I’m 30 and don’t make much, but I also don’t spend much. I’m trying to spend even less until I make more. I can’t seem to figure out how much money I actually have, which feels like a new problem. I also can’t seem to understand interest, taxes, and how financial systems and institutions work.
At this point, I’m understanding so little that customer service reps are being rude to me. It’s not possible that they’re all gaslighting me. It’s more likely that I don’t and can’t understand because I’m not intelligent.
I’ve been reading, watching videos, talking to CSRs, and talking to family and friends who are doing way better than me. I still don’t get it. At all. I’m starting to think it won’t even matter if I earn more money; I won’t have more money because I don’t know how it works. When I read or watch things, I get the concepts but still can’t understand why nothing looks like it should according to those sources.
How do stupid people without intellectual disabilities figure this out?
How can a stupid person learn about money?
byu/Catrick__Swayze inpersonalfinance
Posted by Catrick__Swayze
19 Comments
ask copilort on your pc for financial advice. tell it what you understand and your ideas and build a framework that you can use to talk with.
Well I would like to help, feel free to ask all of your questions and lets see how “dumb” you are. Maybe you just need a good baseline. Go ahead ask!
Some people have learning disabilities. You should get checked out if you’re having trouble after all you’ve attempted
Start with the simplest of all PF rules: spend less than you earn. Do that and youre 75% of the way there. Also, find some good podcasts and books. Stay away from Googling and random websites, schemes, any programs you have to buy, etc etc. oh, and be very diligent with credit cards or any type of loan. Learn how to calculate the cost of interest, and prepare to be blown away
Don’t start with a defeatist mentality, you’re asking questions and trying to better yourself. You’re not stupid.
A good starting that helped me when I was younger was tracking my spending. Make a spreadsheet, google drive is free, and track how much you brought in and how much you spent. Mark every single thing and then at the end of the month you’ll see where you stand. If you have savings throw it in a high yield savings account and leave it alone except for emergencies.
For learning take your time and take notes. Watch YouTube videos from professors or schools. It should help with the topics you’re interested in.
If you’re able to write this long and coherent of a post, then I question how severe your intellectual disabilities are. Some concepts are hard to get regardless of how intelligent you are.
And most of us are just doing the best that we can, while trying to educate ourselves throughout our lifetimes. Don’t be hard on yourself. Keep trying to educate yourself. Most of the concepts in personal finance are very simple. Control your spending, try to maximize your earning power, make use of the accounts that are available to you to invest if you earn more than you spend, and choose simple, low-cost index funds to invest in.
And don’t be afraid to use help in the form of a fee only financial advisor if you need it.
Write a budget include activities & miscellaneous
Earn more money. Responsibilities, save then other stuff.
Ideally you want to save and get compound interest and appreciating assets.
It’s a process.
Simply: budget, increase earnings , save
When your money is making money is the ideal place.
The audio book ‘I will teach you to be rich” by ramit sethi. Kind of a silly title but, his philosophy is realistic, simple, and provides an excellent roadmap for navigating common financial crossroads adults face (mortgages, loans, saving, investing, credit cards, etc.) An incredible and digestible book to build a base
“Give, Save, Live off the rest.” That’s the advice my pastor shares. I know religion and financial advice don’t often mix, but in this case if you ignore the give part, it actually will make things as easy as possible for you.
Automate your saving! Use the wiki here to figure out what your goals are, then make automated monthly or per paycheck transfers happen as soon as you get paid.
If your first goal is to build a $5,000 emergency fund within a year, set up an automatic transfer of $200 every 2 weeks when you get paid to go into a savings account. You’ll hit it within a year.
If your next goal is to save for retirement, set up an automatic transfer to your ira or a withholding for your work 401k.
If you have other short term goals like a vacation fund, car purchase, house down payment, etc., automate those transfers as well.
Now here is the good news: if you automate your goals up front, you can then live off the rest of what you have in your bank account since you have already saved towards your goals. Watch your account to see how your balance is changing over time. If it’s steadily and slightly going up, your spending is in a safe range. If it is going down or staying flat, you need to likely cut back a little bit so you can afford surprise expenses in the future.
That’s my easy route to good financial health. You can start there, and learn more nuanced ideas as you go.
The richest man in Babylon; free on YouTube
If it makes you feel better, I’ve seen some very smart people make terrible financial decisions. Behavior and good habits are more important to personal finance than intelligence.
If you have specific questions, I’m sure the members of this sub would be happy to help
This sub has a great wiki to learn most of the basics. It’s not that you’re stupid, just uneducated on the topic: remember basically none of this was taught in school
Honestly, this is where Dave Ramsey and his baby steps aren’t bad. Doubly so if you carry debt.
Just stay away from his mutual funds and buy “VTI” instead.
I don’t know, but I think you’re being a little hard on yourself. Don’t forget there’s a lot of people who “explain things“ in the hopes that you’ll buy their product -so it’s in their interest to make things seem more complicated than they are. I also think that teaching is a lost art that no one values, and people are bad about starting at the very beginning.
Like someone else said; If you are spending less than you earn, and able to save money, you are 75% of the way there. People get wrapped around the axle about where to invest, how to avoid taxes, and 100 other schemes. A lot of it will only make a difference on the margins. The important thing is that you are saving where you can, and managing your expenses. It’s a balance thats different for everybody.
If you are able to come up with a budget on a piece of paper, that’s one real good thing to start with. Then you’ll know what you can afford to save, and how you save it is secondary.
As far as investing, Warren Buffett says that index funds with low fees are the best option for 90% of investors -and you can beat actively managed funds a lot of the time. Honestly, that’s good enough for me as a starting point. I like to have some money in things that are very secure as well (like some CD’s through the bank for example). That way if the stock market goes haywire, you are protected a little.
People may call me dumb, but you don’t need to be a financial guru to save money.
Well firstly, you don’t need to understand money to make more money.
Tons of people are high earners and are terrible with money.
So I wouldn’t worry about that or think the two are connected.
Two separate issues.
Secondly in regards to learning about money I can’t say or give a good explanation so I hope the tons of smart people in here will be of better help.
But for me YouTube videos are what helped me learn the most. Especially getting started it was easier to digest and understand and I had fun learning about things I had once paid no mind to. Whatever I didn’t understand I googled. And when I had enough info it. Became much easier to go understand complex topics and understand things I didn’t know as well.
You are not stupid. There is knowledge you don’t currently have. You are smart as you recognize that and starting to learn.
1. Spend less than you earn – this creates savings.
2. Improve yourself to be able to earn even more.
3. As your savings increase talk to people who know about investing to start with some safe investing.
4. You now know more than most people.
You are not stupid or unintelligent just because financial stuff doesn’t agree with your brain. Most gifted folks also have a deficit of some kind, sometimes it makes them struggle to the point that everyone completely misses that they are gifted.
Many libraries and rec centers have free or fairly inexpensive classes that help teach this stuff. Eventually it might be worth it for you to find a financial planner that you trust so that you have someone to help you that won’t just take advantage.
Start simple and keep a daily money journal. Write down what you spend every day. Everything. Coffee, books, etc. Everything. Do it for at least a month.
If you’re looking for a short practical book read the Richest Man in Babylon.
Don’t beat yourself up.