What's the dang point of trying to save? Or how about having a budget? Seems no matter what we do, there's no way to get ahead. .Budgeting and Saving can be outright miserable
Have you ever had this thought or felt this way? I know I have. Don't try to answer these questions as they're simply expressions of frustration and rhetorical in nature. As I work to formulate a game plan for the next several years of my life as I return to college and get the heck out of the Tech industry, I cannot help but feel ways about the constant uphill battle with money.
To present something a little bit different than your typical Importance of Saving and Creating a Budget type of lecture, I'd like to deep-dive into some of the considerations and mental challenges that come with these topics - since no one talks about them and even fewer can properly articulate it.
In my senior year of high school, my father: A blue collar worker his entire life, rest his soul, had gifted me $2000. It was 2005 and I had just turned 18 years of age. My father came into this money by selling the Stocks he had purchased when we were born and likely saw it as 'starter money' to help me pursue my endeavors into adulthood.
In retrospect, lessons in finance and the handling of money would have been useful. However, by this time, my passion was music composition. I had already written several soundtracks and musical scores for a number of amateur-made computer games. My goal was to attend Columbia College of Chicago for music with the hope of one day scoring music for video games and film. Without any delay, I went to the Apple Store in Schaumburg to purchase a Mac Mini and M-Audio 66-key MIDI Keyboard. I was proficient in MIDI software called Noteworthy Composer. I had been to the Apple Store in the Woodfield mall multiple times and had spent much time working in Apple's Garbageband software. The sythesized instruments in Garageband sounded amazing and unlike anything I had ever worked with before! And the 2005 Mac Mini was one of the most affordable entry-level Macintosh computers available. So I purchased the Mac Mini, the MIDI keyboard, and the Orchestral instrument expansion pack for Garageband. When I got home, I plugged the brand new Mac Mini into an old CRT monitor and went to town.
Just like that, half of my wealth was gone. But I didn't care. I spent almost every day that year composing music and developing my skill. Many of those scores I still have today. I was dead-set on attending school for music composition and neglected other skills. As I worked to complete my senior year of high school as a B student, I also developed an affinity for partying.
As the final year of high school went on, my remaining $1000 or so dollars slowly dwindled away. I had every intention on making it last as long as possible - but soon realized my efforts were foolish. Why bother saving if I make no effort to replenish it? I don't have any means of income. And the purchases I made were all useful items that would help me in my journey into adulthood. This was the first time I tried to be frugal and save. I quickly learned saving and being frugal mean absolutely dick if you are not earning income and that all efforts would inevitably lead to zero.
The Vital Lesson: Get Money. Maybe spend less time being cheap and cutting coupons and more time furthering your education and ability to earn.
Fortunately, of the massive fortune I had received the previous winter, I had purchased a 10-Ride ticket for the Metra commuter railway. It was now the first summer out of high school: 2006. I hopped on the train to downtown Chicago and applied to 9 jobs. Back then you filled out your application on paper: Social Security Number and all.
Not long later, I walked across two towns, Bensenville and Elmhurst, applying to every cafe and restaurant I could find. I still think back to this trek today and it totaled 12.6 miles.
That entire summer, I applied to countless jobs. College had fallen through as my father refused to help me co-sign on any student loans. How do young people get approved for student loans without any credit history?
Just before Summer ended, I was hired as a cashier at a popular drug store chain. This job was awful and demoralized me. I felt like I was missing out on life and hardly managed to save much money with the randomly scheduled part-time hours. Was I just a lazy unmotivated kid? I absolutely hated trying to ring up endless customers while being tasked with facing all the random uncohesive products.
With the usual handle of Sterling Vodka, case of beer, pack of smokes, and daily energy drink, all I managed to do was waste a lot of time part-time. This was my chance to SAVE FOR COLLEGE so where did I go wrong? Wasn't the alcohol, caffeine, or tobacco as those were things I was going to obtain regardless.
Lesson: Youth is wasted on the young. I wasn't going to clean up my act until I'd gotten out of my system. I may need to remember this when the time comes for me to raise my own children.
I hated my job at the Pharmacy chain store so I would still spend my free time applying for work when I wasn't composing music. A new Sandwich shop was opening in Bensenville right near my house. I approached the building and saw a tube full of Job Applications secured to the locked door. I applied as soon as I could and was hired as a full-time sandwich maker.
I really liked this job. I felt like Spongebob. I knew almost everything about the restaurant since I was trained by corporate prior to the official store opening. The owner even expressed excitement for me to attend the local community college and was willing to let me work three 12-hour days on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays so that I could attend school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There was just one little problem though: I didn't have a car or a driver's license.
I guess most teenagers have parents that pay for Driver's Ed in high school and are gifted the old family vehicle. Not me. I would need to save for it. And save I did: Outside the costs of alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, I managed to save almost every penny I earned.
Lesson: Find a fun job with fun people and work many hours on a consistent schedule.
Youth is funny in this way. A young person's hopes and dreams can quickly come crashing down. The folly of youth is when the young person doesn't realize that he is always welcomed to dust himself off and try again. Although I'd argue this sort of outlook on life is dependent on good coaching which is sometimes nowhere to be found. In the modern era, we see plenty of ads for therapists but how come we don't see ads for coaching?
I had spent every penny I saved on that car. Unfortunately, once I had the ability to travel, my friends and I found a great affinity for Taco Bell. Saving from that point on went very slowly. However, I did manage to save enough for one college course. So I began driving myself to the Community College by the Spring semester of 2007. I must admit, I felt very much behind. By the next semester, I could barely get through the semester trying to balance both work, school, and my affinity for drinking with friends on top of my newly-found Taco Bell addiction.
I was exhausted and didn't feel like any of my life had purpose. Attending school and working for little pay was just going through the motions as far as I could tell. I did not help that my cousin did everything he could to convince me that I was doing it wrong.
Eventually, I stopped attending school to work a full-time job that paid decent wages. Back then, thirteen bucks an hour felt pretty solid. I believe that's what the Game Masters of World of Warcraft were making too. However, I found that I was more miserable than before and fatter than ever. There was pretty much no time to finish school nor was there any motivation internally or externally. This was a miserable year. I was fat and depressed.
Lesson: Income means fuck all if you're fat and depressed with no clear goal.
Many years had passed by now. I set a goal to return to college with the intention on studying Computer Networking or Some Bullshit Like That. Fortunately, the college offered a Bullshit Computer Networking Course. So I worked harder than I ever worked: Working as a Computer Technician at an office supply store while waiting on tables in a restaurant on weekends.
As what happens with age, most of my income went toward rent. I saved and saved as much as I could each month while keeping enough for alcohol and caffeine. Some months I would only manage to save $50. Some months possibly $100. I had created a timeline on my calendar and eventually was back in college for Computer Networking. Figured with a Certification, I'd have an opportunity to get a Real Job.
As I slowly came closer to getting my Certification, I applied to as many tech jobs as I could through Craigslist. Eventually, I got lucky. The employer took advantage of my passion for hardwork and my hopelessly desperate situation. I got put onto a Contract that billed $120 hourly. My employee kept the bulk of it and I made $20 an hour! Wow! I was rich.
Lesson: Save with purpose. Have a goal.
Some years later, my sheisty employer began paying me nearly $40 an hour. This was a lot of money for a fellow with no child or bills to pay. I had managed to save up $5000. Then a disaster happened and I literally gave it all to a family member.
Lesson: Sometimes dumb shit happens.
Again, some years had passed. I was miserable at the previous job and took a job that literally paid less than half of my old salary. After much hard work, I had managed to get out of debt except for my car.
I thought I'd be excited to be out of debt. But what was the point? I didn't make that much money anyway. What would I do, save for the sake of saving? Of course, being debt-free never lasts long when your wages are shite. What did it matter if $50 went to pay down a credit card bill each month or went into a savings account with no real purpose? After a year, I'd have $600. Enough to do sweet fuck all. When you make shit wages, you can't save any meaningful amount. And I'd hardly call $600 an emergency fund.
Lesson: Make more money.
Some years later, I was debt-free and making decent wages. In fact, I was earning more than I'd been in my entire life. So I sat down and started plotting everything out: I'll put this much in my 401k. Then I'll put this much in my Roth IRA. Then I'll put this much into a Savings account. And I'll save this much for vacations. I quickly had a projection of amounts I'd be able to save within six months time. So I wrote the projection further. I had a great idea of how much I'd be able to save in eighteen months!
This was the most mind-numbing spiritually bankrupt exercise I'd ever done. I quickly watched my entire future year and a half of existence be dedicated to working the same unfulfilling job and steadily growing a pile of money with no purpose. What would it matter if the projection were 18 months or 18 years? The real discovery was that I was unhappy with my current position and it was time to change things or else I'd be stuck in the same grind. Fortunately, alcohol and tobacco no longer fell into the equation. Caffeine is so cheap, it's not even worth mentioning at this point.
What blows my mind is I have friends who literally sit on stockpiles of cash and proceed to do nothing with it. I'd rather be broke and lively than cheap and boring. I've heard friends daydream of getting into investment real estate but if they're sitting on tens of thousands of dollars and still haven't made a play, they aint ever going to.
Lesson: Saving for no reason is depressing.
When I started making more than enough money to pay the bills, I put almost all of my discretionary income into a vending route. It was a lot of work and I learned a lot about business. School doesn't teach you about tax deductions, corporations, insurance. It was like getting a crash course in business but the tuition was slowly paid back to me instead of a bank.
I will leave out the hardships of running a profitable business but will just say I'm glad I did this. When I started doing business, I suddenly felt alive. It was an adventure where I met many people along the way and many new opportunities arises. The profits with running your own business are only half of the equation. The other half is the tax deductions against your income. You basically pay less in taxes to pursue a hobby that pays you. Anyway, the business isn't going anywhere and will slowly scale over time.
Lesson: Mind your business.
I suck at saving money. I'd rather see my money have purpose. Whenever an emergency happens, I always manage to get money. So emergency funds really aren't my thing.
Given everything I've experienced, I've found that whenever I put my mind to something, I can come out ahead. Never has there been such a great opportunity to rise above considering how many people are slaving away through life with their heads down. Today, I am putting money aside for school. Rather: I make enough money to finally afford Community College so that will be out of pocket. I will work to save up for the four year school which is considerably more expensive.
However, the biggest hurdle will be Medical School. Surely, this would be the type of situation where you'd want to invest your time and attention full-time. If I should get there, then I'll need a wad of cash saved to pay my bills. Fuck it, YOLO. It's going to be fun watching my stockpile grow which signifies my escape plan.
The Tech Industry is lame as fuck. Anyone with half a brain can Google how to fix a computer. Gee, I'm good with computers so guess I'll do IT. I mean, shit, that's exactly what I did because I didn't want to be poor my whole life. But times change and we must move on to greater projects. Besides, I wasn't meant to be stuck behind a computer all day. If alcohol and partying has taught me anything, it's that my life was meant to be around people doing fun shit.
I don't even give a fuck about my 401k. I'll cash that bitch out to pay for Med school. Because a high-earning position will easily out-save a low-earning position. Compounding interest doesn't mean shit when the values are tiny. But start throwing in some big bucks and keep feeding it: You'll see some decent cash start to grow. And it's not like I was planning on retiring ever. The fuck would I do, sit at home like a fat fuck? Nah. Life is to be lived. People retire so they can sit around all day then die because they never gave a shit about their health. That's weak shit.
Lesson: Aim high.