It would take all day to explain everything I’ve done to improve my financial situation in just a matter of weeks, just from the motivation and new knowledge I got from this book. I just turned 22 and I’m a brand new mom, living in my own (nice, big) apartment, working full time, and I’ve learned so much about how to save money and maximize my earnings.
I’ve always thought of myself as a big saver (always having money in my checking account since my very first paycheck), but after I read this book I realized I was doing everything wrong! My $3,000 in savings had been sitting in a CHECKING account for the last six years earning NO interest! And I never realized it before. I fixed that pretty quick, shopping for the highest interest rate around and finally putting my money to work. My awesome new money market account is also automated; it takes 10% of each paycheck every pay period, and I’m already thinking of increasing it to 15% since I don’t feel any pinch. I don’t have to do anything but watch it grow and earn some fat interest. I love the “automatic” concept! I decided my new savings nest was going to be my down payment on my first home (and my daughter’s!) in five years. And I’m going to be SURE to make those bi-weekly payments instead of monthly.
My Latte Factor came to be $3.51, which is $108.81 a month! And it was ALL wasted on fast food and snacks. I nearly had a heart attack when I took 3 random bank statements and calculated that I was spending an average of $150 a month on fast food- and I didn’t even count dining out. It took a few weeks but I made small steps and finally cut out the fast food, completely. For my health AND my wallet. And the strange, but best, part is, it seems like I’m saving more than $150 a month, a LOT more. It really is about how much you spend, not how much you earn. I love how this book doesn’t want you to go out and earn more, all it focuses on is maximizing what you already have.
What I love the most is the chart on page 48 (The Automatic Millionaire), that shows how much less you can invest, and how much more you can end up with, if you start at the age of 20 vs. 40. Given my age, this example is very exciting.
To sum it all up, since studying this book in the past MONTH and putting it into practice religiously, my checking account is worth $1,000 more, I have $1,000 more in savings, and the knowledge I have is priceless. Now I know what I’m doing with my money.
My money works for ME now.