No, you haven’t been let go, but you did just get a near 10% pay cut – effective immediately. Not a great start to your Wednesday morning. But that’s exactly what happened to all of us since July of last year whether or not we actually got the audio memo or not.

With the Consumer Price Index (CPI) hovering at 8.5% year over year, Americans are noticeably feeling pain when it comes to paying for everyday items. The price of gas, groceries, you name it, it’s virtually all impacted by the effects of inflation.

To put it all into perspective, someone who earned and spent $50,000 last year now needs to make $54,262.41 to maintain their standard of living. If you didn’t get that year end raise we all hoped for last year, odds are you’re feeling a little pinched, especially if things were already tight to begin with.

To that end, we’ve put together a list of fifteen different ways you can take back your purchasing power, and kick inflation to the curb.

1. Move cash to a high-yield savings account

Having lots of cash sitting idle in low-rate accounts is the most ineffective way to combat inflation.

What cash you must keep on hand, such as an emergency fund or cash to cover everyday expenses, put in an online savings account to recoup as much spending power as possible.

You’re still losing to inflation, but the goal here is to claw back as much earning power as we can.

2. Get a cash-back card

If you’re not on the market for a new car or home, consider opening a new line of credit.

Responsible card owners can take advantage of generous new card offers, many of which have robust cash-back rates on gas, groceries and travel.

With market averages sitting between 1% and 5% rewards on just about every category imaginable, it’s an easy way to earn passive income in perpetuity that helps offset protracted inflation.

3. Take advantage bank bonuses

High interest rates aren’t the only way consumers can cash in on banks’ desires to acquire new customers.

Odds are there are several hundred very free dollars waiting for you at one of many traditional banking institutions.

For example, Citi Bank is currently offering up to $2000 in bonuses for opening a new Citigold account and keeping your money there for 60 days (then rinse and repeat at a new institution). A tiered bonus, you’ll earn $200 for deposits between $10,000 and $29,999, and $2000 if you deposit $300,000 or more. 

Not everyone has that kind of cash on hand, but if you do, and it’s earning .06% at your traditional brick and mortar, this is an easy way to earn a few hundred bucks, and take advantage of their lucrative deposit bonuses. 

4. Use DollarSprout Rewards

Available on Desktop: Chrome | Safari

Most people know about cash back credit cards, which is great (as long as pay off your balance each month). But what most people don’t know is that there are ways to earn cash back even beyond your credit card points. 

With a desktop cash back browser extension like DollarSprout Rewards, you can effortlessly add another 0.5-10%+ cash back from over 15,000 online stores. So let’s say you are shopping online and earning 1.5% cash back with your credit card DollarSprout Rewards offers you a 2% cash back deal at a site, you are now earning 3.5% on that purchase. The extension is free to install.

5. Plan out purchases

The only thing that loses to inflation more than keeping savings in low-yield cash accounts is spending money on frivolous things you never needed to begin with.

Planning out purchases before going to a store helps you stay on track, and something as simple as sticking a written list can help keep you accountable for only buying what you need.

Keeping a budget and tracking your spending are two other proven tactics for keeping the temptation to window show at bay.

6. Cook at home

Food costs have skyrocketed over the last year, and those costs are being passed onto the consumer (and then some extra) by restaurants. Perhaps easier said than done, cooking at home can be a real game-changer when it comes to saving money on food.

One of the best ways to get started with home cooking is to plan out your meals in advance, a few days at a time. If the thought of this sends shivers down your spine, remember that you can have “repeat” meals that you prep in bulk beforehand; you don’t need to cook a unique meal from scratch three times a day.

Related: 14 Smart Ways to Save Money on Groceries

7. Buy in bulk

If money is tight, the last thing you probably want to do is buy in bulk, but in many cases it really is worth it – especially when it comes to food. For instance, buying a 2-pack of chicken breast may cost $3 a pound, but if you buy the bulk pack that comes with 6 breasts, you likely be able to get them for $2 or less per pound. That might not sound like much, but saving over 30% on food that you know you are going to eat will greatly help reduce your monthly food budget.

The trick to buying in bulk, if you are new to it, is to go from buying a 2 or 3-day supply of something and instead buy a 1-2 week supply. You’ll realize the benefits sooner and it will feel more rewarding than buying a 96 pack of toilet paper.

8. Minimize food delivery

Food delivery blew up during the pandemic, and for many of us, the convenience factor made it hard to give up once the world started to return back to normal. If you have a habit of DoorDash (or whatever delivery service you use), cutting back here is an easy way make room for other, more necessary, items in your budget.

9. Go generic

Brand loyalty in the personal finance space is akin death by a thousand papercuts.

A recent study by Accenture showed that consumers spend on average 18% more for products from brands to which they’re loyal when compared to identical products made by other manufacturers._[1]

A good way to make the effects of 8.5% inflation all the more painful is to pay nearly 20% more for them.

But really, even those numbers don’t paint the whole picture.

Take generic medications, for example. A recent FDA-published study showed that generic medications – when six or more companies were in competition – cost up to 95% less than their branded competitors._[2]

Your Excedrin Migraine and Kroger Migraine really are the exact same thing, but you’ll pay nearly 700% less for the latter.

10. Diversify your portfolio

Talk of recession and high inflation have many worried about the state of their portfolio. But moving money to cash or getting out of the markets entirely can do substantially more harm than good.

Instead, experts suggest using periods of fear to ensure that your money is still invested in a safe array of investment vehicles. Being cash heavy will maximize losses to inflation, and being overly equity heavy can inflict even more pain.

Speak with a trusted financial advisor and ask them to show you how your portfolio is invested to protect against periods of protracted inflation.

11. Negotiate bills or cut less-used subscriptions

Regardless of inflation, it’s a good idea to get into the habit of doing this once or twice a year. We’ve all had that free trial that we forgot to cancel or the subscription we’ve been overpaying for for too long (like cable TV).

Also, if you and your spouse both have your own Amazon Prime subscription, make sure you consolidate down to just one. My wife and I basically paid double for Amazon Prime for over a year because we didn’t consolidate.

For more automated help with cutting your subscription costs, check out these bill negotiation apps.

12. Rewards apps for gas and groceries

While broad-use cash-back apps are great for saving money on everyday purchases, one many be able to save even more by using category specific apps.

Cheap gas apps such as GasBuddy or Upside offer savings as high as 25 cents per gallon of gas.

Similarly, grocery apps such as Ibotta allow active users to save as much as $300 per month, according to a company spokesperson.

13. Tackle rate-variable debt

When the Federal Reserve attempts to combat inflation by raising interest rates, this means that many credit products will have increased interest rates. For instance, if you have credit card debt that was previously accruing 20% interest per year, odds are that the interest rate on that same card has increased to 25% APR or more. That means more of your money is going towards paying off the interest than before.

As hard as it may feel, the best time to get serious about paying off your debt, especially your high-interest debt, is now. There are lots of ways to go about doing it, but one of the smartest choices is to prioritize your highest interest rate debt first.

14. Look into inflation-adjusted investments

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are government bonds that help protect you from inflation. They pay interest twice a year at a fixed rate that is adjusted for wherever inflation is at the time.

When a TIPS matures, you are paid the adjusted principal or original principal, whichever is greater.

• Term: 5, 10 or 30 years
• Minimum purchase: $100
• Investment Increment: Multiples of $100
• Issue Method: Electronic

Related: 7 Great Short-Term Investments for Growing Your Money

15. Don’t panic (and get too aggressive with high-risk investments)

Social media is full of stories about people (people often younger than you) getting rich off the latest crypto token or NFT series. While some of these stories are true, there is no shortage of fake hype out there driven by people who want nothing more than to separate you from your money. If money is tight, now is not the time to YOLO it on a dog coin or an animal jpeg.

The post 15 Expert Tips for Beating Inflation appeared first on DollarSprout.

She has a great salary, great benefits, the opportunity to help people — everything you could ever want in a job.

But even though it all looked great on paper, behind the scenes, things were starting to unravel.

Over the past year, she’s been dealing with some extreme burnout (she’s not the only one). It turns out that working in medicine on a short-staffed team during a never-ending pandemic is a grind. And not the kind of grind where you might think “maybe if I work somewhere else, things will be better.” Paige was having that burnout where you question why you even got into this career.

It’s not a great spot to be in. I’ve felt it before and maybe you have, too.

At the peak of her job misery earlier this year, she was desperate to find a way out. Her and I spent many nights after she would get home from work bouncing ideas around about what she should do next.

Lots of options were on the table:

• Find a new clinic to work at, but stay within the same specialty
• Try a totally different specialty, like urgent care
• Become a personal trainer (massive pay cut but better work life balance)
• Become a dietician (pay cut but better work life balance)
• Start her own online health coaching business
• Become a medical device sales rep

Through our many late night conversations, I started to notice a pattern. And the things I noticed with Paige are the same things I’ve noticed with many others who feel trapped in their job with no way out — especially people who are considering entrepreneurship.

We Almost Always Overestimate Risk

Not to spoil the story, but Paige ends up deciding to start her own online health coaching business (you can follow her Instagram here). If you would have asked her two years ago if she could see herself starting a business today, she would have literally LOL’d. Yet here she is. 

For her, making the decision to drop a well-respected medical career and pursue an online business was no small feat. That’s probably the case for anyone in her shoes considering a similar move. There was lots of second guessing and there will surely be more to come. 

In my opinion, most of the second guessing that happened stemmed from three flaws in thinking. And I think most people naturally have the same misconceptions about risk, particularly when it comes to a major career change or diving into entrepreneurship. 

Observation #1: People tend to associate new ventures with risk, but risk exists everywhere

Of the six most viable options Paige had for a fresh start, it was easy to poke holes in each one. It took almost no effort to justify how each one of them could end up being a bad idea.

• Risk of changing clinics
  • What if this burnout isn’t particular to my clinic?
• Risk of changing specialties
  • What if this burnout isn’t particular to my field?
    • Research shows it’s happening everywhere
• Risks of becoming a personal trainer or dietician
  • What if the work isn’t as fulfilling or intellectually stimulating?
  • What if I can’t make as much as I do now?
• Risks of starting an online health coaching business
  • What if I can’t build an audience?
  • What if I can’t get clients?
  • What if it all fails and I have to go back to get a real job?
• Risk of become a medical device sales rep
  • What if I’m not good at sales?
  • What if working on a commission basis is too unpredictable?

Obviously, there is a lot that can go wrong with any of these options. You can’t blame her for being apprehensive about change when it’s framed like this.

But we need to look at the bigger picture here.

We’re assuming her current job is risk free. But is that true?

• What if she get laid off?
• What if she get fired?
• What if the stress contributes to her to making a medical error and jeopardizes someone’s health?
• What if the stress slowly starts shaving years off her life? That’s a thing.

A stable 9-to-5 is stable… until it isn’t.

Any of the above can happen on any given day. And if you’re reading this, the same applies to you (just swap “medical error” for whatever the cardinal sin is in your career). It can all be taken away like that.

Risk is everywhere, no matter what. But once you recognize that it’s always there, it’s easier to stop living in fear of what could or might happen. It frees you to go after what you want despite the risks.

Risk is inherent in our lives — no one’s baseline is zero.

Observation #2: It’s easy to forget the near certainty of staying unhappy in a job you hate

For all of the perceived risks associated with making a bold move and trying something new – regardless of which option she chose – there were many things that were 100% guaranteed to happen if she stayed at her current job.

• She would always have a heavy patient load
• She would always have to rush through appointments to stay on schedule
• She would always have to work well beyond 40 hours per week
• She would always have to get permission to take days off
• She would have another 30+ years of this until retirement

These are absolute certainties if she stays. She’s been there for two years; she knows what can get better and what can’t.

In fact, they can’t even be considered “risks.” They are inevitable.

I think when we are faced with making a big career decision, we focus on the risks of what can go wrong with the new thing. We look at what can go wrong if I leave, versus what will continue to suck if I stay.

We warp the situation in our own heads and we don’t even realize we’re doing it. It’s natural to avoid change even if you want change to happen.

Observation #3: The worst case scenario, if it happens, is almost never as bad as we think

Paige ended up choosing to start her own business, which perhaps has some of the worst “what’s the worst that can happen?” scenarios.

So really, what is the worst that can happen? Here’s a possible doomsday scenario:

• She doesn’t get a single client and makes $0
• She burns through most/all of her savings
• She loses 6-12 months of time that she could have been getting paid to work
• She has to go back and get a real job because the bills still need to be paid
• She suffers minor embarrassment from family and friends who were cheering her on

Now, this is the worst of the worst. There are a lot of ways starting a business can play out negatively, but this exact scenario takes the cake in terms of peril.

For arguments sake, let’s say this has a 10% chance of happening. It’s unlikely, but it’s still very much a non-zero risk.

Well, that is exactly what happened to me when Ben and I started DollarSprout. After about 9 months of trying to get things off the ground, I was totally out of money and my credit cards were nearly maxed out. I had to go back and get a job, but the only one I could find at the time came with a 50% pay cut. It was at a psych ward.

It was the worst possible outcome for me at the time. The unthinkable scenario became very real.

And yet, life went on.

We didn’t let the slow progress keep us from chipping away at it, even while I was making $11.36 an hour as a full-time medical assistant at a psychiatric hospital.

And about ten months later, DollarSprout was making enough money to let me quit that job and give entrepreneurship another shot. Four years later (knock on wood), I am still on my own.

The worst of the worst happened, and yes, it was bad. It was beyond stressful. I hated it.

But it also didn’t last forever, and eventually I was still able to make my comeback.

I think a lot of people would fare better than they give themselves credit for in situations like these.

Don’t be afraid of the 10% chance of disaster, because the disaster is almost never as bad as we think it will be. It probably won’t happen in the first place, and if it does, life really does go on. You will be fine.

TL;DR: If you want to do something, do it. Don’t let the fear of taking a risk hold you back because in most cases, staying stuck is the biggest risk of all.

The post 3 Things I’ve Learned About Risk Taking and Entrepreneurship appeared first on DollarSprout.

Should I work for free?

Ask this question in any freelancing group on Facebook or Reddit and you’ll have no shortage of people offering strong opinions. For some reason this question really strikes a nerve in the freelancing community.

The answer to the question though, in my opinion, isn’t so black-and-white.

In some cases, yes, I think it’s a good idea to work for free.

In other cases – perhaps most cases – I don’t think working for free is a smart decision.

But before I dive into the pits of controversy, here are some starting assumptions:

• Your work has value. Unless you are totally incompetent. But in that case, why are you even offering whatever you’re offering?
• There should always be an exchange of value for your work. In most cases it is money paid for services rendered, but there are other forms of value outside of money. I’ll cover those later.
• You are most likely a new freelancer. Someone with a pipeline full of prospects is almost never going to work for free.

The most common (bad) reasons for working for free:

1. You’ve been offered “exposure”

This is a slick move that is often used by companies that are looking for cheap labor. In nearly every case, the promise of exposure doesn’t end up amounting to much. You need paying clients, and the myth of “exposure” rarely leads to paying clients. You can’t pay your mortgage with exposure, you can’t buy food with exposure, you can’t really do anything with exposure.

2. You’re not comfortable charging clients yet

As a new coach, designer, writer, artist, or whatever you are, it’s always nerve racking the first time you ask someone to pay you money for something. Most 9 to 5 employees aren’t used to having these conversations with prospects, which leads a lot of new freelancers to feel like they aren’t “ready” yet.

3. You want to add a high status client to your portfolio

A high status client can afford to pay you for your work. If they say they can’t, something isn’t right there. If one of these prospective clients suggests free work, run for the hills.

4. You are told it may lead to paid work with that client

More often than not, this is a classic bait and switch move that companies like to use to get free labor. If a company is suggesting this, it’s another major red flag. If they want you to work for free, how well do you think they are going to pay you when you finally have the “privilege” of doing paid work? Probably well below industry average since they already know you are willing to work for free!

“It could lead to paid work down the road” is a very wishy-washy of saying “we don’t want to pay for your work, but even if you do a great job, we want to leave ourselves an out to not hire you”. Stay away from this arrangement.

5. The client says there is no budget for the project

If there is no budget for a project now, there is basically zero chance of there magically being a budget for the project in the near future. There is no upside here to doing free work.

Have a tangible plan to capture the value of your work

If you are going to do free work for someone, it’s up to you to make sure there is still a fair exchange of value happening unless the work is for your mother or a charity close to your heart. Without capturing the value of your work, you aren’t actually moving yourself forward or accomplishing anything.

Besides money, there are other ways to get something out of your work:

• Experience
• A testimonial
• A portfolio piece
• A case study showing a transformation
• Asking for referrals
• Talking points for future sales calls or interviews
• Street cred

This is important. Always be thinking about how you can leverage the work you are doing, regardless of whether it’s free or paid.

How can you turn today’s work into opportunities for tomorrow?

The freelancers that routinely look at their work through this lens are the ones that end up being the most successful. Becoming a better freelancer is a lot more than just perfecting your craft; it’s about putting the whole “value puzzle” together.

The post Should You Work for Free? Here Are 5 Common Scenarios Where You’ll Be Tempted appeared first on DollarSprout.

What’s interesting, though, is that young adults aren’t just worried about their own finances as a result of COVID-19. The same Vanguard survey found that 1 in 4 millennials said one of their top financial concerns was the impact of the pandemic on their parents’ finances.

The truth is, millennials — as well as other adult children — should be worried about Mom and Dad’s money. Even before the pandemic, a significant percentage of baby boomers (the parents of many millennials) weren’t prepared financially for many of the costs they’ll face as they age. Now, they could be in even more dire straits. Young boomers have been the hardest hit of all the generations by the current economic downturn, the Vanguard study found.

But why should you be worried if your parents are having money problems? If they need to count on you for support, your parents’ financial woes could become yours.

Reasons Your Parents Might Need Financial Support

The pandemic’s impact on your parents’ finances should be cause for concern. However, there are plenty of issues facing their generation that could force you to become actively involved in your parents’ financial lives.

• Your parents might not have saved enough for retirement. A 2019 study by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) found that 45% of baby boomers ages 56 to 72 don’t have any retirement savings.
• Your parents’ savings might not last long enough. Even if your parents have saved for retirement, they might not have enough set aside if they live into their 80s or 90s. A report published by the Stanford Center on Longevity found that half of Americans aren’t financially prepared for longer lifespans.
• Your parents might be overwhelmed with medical costs. As people age, the risk of developing chronic health conditions increases, leading to increased medical costs. A majority of baby boomers don’t believe they have enough money for health care expenses in retirement, according to IRI.
• Your parents might need to move in with you. During and after the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, a large number of millennials moved in with their parents. Now the tables are turning. A growing number of parents have been moving in with their adult children, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. That could put a strain on your finances if you unexpectedly add another member to your household.
• Your parents might need long-term care but have no way to pay for it. More than half of Americans turning 65 today will need long-term care, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. However, most people aren’t prepared to pay for the cost of that care. Medicare and traditional health insurance do not cover long-term care. Long-term care insurance does cover the cost of care, but only 11% of adults have it, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. As a result, most people who need long-term care end up relying on family or friends to help.

If you are forced to get involved with your parents’ financial lives for these or other reasons, your finances could take a hit. It’s important to understand what impact this could have on your financial well-being and what steps you can take to limit the damage.

How Your Finances Could Be Impacted

Although most parents don’t want to be a burden on their kids, they might find they have no choice but to ask for financial help. It’s one thing to help pay some bills or let your parents move in with you because they can’t afford to live on their own. However, it’s a completely different circumstance if you have to provide long-term care for a parent who can’t afford to pay for professional care.

Speaking from experience, being a caregiver can be a full-time job. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease when she was 65 and I was 35. In the early stage of the disease, she just needed a little support from me. Within a few years of her diagnosis, though, she needed round-the-clock help preparing meals, taking medications, bathing, dressing, and other daily activities.

Fortunately, my mom had savings and an inheritance to pay for professional care. Otherwise, I would have had to quit my job as a financial journalist to care for her, potentially sacrificing my family’s financial well-being. Or I would have had to raid my retirement account – and my husband’s, too – to pay for her care, which has cost more than $400,000 over the eight years she has been in a memory care facility.

According to AARP’s Family Caregiving and Out-of-Pocket Costs report, on average, family caregivers spend 20% of their income on costs to help a loved one. As a result of those costs, caregivers report cutting back on vacations, eating out, groceries, personal medical care, and even their children’s education. They’ve had to reach into their savings, reduce contributions to retirement accounts, and take out loans.

And more than half of caregivers said they have had to take time off, reduce work hours, or quit their jobs to help family members.

In short, your budget, your retirement savings, your savings for your children’s college education, and even your job could be jeopardized if your parents have to count on you for support.

Related: 4 Reasons You Should Never Lend Money to Friends or Family

5 Things You Can Do to Prepare for Your Parents’ Financial Future

The sooner you and your parents start planning and taking action to improve their financial well-being, the less likely they will have to rely on you for support. Keep in mind, though, that you need to tread carefully. Show your parents respect, compassion, and love as you take steps to help them.

1. Start by talking.

Don’t wait for an emergency to start talking to your parents about their finances. Ideally, you should have family money conversations before your parents retire, and while they still are relatively young and healthy. That way, you can get an idea of where they stand financially or what planning they’ve done in case there is an emergency and you need to help them.

The pandemic offers a natural way to ask your parents about what sort of emergency planning they’ve done. You could start by telling them you’ve been thinking about their health and well-being, then ask what sort of information you would need to know about their finances and wishes if something were to happen to them. Or you could talk about how the pandemic prompted you to take steps such as starting an emergency fund, buying life insurance, or writing a will to be prepared.

Keep the conversation going by gathering more details about your parents’ finances. Then you might be able to work together to fill gaps in their financial plan and bolster your finances in case your parents are counting on you for support.

Related: Should Parents Pay for Their Children’s College Education?

2. Help your parents cut costs.

If it’s obvious your parents are struggling financially, don’t point out mistakes they’ve made or make them feel embarrassed for their lack of planning. Instead, offer to help them look for ways to save money to improve their financial situation.

For example, you could suggest that your parents downsize to a smaller home before retiring. To get a better deal on health coverage, they can use a free service such as Boomer Benefits to compare Medicare insurance plans for them. Or they might qualify for programs such as Medicare’s Extra Help to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

The extra cash in their budget from these savings could then be used to pay off debt or boost retirement savings.

3. Help your parents find government benefits.

You don’t have to shoulder all of the burden if your parents need financial support. They might qualify for help from a range of government programs for seniors.

The Benefit Finder tool at Benefits.gov can help determine if they qualify for help with income support, healthcare coverage, housing, and more. The National Council on Aging also has a free BenefitsCheckUp.org service that can help you identify programs that might help your parents. And you can call the Eldercare Locator’s call center at 800-677-1116 to connect your parents with local support services.

Related: 25 Programs to Get Free Money from the Government

4. Make a plan for long-term care.

Long-term care can be incredibly expensive if your parents are no longer able to care for themselves. According to the 2019 Genworth Cost of Care Survey. costs can range from about $4,000 a month for a home health aide or assisted living facility to more than $8,500 a month for a private room in a skilled nursing facility, With planning, though, your parents might be able to pay for long-term care rather than rely entirely on support from you or other family members.

If your parents are healthy and in their 50s or early 60s, they could buy a long-term care insurance policy that will pay for in-home care or care in a facility. If they don’t like the idea of paying for an insurance policy they might never use, they could buy a permanent life insurance policy with a long-term care benefit. If they don’t need long-term care, the policy will pay a death benefit to their beneficiaries when they die.

Of course, if your parents have retirement savings, they could use those funds to pay for care. They also could use the equity from their home with a reverse mortgage. If your parents have limited income and assets, they might qualify for Medicaid, which pays for long-term care at home and in nursing homes.

5. Protect your finances.

The benefit of talking and planning with your parents before there’s an emergency is that you’ll have time to prepare your own finances. Focus on building an emergency fund, paying off debt, and saving for your retirement. You might even want to meet with a financial advisor to help you create a plan to quickly reach your financial goals so you can afford to help your parents should they need it.

If your parents already need help, keep in mind that your finances have to take priority. Get clear on how much support you can afford to provide, and let your parents know what your limits are. Otherwise, you could end up in the same situation as you age.

You don’t want to ask your children to jeopardize their finances to help support you.

The post How Your Parents’ Finances Could Become Your Liability appeared first on DollarSprout.

But, in my 20s, I had my own tough experiences. I let myself get caught in the consumerist wheel of lifestyle inflation and financial insecurity, and then had relationships – one with a boss, the other with a boyfriend – turn abusive. Looking back, I imagine how differently those scenarios might’ve played out if I’d had a few thousand dollars in the bank.

I could not have imagined those experiences until they happened. We humans have what’s called an optimism bias. We think our lives are going to go better than they likely will.

Nothing truly prepares you like an actual experience. Experience changes you.

How Experience Affects Your Mind

Once those events happened to me, the thought of having less than $1,000 saved left me feeling vulnerable.

That’s what’s happening right now as we’re dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. We are all being changed, and our idea of what we need to feel comfortable is being challenged.

During the first two weeks of the lockdown, my mind was numb, watching a world that before could have only been a Photoshop trick: an empty Times Square, car-free LA freeways, mass graves that could be seen from space.

The world, on pause. No one knew it was possible on this scale. The only thing that truly expands what we think is possible is experience, and we are all having that experience now.

Chances are, you’re not as financially prepared as you’d like to be for this pandemic. I know I’m not. We all know we should save that three- or even six-month emergency fund, but nothing makes that more urgent than the dystopian scene outside our windows.

Imagine how differently this would feel if you had that half a year’s worth of rent payments in the bank.

Understanding Your Biases

You can use this experience to make sure you’re more prepared next time, even if next time isn’t a global pandemic, but any of a million other reasons you might need a few extra grand.

Optimism bias is one bias in our brains that’s being studied by the relatively new field of behavioral economics. Not every bias that helped us as cavemen helps us now, but not all of them hurt us, either. There are a few that can help you prepare for the next unimaginable upheaval.

Right now, what you’re experiencing is called salience bias, according to Dr. Vic Matta, Associate Professor at Ohio University’s College of Business.

This is the fact “that individuals are more likely to focus on items or information that are more prominent and ignore those that are less so. This creates a bias in favor of things that are striking and perceptible.”

We see this in the fact that everyone is talking about COVID-19. It’s in our face right now, reminding us of the importance of having an emergency fund.

The reason we might not have saved one (if we were otherwise financially able to do so), is because of a present bias, also known as hyperbolic discounting, which means that “when most people make decisions, they often prioritize immediate benefits over future gains.”

If you had extra money to save, you might’ve spent it. You might’ve gone on vacation instead of putting the money in a savings account. You might’ve put money toward upgrading your furniture or home-improvement projects that increase the value of your home. Now, you may wish you had stashed your tax refund instead of buying a new laptop.

Instead of assuming everything will work out just as it has, use your present self to nudge your future self into good behavior. One way to do this is to set up automatic transfers into a savings or 401(k) or Roth IRA retirement account.

“I set up a regular deduction of funds from my salary to fund my son’s college education,” said Dr. Matta. “That way I don’t have to repeatedly fend off the bias.”

As time goes on, availability bias will take over. Availability bias is the tendency to use the most recent example as a reason to do something instead of using all the relevant data.

In this case, availability bias may be helpful. If you ask your brain – “Should I save?” It will say, “Yes, remember that pandemic that just happened???”

Dr. Dan Pallesen, a licensed clinical psychologist and a financial advisor, sees this in his work as Chief of Investor Behavior for Keystone Wealth Partners.

“Our older clients still remember living through [The Great Depression and WWII], and you still see the impact in their financial behaviors 70-80 years later,” he said. “Many are still extremely frugal because frugality was a matter of life and death during these difficult times. If you were not smart with the little resources you had, you may not be able to eat.”

Thankfully, the coronavirus will likely be a shorter and less deadly crisis, so the feeling may fade over time.

Using Biases in Your Favor

So what are some ways that you can bottle your panic and use it to create a future in which you’re better prepared?

Live within your means, said Dr. Pallesen. One way to help you do that might be to give yourself a visual reminder to keep the memory available.

Keep a journal of what you’re going through. Write down what you’re worried about and how the financial situation of the quarantine is affecting your life. You may be worried that if you do contract COVID-19, you won’t be able to afford taking time off work.

Then, make a contract with yourself. Write down that you will never again feel the way you do now, adding in specifics. Something like, “I will never again wonder how I will feed my kids if my store shuts down.” Put it in your wallet, hang it on the fridge or keep it near your laptop.

Remind yourself of how you feel now by changing the name of your bank account to the Pandemic Fund. Do a monthly money check-in with yourself.

Living during a pandemic is often about surviving from one day to the next, but taking steps towards future financial goals is essential as well. Create a system for yourself, and make it much less likely that you ever have to feel this way again in the future. Use the way you’re feeling today to start a system of saving and automate it for when the feeling fades.

You’ll most likely never be exactly the same, just as my grandmother wasn’t after WWII. She saved and stocked up in a way I never did.

“I do think the effects of this pandemic will live on well after COVID-19 is taken care of,” said Dr.  Pallesen. “I think people will remember how suddenly things became uncertain and how that felt.”

Related: 74 Creative Ways to Save Money in Everyday Life 

The post How to Use Your Biases to Be Better Financially Prepared appeared first on DollarSprout.

I would dream of starting a family, buying a home, and taking trips to places I never thought I could afford. Because even though we had enough money to pay our bills every month and make extra payments toward our student loans, I still felt broke no matter how much our income increased.

We finally paid off our debt, bought a house, and started our family. And while I’m a lot less stressed now, if I’m honest, I’m no happier now than I was then. I love my life, my friends, and my husband, but life isn’t the carefree dream I imagined back then.

In the last few years, I’ve watched others come to the same realization.

Personal finance experts who I admire have opened up about their struggles with depression and anxiety. And I’ve witnessed several couples end their marriages after paying off debt and building wealth together.

Making money has become the new currency of happiness. But money for the sake of having more still doesn’t produce the type of happiness that leads to long-term fulfillment.

The Link Between Money and Happiness

Since World War II, there’s been a dramatic increase in real income (income after taxes and inflation). But even with more prosperity in the workplace, life satisfaction in the United States has been virtually flat._[1] And it’s not just in the U.S. A similar pattern can be seen in the data from other developed nations.

To an extent, money can buy happiness. Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton’s famous study on income and wellbeing showed that more money increases life satisfaction. However, there’s no further progress to our emotional wellbeing beyond an annual household income of about $75,000._[2]

Yet movements like FIRE (financial independence, retire early) and entrepreneurs that promise to help you 10x or 100x your business income are everywhere. They sell the dream that if you make more money, you can reach more people, change more lives, and become a better person in the process.

Licensed clinical counselor Joseph Tropper sees this often in his practice. “People who do side hustles and rush into opportunities that maximize their time and energy are validated by the extra income they earn while compromising physical and mental wellbeing,” Tropper said.

Professionals agree that as long as our basic needs are met, more money doesn’t make a person happier. So why do we still think it will? And more importantly, if we don’t make a lot of money, how do we use what we have to increase our happiness?

Related: 10 Minimalist Living Tips to Live More with Less

What Money Can’t Buy

Thankfully, dozens of scientific studies have identified key components of long-term happiness. Keeping these ideas in the back of your mind can help you make better decisions with how you spend your money and time.

Relationships

Think about your wedding day, the birth of your child, or reuniting with friends or family you haven’t seen in a while. For most of us, our happiest days aren’t the days we spent making big purchases or going on shopping sprees. Our happiest memories are the ones that include other people.

Dr. Edward Diener, also known as Dr. Happiness, has studied happiness for decades, trying to isolate and replicate the factors that happy people have in common. In his research, he’s found one factor that’s overshadowed all others in creating happiness: quality relationships._[3]

He discovered that factors like education, IQ, and age have little impact on individuals’ happiness and that after a certain income, happiness leveled out. But those with strong ties to family and friends showed the highest levels of happiness and fewest signs of depression.

Diener says that to improve happiness, we should focus on improving social skills, nurturing close relationships, and cultivating social support.

Additionally, a 2017 study from the American Psychological Association found that higher-income earners exhibit more self-oriented feelings of pride and contentment while lower-income earners exhibited more others-oriented feelings like compassion and love._[4]

Money allows us independence and self-sufficiency, but a special bond is created when you receive or give support to those around you. As a result, higher-income earners were less likely to report feeling “sad” but no more likely to report feeling “happy” than their lower-income counterparts.

Related: All-Star Cheer Costs a Fortune, but I Pay for It Anyway. Here’s Why

Generosity

Recent studies show generosity not only increases happiness, it begets more generosity.

It might sound contradictory to say money can’t buy generosity, but the amount of money you give doesn’t necessarily equate to more happiness. Giving for tax benefits or a recurring donation you don’t think about won’t make you happier. Your generosity must be intentional.

A study published in Nature Communications looked at the neural link between generosity and happiness._[5] Researchers found that people who made intentional generous decisions engaged the parts of the brain that are directly related to changes in happiness while those who didn’t saw less engagement.

Yet people still fail to realize how powerful the link is between generosity and happiness. When asked what would make them happiest, most of the same study participants still thought spending money on themselves would make them happier than spending it on someone else.

Health

Health is one of the most important predictors of happiness. When you’re healthy, active, and energetic, you can fully experience the things that bring you joy. You don’t have to be the perfect picture of health to be happy. In fact, science shows the opposite is true.

A George Mason University study found that people with serious health conditions, including cancer, could score just as highly as healthy individuals in happiness tests as long as their condition didn’t impact their day-to-day actions._[6] Cancer patients who were in remission tended to show higher than average levels of happiness.

The stress of overworking can have dramatic effects on our wellbeing. Sometimes the best thing we can do for our health isn’t to spend money on it. If you feel work is impeding with your health, reevaluate how much money you need to make and consider working less or lowering your expenses so you can afford to live on a smaller salary.

Related: When Is It Okay to Take a Pay Cut for a New Job?

Gratitude

Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, deal with adversity, and build stronger relationships.

In one study, psychologists Robert Emmon and Michael E. McCulloughs found that after 10 weeks, subjects who wrote down things they were grateful for every day were more optimistic and felt better about their lives than those who wrote down things that irritated them._[7]

Gratitude doesn’t just increase happiness, it also improves physical health and raises energy levels. You can benefit from both at any income level. You don’t need to be a higher-income earner to express gratitude for the people and experiences in your life.

How to Use Money to Improve Your Happiness

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can support your happiness if you spend it on the right things.

Invest in experiences.

Research suggests that creating experiences brings more happiness to your life than filling it with things. Making memories, learning new skills, seeing beautiful places, and meeting interesting people are just some of the experiences that can make your life happier.

In fact, experiences don’t just offer enjoyment while they’re happening. The anticipation of an experience can bring as much joy as the experience itself._[8] That means you don’t have to spend money on new events every weekend. Planning an outing or small adventure in advance can offer the same effect.

Related: 11 Cheap Vacation Ideas for When You’re Traveling on a Budget

Spend money on things you value.

You don’t have to stop buying things to be happy. You should buy stuff, even nice things, just in moderation. When you view purchases as rewards or treats, they can cause higher happiness levels than impulse or habitual purchases.

If you make enough to live comfortably, instead of putting in more hours at work to afford a luxurious lifestyle, try shifting your focus to control your spending. Buying less can help you discover what you truly value in life and increase your income without any extra hours in the office.

Related: I Stopped Spending Money for 30 Days. Here’s What Happened

Buy back your time.

Some seasons in life are busier than others. Raising young children, starting a business, and the holidays are notorious for stressing otherwise content individuals. If you have commitments requiring a majority of your time, don’t waste what little you have left with menial tasks.

Buying back your time by paying for a housekeeper, sending your laundry out, or hiring out small business tasks can give you more room in your schedule for things that bring you joy.

Be generous and giving when you can.

A Harvard study found buying things for other people makes you happier than spending money on yourself._[9] You don’t need to spend a lot; as little as $5 was enough to improve happiness levels in participants. That’s a coffee for a friend or $5 for the homeless person outside your car.

So even if you’re not the best gift-giver, you’re still improving your day and someone else’s. Spending $5 a day on someone else adds up to about $1,800 over the course of a year. Take a look at your spending and see how you can fit giving into your budget.

Prioritize the Things That Bring You Joy and Fulfillment

Tropper says the social pressure to be successful is a huge factor in why people continue to work and save even after they reached a salary that can meet their needs.

“The burden of achieving success, especially among millennials, is apparent in the way they compare themselves against peers who self-aggrandize on social media,” Tropper said. “Hustling may be a short-term solution, but it feeds our need to prove to ourselves that we are capable of achieving our goals if we stretch our efforts a bit more.”

Being ambitious is a great quality that can produce financial security and allow you to enjoy things that make you happy. But don’t get so caught up in advancing your career and earning money that you miss out on the reasons you wanted to make money in the first place.

Make your family, your relationships, and your passions in life a priority. And don’t let the desire for more get in the way of true happiness.

The post Money Can’t Buy Happiness… Unless You Spend It on These Things appeared first on DollarSprout.

For most of American history, it was common for men to be the sole or primary provider in the family while women stayed home to take care of the house and children. It was rare for a woman to work full time, let alone be the primary breadwinner of the household.

Today, that’s no longer the case. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 29% of American wives in heterosexual marriages with two incomes earn more than their husbands._[1]

Danielle Holtjer is an example of a female breadwinner. She owns a counseling clinic while her spouse works in construction. At first, she felt empowered and proud to be the high earner in her home. But as the years went on, she faced challenges and criticisms she never expected.

Her success took a serious toll on her partner’s self-esteem, and her friends and family made negative comments about her breadwinner status.

Holtjer said that even though female breadwinners are no longer unheard of, we still live in a society where men are “supposed to” earn more.

Why It’s Hard to Be a Woman Earning the Majority of the Money

Holtjer’s situation isn’t unique. Many women in her shoes find that being a female breadwinner comes with a variety of challenges.

Guilt

Even though society has evolved, you may feel a sense of guilt if you earn more than your male partner.

“Guilt is often the result of ‘caveman psychology,’ which may lead you to believe that the man needs to be the provider and the woman must take care of the house,” said financial therapist Denise Hughes.

Hughes, who is the breadwinner in her family, said she wards off this guilt by practicing gratitude for her husband’s ability to take on the role of “Chief Entertainment Officer or CEO.” When she’s busy with work, he plans all of the concerts, dinner dates, and other social activities they attend.

Related: Opinion: Married Couples Should Have Separate Bank Accounts. Here’s Why

Negativity from others

As a female breadwinner, you may hear negative remarks from your friends, family, and even random strangers. Many people still cling to traditional beliefs and don’t approve of women outearning their spouses.

Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a financial therapist, said that people will likely say things like, “Your husband must love that you make all the money,” or, “I could never be in a marriage where my husband wasn’t earning more.”

Her advice: Ignore the naysayers and realize that nobody knows what’s best for your family but you. She also recommends that you recognize and take pride in your success.

“When others make you feel bad for earning more than your partner, you may be tempted to downplay your accomplishments,” Bryan-Podvin said. Instead, remind yourself of your hard-earned successes and how far you’ve come.

Related: Money and Relationships: How to Merge Finances without Any Drama

Pressure to succeed

When your partner and children depend on your breadwinning status to live a good life, you may feel immense pressure. Mikaela Kiner feels this often and believes that her care-taking nature doesn’t help. She feels she has to excel in her position as the CEO of an HR consulting firm, but also be there for her two teens.

To take some pressure off herself, she keeps a large emergency fund and suggests that others in her position do the same. This way when uncertainty in the economy, your company, or position arises, you won’t be scared. You’ll feel calm because you have savings and peace of mind.

Difficulty relating to other women

Marketing director Kelly Schuknecht is the breadwinner in her family. She has three kids and has always worked in demanding leadership roles. Over the years, Schuknecht found it hard to relate to other women and develop meaningful friendships with them.

“I’m not the mom who chaperones every field trip or bakes cookies for the school parties,” she said.

Many women have a difficult time understanding her because she doesn’t fit their idea of what a good mom should do for their family.

Related: How to Improve Your Finances Based on Your Enneagram Type

Tips for Breadwinning Women

If you’re a woman who struggles with earning more than your partner, make sure to keep the lines of communication open in your relationship and connect with other female breadwinners for support.

Have frequent conversations with your spouse.

Instead of ignoring the situation, make sure you have open, honest, and constructive conversations with your spouse on a regular basis. Share your feelings and concerns about you being the primary earner and encourage them to do the same.

If you’re overwhelmed with being the breadwinner because you have childcare and household tasks to take care of as well, ask your spouse to take some of those duties off your plate. If your breadwinner status makes your spouse feel less adequate or insecure, lovingly reassure him that his contributions are important to your family.

“It’s essential that you’re both clear about what you need and expect from one another,” said financial therapist Amanda Clayman. “Being flexible and making changes to help each other is just as important.”

Related: How to Get Your Spouse on Board with Paying Off Debt

Connect with other female breadwinners.

It’s a lot easier to cope with the challenges of being a female breadwinner when you surround yourself with other women who can relate. Bryan-Podvin suggests that you attend networking events or join professional organizations to meet other female breadwinners.

“These women can cheer you on and share valuable advice when things get tough,” she said. “They can give you the emotional connection you need to thrive as the successful provider for your family.”

Never make your spouse feel bad.

Men are conditioned within our society to believe it’s their primary responsibility to provide for a family. Not living up to this perceived expectation can create feelings of resentment, frustration, or a lack of self-worth.

Robin Rucinsky has been the breadwinner in her family for the past seven years. She works as a media director while her husband stays at home with their four children. In her early days of being the sole provider, she would get stressed and make comments to her husband about his lack of financial contribution. Those words struck a cord, and they still come back to haunt their marriage on occasion.

Rather than criticize one another, recognize and acknowledge your individual contributions.

In time, Rucinsky and her husband discovered that her working while her husband stays at home is the best decision they’ve made for their family. “Our girls get to have an incredible relationship with a present father,” she said. “Our son gets to spend time with his dad and learn how men can be both providers and nurturers.”

Related: Financial Infidelity: 4 Signs Your Partner Isn’t Being Honest About Money

Remember you’re a team.

Kelly Andersen works in financial services while her husband works as a high school football coach. She significantly outearns her husband but doesn’t use her breadwinner status as a power dynamic.

Andersen recommends that other women in her situation remember that at the end of the day, they’re part of a team with their spouse. Don’t let what each person makes define who they are.

Like Andersen, James Pollard embraces this team mentality. His wife outearned him in the early years of their relationship, and he says it didn’t bother him. He admired his wife’s ambition and encouraged her to earn more because he knew they’d both benefit.

“Unless your wife hides money from you or gives you an allowance, all the money flows to your household,” he said. “You should want her to earn more.”

Related: Should Debt Be a Marriage Deal Breaker? How to Have the Debt Talk

The post How to Overcome the Challenges of Being a Female Breadwinner appeared first on DollarSprout.

That was hard for me to grasp. When my husband and I started paying off $78,000 of debt, I didn’t want to give up my little luxuries. I thought if I got a few side hustles, I could pay off my debt faster without changing my spending.

After a few months of working 12-hour days, I realized there was no way I could outearn my frivolous spending. I’d maxed out the amount of time I could physically work and we still weren’t seeing the kind of progress we should have. It wasn’t sustainable, and it was never going to get us to debt freedom.

As much as I didn’t want to, I knew I needed to make a budget and get my spending under control in order to stick to it.

But controlling my spending was easier said than done. I’ve never been good at moderation, so even giving myself a little fun money meant I was going to overspend. I needed a complete detox from my debit card.

So I stopped spending money completely for 30 days.

What’s a No-Spend Challenge?

I embarked on what’s widely known as a spending fast or no-spend challenge. It’s a commitment to not spend money on certain items for a specified period of time.

During a no-spend challenge, you keep paying your bills and any other necessary expenses like gas and groceries while cutting out some or all discretionary spending like cable or your Spotify subscription.

I took a look at my bank statements and realized my spending was all over the place. I couldn’t remember making half of the purchases I was looking at. So I decided to cut out all spending that wasn’t essential and put the money I saved toward my debt.

I chose to do it for a month because I wanted to see how significant the change would be on my monthly budget. It was going to be hard, but doable for a few weeks.

Related: How to Save Money: 74 Money-Saving Tips You Can Use Each Month

What I kept buying

What’s considered discretionary spending is unique to your situation. Keeping that in mind, there are a few things that I continued to pay for during my no-spend challenge that others might have cut.

• Fresh produce: I wanted to avoid buying groceries as much as possible to use up the food I already had in my pantry, but I added fresh produce to them for health reasons and to have variety.
• Netflix: I anticipated spending a lot more time at home during my no-spend period. To break up the time, I maintained my Netflix subscription.
• Gym membership: I actually use my gym membership because I’m horrible at motivating myself to work out at home or go for a run. Because I knew I’d use it, I kept it.
• Charity donations: We gave to our church and other local charities the entire time we were paying off our debt. This was something important to us and worth slowing down our debt payoff for.

It’s also worth emphasizing that I still paid for my bills and any expenses that helped me make money. That included gas to get to work and business-related expenses like continuing education.

Related: 10 Minimalist Living Tips That’ll Have You Living Happier with Less

What I stopped buying

I gave up all nonessential purchases, but I wanted to identify my biggest problem areas for impulse spending. This way I could be more intentional with avoiding those categories.

To find them, I looked at my bank statements from the last three months and wrote down the stores and categories that recurred most frequently. I also wrote down what they were costing me every month.

• Take-out coffee: I had a habit of heading to a Starbucks drive-thru anytime I passed one. At $4 per latte, four to five times per week, I was spending at least $75 a month on coffee.
• Eating out: I hated cooking, so I would stop at quick-service restaurants for weekday dinners and sit-down places on the weekends. If I wasn’t eating, I was probably at a happy hour. Eating out five to six days a week was conservatively costing me $200 a month.
• Everything at Target: I believed Target wasn’t a store, it was an experience. I’d go to Target to get out of the house, whether I needed something or not. I estimated I spent at least $125 a month on impulse buys there.

Just these three added up to an extra $400 a month. Other significant expenses I gave up were clothes, makeup, movie tickets, and entertainment expenses.

Along with some other spontaneous purchases, I calculated my no-spend challenge would save around $500. And that’s just my spending. I didn’t keep track of my husband’s spending, but if he’d done it with me we probably could’ve saved an extra $1,000 to put toward debt.

Related: How to Save $1,000 in a Year or Less

What I Learned After 30 Days of Not Spending Money

My first no-spend challenge was excruciating. It challenged my habits and lifestyle in ways I’d never anticipated. I knew it was going to be hard to stay out of Starbucks, but I didn’t realize how awkward I’d feel without that paper cup in my hand.

My no-spend challenge gave me more than just a couple hundred dollars to throw at my student loan debt. It taught me lessons that have improved my spending long after the 30 days ended.

I learned what I truly value spending money on.

Before the no-spend challenge, I spent money on a lot of things I thought were essential to self-care or living my best life. I never stopped to consider that I was making those purchases out of habit, not because I really valued them.

After 30 days of not making any of those purchases, I was able to separate the expenses I truly missed from the ones I didn’t. When I did that, I cut out the things that were just filling time or perpetuating a habit and stopped feeling guilty for the indulgences I did buy.

I developed a new way of thinking about spending.

I also realized that some of my purchases served a purpose that could be fulfilled with free or low-cost alternatives. For example, I didn’t eat out at restaurants because I’m a foodie; I did it because my friends wanted to and I wanted to spend time with my friends.

When I realized that I started hosting people at my house and found that it saves a lot of money. It’s also a much better way to have conversations than yelling across the table at a noisy restaurant.

Now when I think about spending money, I try to find the purpose behind my purchases and see if there’s a way to meet that purpose without opening my wallet.

Related: Are You Addicted to Shopping? Here are 5 Signs You Might Be

Having fewer transactions makes them easier to track.

I hated budgeting before this no-spend challenge. Spreadsheets were confusing, there were too many budgeting apps to learn, and automatic transaction tracking meant I never kept up with it. I found the only way I could stick to a budget was by writing it on paper and tracking my transactions manually.

Before, I had a hard time keeping up with so many transactions. However, during my no-spend challenge, keeping my budget up to date was effortless! I had virtually no transactions to input which meant I could more easily stay on top of it.

And after the 30 days ended I found I didn’t revert back to making as many purchases as I had before. That meant it remained simple to track and maintain my budget.

Getting Started with Your Own No-Spend Challenge

Most of us struggle with frivolous spending habits. Identifying yours can help you save money and pay off debt quicker. If you want to embark on your own no-spend challenge, there are three things you need to do to start on the right foot.

1. Choose your timeframe.

I picked 30 days but that doesn’t mean you have to. You can start with a week, weekends only, or try to accumulate a certain number of no-spend days throughout the month.

Make it something that’s difficult but achievable. Setting a hard start and end date will also motivate you to stick with the challenge and accomplish your goal.

2. Pick your no-spend and exception items.

Giving up all nonessential spending is the fastest way to save a lot of money, but it’s not possible in every situation. Pick your no-spend items based on a single budget category, a group of items you struggle with, or what’s most important to you.

Most months come with an unplanned or unexpected obligation that makes it impossible to not spend money for 30 consecutive days. If you encounter that, whether it’s a dinner with an out-of-town friend or a family potluck, don’t let it deter you from your no-spend challenge. Write down the exception purchase and keep going.

3. Find ways to fill your time.

A surprising number of purchases occur out of boredom. Find free ways to fill your time before you start your challenge so you have a list of activities to go to before you get bored.

You can find free activities at your local library, through Facebook Events, and by volunteering. You can also use the extra time as an opportunity to do things you were too busy to do before, like decluttering your house, starting a side hustle, or hosting a get-together.

Don’t Give Up

But most of all, don’t be discouraged if you slip up. A no-spend challenge simply allows you space to be intentional with your money, confront your impulsive spending behaviors, and rethink your spending habits.

Being intentional with your money and matching your spending to your values creates a strong financial foundation filled with things you truly love and care about.

Related: 52-Week Money Challenge: How to Save $5,000 This Year

The post I Stopped Spending Money for 30 Days. Here’s What Happened appeared first on DollarSprout.

But sometimes it’s more expensive than you realize or it may not come with the salary increase you anticipated. Earning a graduate degree comes with a significant time and money investment, so it’s important to consider the consequences before deciding if it’s the right path for you.

To that point, Georgetown University recently published a study that showed grad school isn’t always the best move_[1]. In many fields, recent grad school employees earn less than employees with a bachelor’s degree and three years of work experience. If you think you’ll get a huge salary bump as soon as you receive your shiny advanced degree, it may not be the case.

An All Too Familiar Story 

In 2006, Andy Hill made $28,000 per year and had a lot of expenses. His mortgage and bills took up about 50% of his income. He had a lease on a Volkswagen Jetta and loved to spend money on the weekends. After he heard that an MBA would skyrocket his career and increase his earnings, he decided to pursue one.

Almost six years of night school later, Andy had an MBA with a concentration in marketing. Although he landed a Senior Sales Director position with a hefty salary, he doesn’t believe the MBA contributed to his success.

“If anything, my MBA was a nice line item and talking point on my resume, but it rarely came up during any interviews for jobs or any reviews during my time as an employee,” Hill said.

While his classes were interesting, Hill is confident that he could’ve received a better education by reading a few books about business and marketing and by networking with experts in his field.

Related: 7 Tips for Managing Your Money After College

When a Graduate Degree Is a Bad Idea

Going to grad school might seem like a mature decision, and it may look impressive on your resume. But there are some instances where it just doesn’t make sense.

1. You don’t know what you want to do.

If you’re unsure of your career path, grad school isn’t the answer. Matt Erhard, Managing Partner at Summit Search Group, said a lot of people enroll in a grad program right after earning their bachelor’s degree because they don’t know what else to do.

“If you’re just going to grad school to delay your job hunt a couple years, you may be making a very expensive mistake,” Erhard said.

Advanced degrees should be tools to further your career, not journeys of self-discovery.

A great way to figure out which career is right for you is to spend some time in the job market exploring different positions and industries. You can also reach out to people working in those industries on LinkedIn and talk to them about what their jobs are actually like. You can always go back to school once your career goals are more solidified.

2. You believe it will give you a better job.

Many people opt for grad school because they’re unhappy with their jobs. They think that an advanced degree will magically give them a better job with a six-figure salary.

Carlota Zee, a career coach with a graduate degree, said that adding extra letters after your name doesn’t mean an amazing job will fall into your lap. If your goal is to land a better job, her advice is to network.

“If you hated networking before you got a graduate degree, you’ll hate it afterward. But now you’ll be up to your neck in debt and you won’t have the luxury of choice,” Zee said.

Even if you’re not a fan of networking, it’s time to step out of your comfort zone and learn how to do it. Become active on LinkedIn, join professional organizations in your industry, and tell people you’re looking for a new job. Networking, not grad school, is often the key to professional success.

Related: 29 Flexible Work-From-Home Job Opportunities  

3. Your industry values experience over education.

Bill Bailey, Director at the Center for Career and Professional Development at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, said there are some industries that place more value on experience than education.

For example, if you choose a field like computer engineering or marketing, work experience will usually be more important than a Master’s degree. If you’re unsure what your industry prefers, talk to some mid to senior level professionals. Find out if they went to grad school and whether they believe it helped their careers.

Gene Caballero, founder of GreenPal, discovered that work experience would’ve been more beneficial to his career than his MBA.

“After countless interviews, no potential employer was impressed by my MBA and actually questioned my lack of experience,” he said.

Related: 4 Things I Learned from Paying Off $30,000 in College Debt

When a Graduate Degree Is a Good Idea

Even though Hill doesn’t believe his MBA was worth it, there are some instances where a graduate degree might make sense.

1. You need a graduate degree to work in your field of choice.

In some professions, graduate degrees are a necessity. For example, if you want to become a clinical psychologist, you’ll need more than a bachelor’s degree. Grad school is also a requirement for other careers including being a professor, physical therapist, or a speech-language pathologist.

On the other hand, a bachelor’s degree will suffice if you want to work in engineering. Fo Alexander earned a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from Duke University to secure a better engineering job.

“The only ‘advantage’ of my graduate degree was that I was able to start off at a salary $10,000 higher than my peers,” he said. “But the degree cost me $54,000 for one year, so it was definitely not worth it.”

Alexander said it was the network from his undergraduate institution that helped him secure his first job, not where he got his Master’s degree.

2. You want to change your career.

Sometimes the career you picked in college doesn’t work out. Maybe you’re burned out or want a job with more flexibility or higher pay. Regardless of the reason, you may have to go to graduate school to change your career.

“If you’ve been working as a nurse but now want to be an accountant, you’ll need to pursue a master’s degree in accounting or an MBA with an accounting focus,” said Dr. Karen Gurney, CEO of Hire-a-Headhunter.

In some situations, a graduate degree isn’t necessary to make a career change. If this is true for you, Dr. Gurney recommends you get some relevant work experience under your belt, even if you have to take a pay cut. The pay cut will likely cost less than the cost of a degree and help get your foot in the door.

3. You earn a scholarship, assistantship, or tuition reimbursement.

While the cost of a graduate degree depends on the school and specific program, it will probably come with a high price tag. According to research from New America, the average graduate school borrower has $57,000 in student loans_[2].

That’s a lot of money to come up with on your own, especially if you already have undergraduate loans, a mortgage, car payments, and other expenses. But if you’re able to land a scholarship, assistantship, or tuition reimbursement, grad school may be a good choice.

“A graduate degree makes sense if you can get someone else to pay for it, namely, your employer,” said David Bakke, College Expert at DollarSanity. “If an assistance program is available, then go for it.”

Related: Should Parents Pay for Their Children’s College Education?

Grad School Doesn’t Guarantee Success

In a perfect world, you’d go to grad school and instantly land a high-paying job you love. But grad school isn’t always a stepping stone to success. Unless you’re committed to a certain path that requires the degree or are very intentional about why you want it, a graduate education probably isn’t worth it.

If you want to further your career and increase your earning potential, talk to people currently working in the industry and ask them what they recommend. Knowing the right people can save you a lot of time and money because they can provide guidance, introduce you to more people, and keep you apprised of new positions.

You may still need to educate yourself. Take online courses or webinars. Attend conferences and informational sessions. Make learning and gaining new skills a regular part of your life. That’s the real way to success.

The post A Graduate Degree Doesn’t Always Make Sense. Here’s What Career Experts Say to Consider appeared first on DollarSprout.

You’re more focused on their personality, how they treat you, and what their friends are like. But as things start to get serious, their finances become an important part of the picture. This is especially true if you’re considering marriage.

A survey from TD Ameritrade found that 29% of Boomers and 41% of GenXers say they ended their marriage due to disagreements about money._[1]

That begs the question: If you like to save money and live frugally, is it important that your partner does, too? What if they’re the exact opposite? If you’re a saver, but you find out that your partner is a spender with a pile of debt, is your relationship doomed to failure?

Rest assured that not all hope is lost.

How Savers and Spenders Can Manage Finances Together

As a saver, you’re careful about how and when you spend money. You save as much money as possible because it gives you a sense of security. Seeing your net worth go up makes you happy. You also like to allocate your money toward long-term financial goals like buying a house or retiring.

If you’re dating a spender, the way your partner thinks about and handles money is different. They’re more carefree about spending and don’t agonize over every purchase.

When you tie the knot with a spender, you may put yourself at risk for more problems in your marriage. Since you don’t see eye to eye on finances, arguments and disagreements are likely to arise.

Related: 4 Signs Your Partner Isn’t Being Honest About Money

Communication is key

Kelly Smith, a saver, married Jayme, a natural spender. In their first year of marriage, they’d have a big fight any time money came up. Despite the fact that she and Jayme made plenty of money, Kelly was afraid he was going to spend it all.

Eventually, Kelly and Jayme learned how to communicate. The couple made it a priority to talk about their joint goals and dreams and how they’d achieve them. For example, one of their dreams was to go on a cruise to Alaska. They started a fund for the trip and were able to save and pay for it in cash.

Katie Lear, a licensed therapist, said that good communication is essential in a spender-saver relationship.

“Make sure you have money-related conversations regularly at calm times,” she said. “They should not be addendums to fights.”

Lear suggests you set money goals that are positive and realistic as opposed to negative and overly aspirational. For example, resolving to eat out once a week is going to be more attainable than vowing to avoid restaurants for a month.

A spender is more likely to improve their habits if they have a realistic savings goal rather than a strict budget they have to follow. Many need a good reason to save, like starting a new business, buying a vacation house, or taking more trips abroad. The more tangible the goal, the more willing the spender will be to change his or her habits.

Make money a team effort

Haley Neidich, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, said that savers often feel isolated and alone when it comes to managing their finances. If you’re a saver who is married to a spender, you may believe your spouse doesn’t care about helping you keep track of your finances.

This may result in you doing the work all on your own. Since great marriages are built on teamwork, Neidich encourages saver-spender couples to have weekly meetings to review their finances and spending.

The meeting, which would ideally be about 15 minutes long, shouldn’t be controlled by the saver; it should be a mutual discussion. The purpose is to give both partners the chance to discuss how they did financially over the previous week. Regular conversations can take a lot of pressure off the saver and foster a teamwork mentality.

Related: How to Manage Your Money (without Losing Your Mind)

Acknowledge negative emotions

Neidich said that resentment is common when a saver marries a spender. In most cases, resentment occurs when a spender engages in secretive or compulsive spending and ignores the budget that they agreed upon with the saver. The saver may begin to feel taken advantage of or believe their opinions are being ignored.

This can drive a wedge deeper between them. If a successful marriage is one where both people feel part of a team, then a bad marriage is where each party feels isolated.

To keep resentment from building up, you should communicate any negative feelings early on in your relationship while the problem is still manageable. Resentment usually occurs when you haven’t been able to communicate your needs for a long time.

Setting clear boundaries with money can also help prevent resentment. For example, you can work with your partner to come up with a set amount of discretionary income you can each spend on a weekly basis. Some couples choose to keep separate bank accounts for discretionary spending in order to maintain a level of privacy and autonomy.

Related: Married Couples Should Have Separate Bank Accounts. Here’s Why

Add “spending money” to your budget

Laura Coleman, a saver, and her husband, a spender, each have a set amount of “spending money” they can use every month. They can use it for dinners out, tools, clothes, movies, and anything else they’d like.

When an Amazon package arrives, Coleman’s husband will tell her that he used his spending money on it.

“I don’t get upset because we’ve budgeted for him to spend on a monthly basis,” Coleman said.

Darren Straniero, Certified Financial Planner at OnPlane Financial Advisors LLC, is an advocate of this strategy. He believes it allows the spender to shop freely while giving the saver peace of mind knowing that only a certain amount will be spent each month.

Accept that you can’t change your spender

Sometimes, you have to accept that you can’t change your partner’s habits. You can help them improve, but they’re not going to become a saver overnight.

Katie Ryckman is a saver married to Michael, a spender. She said you should be patient with your spender spouse and try to identify why they spend the way they do. Ask your spender what kinds of emotions they feel when they spend money.

Are their spending tendencies a result of how their parents spent money? Do they associate money with love? Use these questions to explore what subconsciously drives your spender’s behavior so you can understand them better.

Once you learn the answers to these questions, you’ll find out why your partner has this type of a relationship with money. When you understand the cause of their spending habits, it’s easier to create a financial plan that works well for both of you.

If you learn they like to spend money on gifts because that’s how they were taught to show love, you may allocate a certain amount of money in your budget toward gifts for one another.

Another option is to encourage them to show their affection without spending money. They may like to buy gifts, but if it stresses you out, then tell them how they can treat you without going over budget. Maybe they could cook dinner, give you a back massage, or write you a love letter instead. These strategies can help keep spending in check while still satisfying their desire to show affection.

Combine finances responsibly

If you’re a saver, you may worry that your spender is hiding purchases from you. For this reason, Straniero suggests you combine finances and share credit cards with your partner. This can increase communication and visibility around what gets spent and saved.

Set up a monthly meeting where you both look over your credit card statements and accounts to see how you’re doing financially. You may find you’re saving a healthy amount and can afford to loosen up and spend a bit more freely. Or you may discover that your spending has outpaced your income, and you need to cut back.

When you combine finances, you automatically increase transparency. Transparency is the key to a healthy financial future as it can keep you out of debt, make it easier for you to budget, and allow you to reach your financial goals together.

Related: Money and Relationships: How to Merge Finances without Any Drama

Get on the Same Page Financially Before You Tie the Knot

Marrying someone who views money differently from you can be a blessing, as long as you agree on how you’ll handle your finances before getting hitched.

“Your spender can remind you to enjoy life and live in the moment while you can add some structure and boundaries to their financial habits,” Lear said.

To ensure your marriage is successful, consider seeing a marriage counselor or financial planner who can help you design a money plan before you walk down the aisle. The money plan will outline things like where you’ll keep your money, how often you’ll talk about money, and what you’ll do to satisfy one another’s savings and spending desires.

Smith and her husband went to pre-marital counseling but didn’t discuss money. Since they were debt-free, they didn’t think it was necessary. She regrets ignoring this conversation early on, as she and her partner spent the beginning of their marriage arguing about money.

If you’re a saver who is dating or engaged to a spender, don’t ignore the importance of money-related conversations prior to marriage. They may be the answer to a happy, healthy future with your special someone.

Related: Should Debt Be a Marriage Deal Breaker? How to Have the Debt Talk

The post Should You Marry a Spender If You’re a Saver? appeared first on DollarSprout.