Endless Gibberish

My Personal Finance Rules

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Here are some personal finance rules I try to abide by:

1. Charge everything that can be charged to a rewards credit card. I mean, if there’s a slight advantage to paying with a credit card, then why not? 5% off on gas, pharmacies, supermarkets, etc. adds up to a lot over time. The minimum reward which I can get is 1% cashback which is still decent. If you pay with cash, you’re often subsidizing everyone else who pays with a credit card. Just watch your spending and you’ll be okay.

2. Always keep extra cash in a high yield savings account. It’s basically free money especially if I don’t have immediate plans for the cash. I will keep money I intend to use for paying off a credit card bill or any other bill in a high yield savings account also.

3. Do well in school. More importantly, FINISH school. If I don’t finish my years in college, I’ll only have a high school diploma to fall back on… and I can’t be frugal if I’m not making money to be frugal with.

4. Screw full priced trendy retail clothes. Most people my age will not even think about this. You don’t have to dress like a bum, but you don’t have to wear $200+ designer jeans either. Go shopping when you NEED clothes, impulse buying is for suckers, unless they’re getting crazy good deals.

5. Be frugal, but don’t be cheap. Cheap people are the kind of people that when having a meal with someone else will pay $8 for a bill of $7.75, full well knowing that tip and tax will not be covered and whomever they are dinner is going to have to pick up the rest. Frugal people have water instead of soda to save $1.75 on their bill and still put down $8 on their $6 bill to cover tax and tip.