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Business Analyst and Life Coach in training here. Let's assume the other given advice of "just make more money" isn't helpful to you "Treat your personal fina

Business Analyst and Life Coach in training here. Let's assume the other given advice of "just make more money" isn't helpful to you "Treat your personal finances like a business" type advice might apply here. Basically, if you want something to improve the first thing you need to do is measure it. Give yourself a chance to find common sense solutions by bringing all of your spending into the light. I personally track 2 things independently and it is enough for me. Total balances, and Actual Expenses. Total balances is a snapshot, I update the balances on all my accounts about once a month (you might want to do weekly at first) and save a copy. This is my pulse. I can look historically at how the balances are changing and make sure it is going in the right direction. This is where you will physically see yourself getting out of paycheck to paycheck when it happens. Actual Expenses is an archive workbook with csv exports from each of my credit cards and debit cards. Leave the vendor names as they are. Copy and paste them into a new sheet and remove duplicates. Add 2* columns: Name, Category (*can add more if you want). Fill them out, create a lookup on the transaction data table to add your custom fields, and make a pivot table. See where your money is going. Name is a simple easy to read version of the vendor because "CVS" & "Burger King", etc usually dont appear that cleanly on the bank statement. Category is as you would guess, just a way to group related items. Personally I use 2 category columns; for example - Burger King, Fast Food, Food & Drink. theres a lot of room to go crazy here with detail, but keep in mind you have to do this for every new vendor you use so i recommend keeping it simple. Link each card archive into a data model with Select on Date, Debit Amount, Credit Amount, Name, Category. Union the tables together It helps to isolate bank transfers (like paying off a credit card from your checking account) so you can filter them out if you want, bc they effectively double count your transactions. The $500 debit from my checking account is $500 of transactions on the credit card - so it will look like $1000 total debits which can be confusing / misleading if you're unaware

scarface74 5y ago
Why wouldn’t “make more money” for a software engineer with 12 years of experience by changing jobs be his first action?
- cupofpython 5y ago
  Lots of reasons why it shouldnt be the first thing you do 1) changing jobs is a slow process, with lots of communication delays likely to stretch over days / weeks. Putting your finances in order takes a couple hours from scratch. They really arent mutually exclusive options 2) you should streamline your finances before looking to switch jobs so you can better assess your needs and what you are willing to sacrifice when evaluating market nuances. 3) He doesnt actually have any guarantee of another job. He should see what it takes to get out of paycheck to paycheck living at his current wage because that is his current reality. If he wants to prioritize saving money, he needs to start now by making any sacrifices he can. Those sacrifices become a motivational tool to increase his income in order to buy back the conveniences if he still wants them.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    1. There are a lot of jobs out there in corp dev and you overestimate how long the process takes at non tech companies. I’ve literally started looking for a job on Monday and had an offer that Thursday. I changed jobs 5 times from 2008-2018 (around the same years he’s been working) and it never took me more than a month. This as a regular old C# backend CRUD developer. No DS&A and only one coding interview. I’m not counting my most recent job in 2020, it was a slight pivot. You would be surprised about how fast recruiters start spamming you once you change your LinkedIn status. 2. At $110K in NYC as a developer with three kids, he can’t be too picky about what he is willing to sacrifice. 3. As a software developer with 12 years of experience in the US in 2022, unless he is “eat the chalk” dumb - and I doubt he is - he is basically guaranteed another job paying more.
    - cupofpython 5y ago
      1. I did not overestimate, it still took you days. spreadsheet would be done monday night. sidenote: C# backend CRUD might be a very different market than what OP is looking at 2. this is true, but with kids there is also extra risk in changing jobs. not enough to say dont do it - but it's a consideration. 3. he is a web developer turned tech director, not a software developer. without formal education in the field. We do not know his situation, and this type of thinking is what gets people into the most trouble. that 12 years of experience might not be fully industry relevant. Overall I do agree with you, it sounds like it is definitely worth the effort for him to find a new job. But it is a common trap to shulk responsibility for your current situation by thinking things will be different after some specific life event. that said, he posted info baout his situation after my initial post and yeah he should find a better job if he can but i dont even think hes in trouble. TBH I think OP was either just venting or baiting for someone here to hook him up with a web-dev side gig. Also, He is isnt even living paycheck to paycheck.. hes paying off a mortgage so he's investing in real estate around NYC, which has increased a lot over the past year alone so odds are this guy is far from debt.

scarface74 5y ago

Why wouldn’t “make more money” for a software engineer with 12 years of experience by changing jobs be his first action?

cupofpython 5y ago
Lots of reasons why it shouldnt be the first thing you do 1) changing jobs is a slow process, with lots of communication delays likely to stretch over days / weeks. Putting your finances in order takes a couple hours from scratch. They really arent mutually exclusive options 2) you should streamline your finances before looking to switch jobs so you can better assess your needs and what you are willing to sacrifice when evaluating market nuances. 3) He doesnt actually have any guarantee of another job. He should see what it takes to get out of paycheck to paycheck living at his current wage because that is his current reality. If he wants to prioritize saving money, he needs to start now by making any sacrifices he can. Those sacrifices become a motivational tool to increase his income in order to buy back the conveniences if he still wants them.
- scarface74 5y ago
  1. There are a lot of jobs out there in corp dev and you overestimate how long the process takes at non tech companies. I’ve literally started looking for a job on Monday and had an offer that Thursday. I changed jobs 5 times from 2008-2018 (around the same years he’s been working) and it never took me more than a month. This as a regular old C# backend CRUD developer. No DS&A and only one coding interview. I’m not counting my most recent job in 2020, it was a slight pivot. You would be surprised about how fast recruiters start spamming you once you change your LinkedIn status. 2. At $110K in NYC as a developer with three kids, he can’t be too picky about what he is willing to sacrifice. 3. As a software developer with 12 years of experience in the US in 2022, unless he is “eat the chalk” dumb - and I doubt he is - he is basically guaranteed another job paying more.
  - cupofpython 5y ago
    1. I did not overestimate, it still took you days. spreadsheet would be done monday night. sidenote: C# backend CRUD might be a very different market than what OP is looking at 2. this is true, but with kids there is also extra risk in changing jobs. not enough to say dont do it - but it's a consideration. 3. he is a web developer turned tech director, not a software developer. without formal education in the field. We do not know his situation, and this type of thinking is what gets people into the most trouble. that 12 years of experience might not be fully industry relevant. Overall I do agree with you, it sounds like it is definitely worth the effort for him to find a new job. But it is a common trap to shulk responsibility for your current situation by thinking things will be different after some specific life event. that said, he posted info baout his situation after my initial post and yeah he should find a better job if he can but i dont even think hes in trouble. TBH I think OP was either just venting or baiting for someone here to hook him up with a web-dev side gig. Also, He is isnt even living paycheck to paycheck.. hes paying off a mortgage so he's investing in real estate around NYC, which has increased a lot over the past year alone so odds are this guy is far from debt.