My name is Joel Sandwith, and I work here in London with Norma Yau, and today I’ve got a tip: If you want to get ahead financially, in many cases you need to start small, and work your way up. Here’s an idea: Next time you break a $20 bill for a coffee, parking, or any other small expense, track what happens to the change.
Do this a few times, then review your spending. Are you happy with where the money went? I bet the more you do this, the longer the change will stay in your pocket.
We read and hear a lot about the idea of saving the cost of a “latte a day” – I don’t know anyone who drinks latte, but I do know a lot of people who buy a coffee everyday, or more than one. Is the coffee a problem? Maybe, maybe not.
Losing track of $18 change from a $20 bill is, without a doubt.
The idea here is that you may feel like you have a mountain to move financially, but really it’s just a pile of rocks. We know you can’t move the mountain, but if you start with the small rocks and work your way up, you might be able to slowly shift that pile where it needs to be.
Starting small is a good idea in a lot of areas. For example, in golf, to practice putting, the wise move is to start with two foot putts, knock a few in, get confident in your putt, and slowly move farther away.
In managing money day to day, we often overlook the small stuff and worry about the big stuff. You can’t change your rent overnight, but saving $20 a week in small expenses can add up to over $1,000 a year. If you applied that $1,000 against your debts, you could save hundreds of dollars in interest. Not bad for small change!
So, next time you take $20 out of a bank machine, enjoy the coffee, but ask yourself with every use of that money: is this helping me accomplish my financial goals, or not?
If one of your goals is to reduce your debt, give our London office a call at 310-PLAN, or e-mail us for more information. Or research your options like filing bankruptcy in Canada, or filing a consumer proposal, and then call us for more information.
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