Money Musings 💭 Oops I did it again… 🙊

What you’ll find below:

• Reflection: Oops I did it again…

• Money Move: Calculate your net worth

• How Do You Afford This: From poverty to $510K net worth

• Reel of the Week: The quickest way to feel more in control of your money

In May and June I got behind on my Money Parties (i.e. tracking my spending) which I used to think was completely out of the ordinary for me, but it happens about once per year.

Usually when i’m spending more, and often when there’s travel involved.

Yes, I have some excuses. Things were bananas catching up with work, Maycember, and so much travel, but it was more than that. And this is the third year in a row that it’s happened!

When I have a higher spend month, I am not motivated to look and be accountable. Yes, even I avoid it.

The irony is that I am very aware of what I’m spending while traveling, we planned for it, and most of the spending in question was conscious and intentional. Yet, I still avoid it!

Anyone else?!

After getting behind by 2+ months! I’m happy to report that I’m all caught up.

That being said, I feel called to share how my life was made more difficult and my finances were worse off when I waited to have my Money Parties…

1. It was hard to remember what some expenses even were. So much time had passed that I had to rack my brain. I looked back in my calendar, through pictures and asked J. Was this a mistaken charge or even fraud, or I just forgot? This took a lot of extra time.

2. I missed out on canceling subscriptions. There were a couple of subscriptions that my son was no longer using. I never canceled them because typically looking through my spending is my reminder that they need to be canceled. Womp womp.

3. My spending got less intentional. As someone who’s been tracking my spending and having Money Parties for over 15 years, it’s clear to me when my spending gets less intentional. And while it might start out subtle, over time, as I’m further away from my tracking, I notice my spending swell.

I’m sharing this for two reasons.

First, if you are behind on your Money Parties, I understand the pain of having to catch up and hope this helps you have some compassion for yourself.

This is literally my job, I know it’s the most important ritual we can keep, and even I get behind once per year.

And I also hope it serves as some motivation - a nudge - to catch up or pick up where you left off because tracking has many benefits, all of which I lost during my 2 month hiatus.

If you don’t want to do this alone, join The Money Club! I promise, everything is better with friends.

Join Us

Our next Money Party is on August 11th. We're going back to basics. I'm going to walk you through how to actually track your spending, and the exact steps we need to take at our Money Parties each month. It's a biggie!

Friendly and serious reminder: your net worth has absolutely nothing to do with your worth as a person. It’s just a (fun) way to track progress towards your financial goals and is a great reality check for how things are going.

The equation?

What You Own (Your Assets) MINUS - What You Owe (Your Debt) EQUALS = Your Net Worth

Here’s a handy tool to help you calculate and track your progress.

Once you set up your net worth tracker, set a reminder to update it quarterly. The tracker shows the original balance and the updated balances each quarter.

This allows you to watch your progress quarter to quarter. If it’s fun and motivating to you, you can do this every month at your Money Parties.

Viviana Vazquez, the creator behind OverGenPoverty, grew up watching her dad support a family of five on less than $30K a year in New York City. Today she and her husband Xavi have a combined net worth of $510K and she breaks down exactly how they built it.

Here’s a taste of what we cover:

Her income climb, from a $57,000 teaching salary to $185,000 in tech to a business that’s brought in $130,000 this year

How she became debt free before 25 while paying the rent and buying groceries for a family of five

What it costs to be the first, including helping her parents pay off $80,000 in debt (and taping over her dad’s credit cards)

Her actual payday routine with Xavi, down to the dollar

The World Cup trip to Mexico they spent three years saving for, and whether it was worth it

If you’ve ever been the one your family leans on and wondered if you could still build wealth for yourself, this one’s for you.

Listen now:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
YouTube

P.S. ICYMI, catch a clip from last week’s episode with comedian and dating expert Jared Freid.

Here are all the amazing money moves you made this week CONGRATS! Celebrating you all!

• Theresa M: In the 6 months since I joined The Money Club, I have put $20k into HYSA and already earned more interest than the cost of membership. I also opened a brokerage investing account, automated my savings transfers and set up vaults for specific things, such as property taxes, income taxes and an emergency fund, as well as funding my annual IRA contribution 1 month at time with automatic transfers.

• Lorraine B: Went from negative net worth at 30, to starting investing at 35, to about 200k net worth nearing my 40th while living on my own and in a historically underpaid industry - all thanks to you and other financial feminists!!

• Kristina Y: Had enough FU$ to get out of a bad situation and still have a fully funded emergency fund

• Ann H: My daughter won a merit honor scholar award from UW. It gives her full tuition waiver freshman year

• Rachel K: Halfway to a fully funded emergency fund!

• Rachel: Kept budget in check for June bc there were big expenses at the end of the month!

Share your money wins here!