Ep 4The Secrets to Managing Your Money
Four families earn $250,000. One has $100K in debt, one has $200K saved. Why?
Simi Mandelbaum
The Secrets to Managing Your Money
with Simi Mandelbaum
I want to control my money rather than my money controls me.
More moments · 3
Try this · top 3
Quotes
“The biggest pain point in relationships is that we don't communicate well about money.”
“We don't use money that's coming in. We use 30-day old money.”
“You can look down the block and you can see someone driving a beautiful car, but you don't know what's funding that vehicle.”
“You need to know what's in the tank.”
“You can't use money you don't have to pay for something you might not need.”
“The idea is when you're curious and you notice you get to make choices. Habits are not choices.”
Takeaways
- 1 Money anxiety shows up at every income level. She sees couples with the same bank balance where one spouse is calm and the other panics.
- 2 Couples don't both have to pay the bills, but they need the same goal. Poor communication about money turns into a blame game, often because nobody was ever taught.
- 3 We get driver's ed before a car, but no training for money, which affects life far more.
- 4 'Money monsters': a strong urge to give kids everything you didn't have can fight with a planning habit. Giving while carrying debt can make tuition and gifts cost about 27% more.
- 5 The further spending gets from cash (card, Apple Pay, walk-out stores), the less we feel it. In a family Monopoly game played with real bills, the kids played more carefully.
- 6 In the community, you may need to be in the top 3-6% of US earners just to pay the bills. Financial anxiety tends to rise, not fall, as income passes about $120-150K.
- 7 Four families earning $250-300K on the same block can range from $100K in debt to $200K saved. The difference is values and habits, not income.
- 8 Frugality and social indifference (ignoring peer pressure) are the two traits linked to building savings. Each couple defines its own frugality.
- 9 A budget that shows you're short is still worth it - like fixing a broken gas gauge before a road trip.
- 10 Success stories: $150K in debt to about $500K saved in 3.5 years; a client who found about $1 million in debt he didn't know about had it down to $300K a year and a half later.
- 11 Student debt is maybe 30-40% of the debt she sees, and people often forget to count it.
- 12 Delayed gratification is the one skill that lets you step back from emotion and look at the numbers.
- 13 She is a financial coach, counselor and therapist - the step before a financial advisor, deciding how much should go where.