😅Stop being average

What a way to start a newsletter. Especially since we've had so many wonderful subscribers. I'm not always this mean I promise... well... Anways I digress. I am writing this newsletter post with the same goal in mind. Help anyone that reads my content build a future in which they are no longer working for money. As such today I will be unveiling a new segment to the newsletter which I have been working on in the background namely - Investor Stories.

I am a visual learner and as such, I thought it would be good to visually show you common life scenarios and how I would approach this if it was me. I can freely share my opinion with you, my wonderful readers. If you want to have your scenario featured send me an email at mail@firelife.co.nz

Investor Scenarios - Young Married Couple

Overview

Alright, let's set the scene for the above couple. This young couple has recently been married and they have decided to hold off on having children for at least five years.  The infographic above shows a broad financial overview of their expenses vs their income.

Assumptions

I've had to make a few assumptions in this scenario namely:

• Both earn the median Nz household income
• They are renting and thus pay the countrywide median rent of $600 per week
• Other expenses are based on the national average as well

What would I do?

Alright, with the scene set, let us take a deeper dive into the nitty-gritty. Firstly lets look at the key focus points namely:

• A large percentage of money left in the rest column 13.6% ($25,766)
• Expenses are based on average expenses, so the couple isn't depriving themselves or living in extreme frugality

Ok, with the scenario set and the scene set, what would I do?

1.) Get investing

As you know I love stocks so firstly I would learn/ understand stocks and the stock market. With my strategy in hand, I would start putting the money left over in the rest column to work. I have gone into great detail on my current strategy. So this would mean the majority or all of that money lands in the S&P 500. They are young and as such, they should not fear a bit of market movement up or down. They have a lot of time on their hands as a young couple.

2.) Review the 'other' expenses

You would be surprised how much money is lost on subscriptions that are no longer being used, overpriced gym memberships and cellphone plans that you do not need. I would take an in-depth look at all of them and see where we can cut. Playing good defence.

As an example with a single phone call, I managed to cut my phone plan by 20% because they wanted to retain my monthly plan income.

3.) Make every dollar count

I might sound like an old granny giving you sage advice, but budgeting and knowing where your money is going is a great way to ensure that you know exactly where that hard-earned money is going!

Best budgeting tools

With the above in mind, I have really been looking into the best budgeting tools and what makes sense for someone looking to get to financial independence. I've found that there are inconsistencies as some apps are purely budgeting while others are purely investing. That was until I came across Pocketsmith.

I've been playing around with the software for the past couple of months and I have to say, I am impressed. It has a bunch of very helpful features like

• Automatic bank connections,
• Future projections,
• Net worth reports
• What if scenarios

To name a few!

I will have a full feature review and set up ready in the next while. In the meantime, I've partnered with them and if having such a flexible tool is important to you, feel free to check them out below!

This is an affiliate link, I would not promote anything that I do not personally use!

Interesting things

📕Books - The Ruthless elimination of Hurry

Rereading this book has really emphasised the importance of friends, family, relationships and the things that truly matter. Could not recommend it more.

🐟Goldfish investing strategy - This man let his goldfish invest money...

Just to prove how crazy the investment world can get this Youtuber gave his fish a large amount of cash and had him invest. The results may surprise you...

That's going to do it! Please do check out the Pocketsmith budgeting app with my link if you are interested! It goes a long way in supporting the blog that has completely free content.

All the best

MK