time, are building (or have built) your emergency fund and have started paying down your debt, we are moving on to a new area of your finances: your savings. In the next few steps we will look at your savings in greater detail, but the first step for today is to open a (new) savings account.

Looking at the title and this introduction you might think can skip this step as you maybe already have a savings account, which you are of course free to do. But opening a new account starts with investigating what’s on the market and I recommend you at least read through this step and potentially still consider opening a new account, as it never kills to have more than one savings account, especially if they don’t involve any costs, and because it can be helpful to have different accounts allocated to different savings goals. Apart from that, it is also a good habit to compare saving accounts from time to time, to make sure you are still getting the best deal. And if you find out you aren’t getting the best conditions possible, it is a good moment to consider changing your savings money to a new account. Continue reading “Step 26: Open a new savings account” →

Step 25: Start a Monthly Finance Review

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ Leave a comment
Step 25 of the #100stepsmission to financial independence: Start a Monthly Finance Review
Step 25: Start a Monthly Finance Review

In step 18 we looked at starting a weekly finance review and what to focus on during that weekly half an hour, to ensure you stay on track for that month’s spending, bills and goals.

Today we are going to take this one step further, by starting a monthly finance review, in addition to your weekly review. Whereas the weekly review is incredibly useful to ensure you achieve your monthly goals, the monthly review helps you to achieve your longer term goals that you set out to achieve, such as becoming debt free, getting to a certain net worth or saving a specific amount of money. It is the moment to plan and look ahead a little further and to readjust your goals and spending patterns.

During most months you can probably combine every fourth weekly review with your monthly review, although for your monthly analysis you will need to set aside more time, as you are analysing the entire past month and also looking further ahead. I recommend scheduling in roughly 2 hours every month to complete this step.
Continue reading “Step 25: Start a Monthly Finance Review” →

Step 24: Become debt free

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ Leave a comment
Step 24 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: Become debt free
Step 24: Become debt free

Becoming debt free might or might not have been a goal you identified when you put together your principal financial goals in step 2. Whether this was the case or not, you hopefully have realized that becoming debt free is possible with some extra effort and money, and in your interest (no pun intended) if you want to avoid paying the extra costs of oustanding loans. It might take you three years, 10 years or 20 years, but being able to say you have finally paid down all your debts is a huge achievement. And as we saw in the last few steps, the time it takes to pay off a debt can be sped up incredibly by making extra payments.

The next part of your mission and the main focus of this current step is for you to set yourself goals to pay off your debts. You will set yourself a target date to pay off the first debt that you have already started working on, then for each and every other debt you will do the very same, all the way to the very last debt you will be attacking. That will be your target date to becoming completely debt free. Continue reading “Step 24: Become debt free” →

Step 23: Start paying off 1 debt

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ 1 Comment
Step 23 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: Start paying off 1 debt
Step 23: Start paying off 1 debt

From the previous step you are now up to speed about the positive effect of extra payments on outstanding debts. That leads us to the current step: start paying off a debt. You might think you are already paying off a debt, or several of your debts, but the point here is that you are going to pay off a debt faster by making higher monthly contributions than the minimum required.

When you pay off a debt faster than scheduled, a few amazing things happen:

  • You end up paying less interest, resulting in a lower amount of money paid back overall;
  • It takes less time to pay back the loan, meaning you can tick it off your list a lot sooner;
  • Psychologically it is a great relief to have paid off a debt: one less thing to worry about;
  • It increases your motivation by showing you that you can achieve your goals;
  • And here’s a great thing: once you’ve paid off a debt, that monthly amount you poured into this debt suddenly becomes available, which you can then use in its entirety to pay off another debt, meaning it keeps up that momentum!

Continue reading “Step 23: Start paying off 1 debt” →

Step 22: The impact of extra debt payments

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ Leave a comment
Step 22 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: The Impact of Extra Debt Payments
Step 22: The Impact of Extra Debt Payments

After some rather depressing news to do with debt and interest, it is again time for some uplifting information. In this step we are going to look at how powerful it can be to put extra money towards paying off a loan and how much it reduces not just the time spent on paying back the money, but also the total amount paid back.

This information will hopefully inspire you to find ways of making extra payments towards reducing your debts. As even if they are small extra payments, in the long run, thanks to that friend of ours called compound interest, it will have a huge effect.

Let’s go back to the same example as the one I used in step 21 to illustrate how credit cards work, in which we looked at an outstanding debt of $1000, at a 1,5% monthly interest rate and a payback rate of 3% with a minimum of $10. But this time you make an effort each month to pay the minimum amount (3% of the outstanding debt) and an EXTRA $25 on top of the minimum amount. Let’s see how this works out. Continue reading “Step 22: The impact of extra debt payments” →

Step 19: Budget with the 50/20/30 rule

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ Leave a comment
Step 19 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: Budget with the 50/20/30 rule
Step 19: Budget with the 50/20/30 rule

When you were making your first budget in step 17, you might have felt it was a bit of a stab in the dark. Maybe you would have appreciated a simple formula that indicated how to allocate your money in a way that would just make it faster and easier to budget. A formula that also ensured you’d work towards you goals. Or maybe you were happy to rely on your own methods but would now like to find out about a general indicator of how much to allocate to each area.

In this step we are going to have a closer look at a very common concept in budgeting, the so-called 50 / 20 / 30 rule. I’d like to think of it as a guideline more than a rule, as depending on your financial position and your goals, your expense patterns change and you might spend more or less in certain categories at certain moments in your life. It is therefore wise to not just adopt but to adapt this guideline and adjust it to your own specific needs and circumstances.  Continue reading “Step 19: Budget with the 50/20/30 rule” →

Step 15: Automate your Payments

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ Leave a comment
Step 15 of our 100 steps mission to financial independe: automate your payments
Step 15: Automate your Payments

When looking at all of your expenses in the various categories, you have probably become aware of how many different payments you have and to how many companies. Bills don’t just come in for your utilities and groceries, but also for bank fees, taxes and insurance, and even if you only pay them once a year, there are a lot of bills that need attention.

Many people spend a good amount of time “paying bills” each month and whereas there is an excuse to say that this is a way to more or less know how much you are spending and what you are spending on, there are two major disadvantages:

  • Time investment: going through the various bills and writing checks or making payments online can be very time-consuming;
  • Extra costs: bills not paid on time often result in extra fees.

Continue reading “Step 15: Automate your Payments” →

Step 14: Limit one Expense

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ 4 Comments
Step 14 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence: limit one expense
Step 14: Limit one Expense

In the last few steps we’ve laid all the groundwork to set ourselves up for success to achieve our mission. You should by now have a great overview of all your expenses, how much comes in, how much goes out and very soon you will be setting yourself some more detailed, time bound goals to work towards to. But to get you truly started, create momentum and feed the desire – that hopefully you are feeling by now – to see some positive results, now is the moment to take a very first step towards change. Therefore from today onwards you will by limiting one expense consistently for a whole month.

Does that mean cutting it out all together? Maybe, maybe not. You need to decide what works for you (I know! as always…). It might be that looking at your expenses you have suddenly become aware of how much you spend on your smoking habit, and since you’ve always wanted to give up smoking, now might be the moment. So yes, that would mean eliminating that expense altogether. Or maybe you’re surprised at how much you spend on nights out in the pub on Friday nights with friends. If you don’t want to give up those nights of fun, maybe you can make a commitment to staying in once a month, or going home just that one drink earlier and reducing the expense without cutting them out completely. Continue reading “Step 14: Limit one Expense” →

Step 13: Calculate your Cash Flow

~ Inge Natalie Hol ~ Leave a comment
Step 13 of the 100 steps mission to financial independence
Step 13: Calculate your Cash Flow

Simply put, in personal finance your cash flow indicates how much money you have coming in on a monthly basis, how much is going out and how much the difference is.

As you might expect, having a positive cash flow, where you earn more money than that you spend, is what you want to pursue, as if the reverse is true, you are either building up debt or you are eating away your savings. Having a positive cash flow means you are living within or below your means, and not beyond.

This might sound easier than it is: there might be some months when you have more money coming in than going out, but other months the opposite might be the case, and if your income fluctuates a lot, this might concept might be especially difficult to control.  Continue reading “Step 13: Calculate your Cash Flow” →