Final Considerations
4 min read.
Conscious spending
As I’ve said in the beginning, there’s a lot to know about managing your finances, and there are several topics that I didn’t address. One is how to spend your money. However, I’m concerned that I’ll get the wrong message across by focusing too much on the savings aspect of personal finances. So let me just say a few things.
It is common sense that spending more now means having less in the future. But this way of thinking can lead to cheapness (and for those of us who are Portuguese, we tend to be too cheap already!). Our goal here is to ensure that we can reach our financial objectives in the future while being able to spend on the things we love now. To be sure, we’ll have to make tough choices and say “no” to certain things, but we want to do so in the least painful way.
And the least painful way to making these choices is to know the exact amount of money you can spend each month. The savings plan that you’ll set up will tell you how much you need to save each month, and how much you can spend each month. Once you know exactly how much you can spend, you’ll spend guilt-free. So remember:
Once you’ve gotten your money under control and you’re hitting your targets, you absolutely should spend your leftover money. Yes, it’s true, every pound you spend now would be worth more later. But living only for tomorrow is no way to live.
—Ramit Sethi, I Will Teach You To Be Rich
I Read The Whole Guide. Am I Good or Should I Read Further?
So, we’re reaching the end. You may be wondering, was reading this article enough, or should I read further? My answer is an unequivocal “hell yes, you should read further”.
To be honest, this guide was particularly directed to my friends. I wrote it because I want them to consider investing in the stock market, as I honestly believe that it is one of the best routes to achieve financial freedom early in life, which I want all of us to have. I thought to myself how I could make them truly consider taking this step, since it is quite complex and challenges our comfort zone, and the only way I found was to write a full guide. I could have tried to convey this message in speech, but it wouldn’t be enough. It’s too much information. It is too challenging. People need time to reflect before planning for their retirement and investing in the stock market, and only with a written walkthrough that they can revisit as many times as they want will they be able to truly consider taking this important step.
I’m not an expert, far from it, so you should take all my advice with a grain of salt. Also, I didn’t cover half the mindset, practices, and tools you can use to manage your finances holistically. You should definitely read further.
I suggest you start by reading I Will Teach You To Be Rich. It’s a great book. Without it and Ramit’s work, I don’t know how I would have started controlling my finances.
The End
I would just like to say thank you very much for reading.
I hope you reach out to me at me@goncalovf.com, for whatever reason.
Thank you again,
Gonçalo
P.S. To those who don’t know me, I’ve been growing my hair for the past 9 months. I have curly hair, so I’m getting the mad-scientist look that I so wanted. As a reward for your great effort of reading this, here’s a 360º video of how it looks now.