Magical Penny

Consumption Smoothing

by Magical Penny on March 5, 2010

The over-riding reason why I started Magical Penny was to evangelise the power of compounding returns. In more simple terms it was to tell people that if they save a little now, then over time they have a chance to end up with a lot. And the increase that can occur over time when a good annual rate of return is achieved is more than you would imagine.

The idea of saving today to leave you with a lump sum for your ‘golden years’ certainly isn’t original. It’s fundamental message of traditional retirement planning strategies.

*Yawn*.

Don’t worry. There’s another strategy to make sure you live a full life without having to save so much in your 20s and 30s and still have enough when you stop working. You’re probably already doing it to some extent to allow you to get the things you want and need today when you can’t afford them. What is this wonder strategy? It’s called consumption smoothing.

Saving Rules OK

Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of saving money to buy things with cash. Not only is it less risky but I don’t think people give much thought to the financial cost of how much buying things on credit can be.

When it comes to buying bigger things like a house, however, not even I am willing to wait until I can pay cash for it! Sometimes debt is worth the price because, as Sean reminds us, the opportunity cost of waiting can be too high.

A place to call home

In the case of mortgage debt, it’s often a win-win for both the borrower and the lender. The borrower gets to enjoy their own house, as it provides a form of stability in their life and gives the owner the comfort of being able to paint the walls any colour they want. The lender is also happy because they can be confident that they won’t lose their money because the house is ‘secured’ against the debt –if you can’t pay the mortgage, the lender gets the house. It is therefore a lower risk for the lender- the reason that mortgage debt interest rates, the cost of borrowing, are so low compared with other debts. There are also many Join the Facebook group that make buying a house easy.

Consumption smoothing the practical way

Taking out a mortgage is a simple example of consumption smoothing in practice because rather than making one huge payment to buy a house at the start, you can pay for it gradually over time. Not only are your payments smooth, but your lifestyle level is smoothed too as you get to enjoy living in your house for the whole time of your mortgage. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is much better than living on the streets for 20 years as you save up to buy a house before moving into a mansion once you’re reached middle age.

‘Consuming’ Education

Other forms of debt allow you to take advantage of consumption smoothing too. Student loans for example, allow you to attend university at a time in your life when you most likely don’t have any money at all. You get to ‘consume’ a university education without paying for it until after graduation. Students do this (or should do this) because they have the expectation that the degree will help them pay back the loan and achieve a higher income (although as Andy reminds us it is not always true). Like in the mortgage example, consumption smoothing through debt has the potential to be a great strategy for students because of the opportunity cost of missing out on years of graduate earning potential if they were forced to save to pay for tuition out-right.

So consumption smoothing is testament to how the use of debt can be helpful. However, should consumption smoothing be taken to the next level?

Living the Perfect Consumption Smoothing Lifestyle

If you’re ambitious, student loans are just the start. Why not really take advantage of consumption smoothing? On the assumption that you’re going to be earning much more in the future than you do now, you could take out all manner of loans: perhaps car loans, home improvement loans or even just maxing out your credit cards. By doing so you can raise your consumption, and therefore your lifestyle, above your current earning level.

Next, the plan would be to increase your income until you reach a point when your income and expenses are equal. At this point, if you are following the consumption smoothing strategy correctly, you would continue to attempt to increase your income but any raises achieved should be channelled into paying off your debts. Over time your debts are gradually paid off as, despite an increasing income, your lifestyle and consumption levels have been kept at the same level. By the end of your career you are earning much more than your ‘smoothed out spending plan’ allowing you to accumulate funds for your retirement. The extra funds saved then help you maintain your lifestyle when you income drops at retirement.

Sounds too good to be true?

In principle this plan is brilliant as it allows you to consume more when you’re young when you’re not making much, safe in the knowledge that your future self can easily afford to foot the bill. Why live like a pauper then a king when you can simply live comfortably all your life?

Are you up for it? Try this simple test

I encourage you to try out extreme consumption smoothing if you can pass the following test. Walk through the steps outlined below and if you get to the top of the 3 steps then you have my blessing to live the consumption smoothing dream!

Step 1

Are you disciplined with your spending? Some people might find it hard to spend lots of money when they are young. After all, there are not many things to buy are there? 😉 Could you manage it? If you think you could struggle through spending lots of money when you’re young, move on to the next step.

Step 2

Congratulations, you’re one of the rare people that like spending money! Let’s try to get you to the next step. It’s quite easy. All you have to do is promise me that you’re sure that you’ll never lose your job and you will never be without an ever-increasing income. I’m only asking because one day you’ll need pay back the expensive debt that you would have got yourself in in step one, buying those new cars perhaps, or going on those expensive holidays. If you are sure that you’re a value-creating machine and nothing will go wrong in your life, then go ahead, move up to step 3. You deserve it.

Step 3

Wow, you’re awesome! With an indestructible career that’s always on the up and up you deserve great things. Now you have to promise me that you’ll continue working hard to increase your income even more, but that you will also keep your spending at the same level that you’ve had since you started this journey. Doesn’t sound so good? Well, get used to it because you’ve come this far and you can’t go back. Keep working hard and pay off that debt otherwise it will keep growing with interest and fees. And when you’re done cleaning up that mess, you have retirement to save for too!

What do you think of consumption spending now?

Although it can be really helpful for student loans and houses (traditionally known as ‘good debt’) it soon becomes hard-work when other expenses come into play. Like many things, it’s a question of balance or rather in this case, unbalance. By saving a lot more in your 20s (and if everything goes well) you can always be increasing your consumption and lifestyle.

The only way is up!

Also, you would be in a much better position if and when thing in your life don’t go to plan too.

Making the commitment to build solid finances today might not seem as fun as the ‘consumption smoothers’ at first but I think it’s worth being a little less comfortable in your 20s. If not now, then when?. Over time you’ll catch up with those ‘consumption smoothers’, and your ascent to wealth will be made easier still through the power of compounding returns. How about you?

We are nearing the conclusion of Magical Penny’s foundational series on Debt. You can find other articles in the series here.

There’s been some exciting things happening behind the scenes here at Magical Penny. Twitter feed and read the Twitter feed to get in on all the action. Also don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter which is launching shortly. If you have already subscribed to the email post updates you don’t have to worry as you’ll automatically receive the newsletter when it launches.

Have a great weekend everyone.

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The Treadmill that Does Not Get You Fit (financially)

by Magical Penny on March 3, 2010

When most people think about the subject of personal finance they think about cutting back; that a budget is all about not spending any money; that saving for the future stops them from truly living in the present. I’ve certainly heard this recently when some of my friends began hearing about what I’m doing here at Magical Penny:

“Oh Adam, you won’t like this but I’ve just bought a new laptop”

“Why are you saving so much when you could save a little less to allow yourself to live more in the present”

For many, saving money is perceived as something that deprives them of every day pleasures and happiness. They think that those who do save their pennies must be living boring lives, depriving themselves by avoiding spending money on fun things. Of course this isn’t true.

Avoid the Treadmill

One useful theory in psychology that I’d like to share is called the ‘http://mnmlist.com/letting-go-of-desires/’. It’s used to describe how no matter how much we progress in our lives, be it in a career, or in the size of our bank account, we remain largely at the same stable level of happiness. For almost all of us, even if we are always increasing our standard of living, our happiness will not increase with it. We get used to it, in the same way that lifestyle inflation makes what we have seem ‘normal’. Rather, our happiness is more influenced by relative measures: are we doing better than the people around us or better now compared with how we were doing recently?

Does Spending Money Make You Happy?

I’d like to take this idea and apply it to spending. It’s common knowledge that money doesn’t bring happiness so why do so many people think spending brings meaningful happiness? Of course most of us get a buzz out of something new: for me I think of things like a new camera or a computer. Perhaps for you it’s clothes or shoes, or something bigger like a car or a new house. It’s only human to enjoy getting something new, something better than what we had before or better than what our friends have!

However, soon after the purchase, perhaps over the course of the following few weeks and months you’re not likely to be more happy in your everyday life. A newer car or a faster computer may make our lives a bit easier, or more comfortable, but does it really increase our happiness over the long term? Not so much.

So if you are not going to any more happy after purchasing perhaps you may as well begin saving more! And when you being appreciating the true price that we pay for just being ‘comfortable’ or for the ‘convenience’ it becomes even easier to get excited by the idea of saving and investing in your 20s and 30s, due to the power of compounding.

The Search for Real Happiness

Although the hedonic treadmill theory tells us that our basic level of happiness stays the same it is still important to seek out happiness every day. We already know this and a lot of people look to make themselves happier through their spending habits.

However, I encourage you today to have a think about what makes you memorably happier.

Think specifically.

What were you doing in your favourite memories? Who were you with? If for example your best memories are from holidays with friends, then make it a priority and recognise that in order to afford to do it again perhaps you should cut back on things that don’t matter so much to you.

To give my own example, I’ve not found a car to be a priority to me (yet) but when I do, I recognise that over the long term my level of happiness is going to be relatively stable whether I have a new or an older car. I’ll take the second hand car and make a commitment to save more both for my future self and for an adventure holiday to Rio De Janero for Carnival. Going on this holiday won’t affect my base level of happiness over the long term either, just as a new car wouldn’t, but I’m sure it will create happy memories that I’ll be able to call upon in years to come. For me that’s a better trade than being ‘comfortable’ in a new car. It’s just not my passion. How about you?

If Money Doesn’t Bring Happiness Why the Focus on Growing Pennies?

Saving and investing for the future is not about a quest for happiness. And I’m certainly not the first to write about money not bringing happiness! As I wrote above, we have to seek out happiness every day in our own way, but when we do, I suggest you make sure to avoid the hedonic treadmill and focus on authentic experiences.

So what is Magical Penny ultimately about? It’s about growing your pennies to give you options. Options like the choice to retire early to allow you to more control over your schedual, or being financially secure enough if you decide to change careers or take a break to start a family. Or for any other reason you may have.

I hope you’ll join me in making a commitment to disconnect happiness from spending, to avoid the hedonic treadmill and get financially fit at the same time!

This article was partly inspired by:

@Creditcards.com

In other news, Magical Penny was featured in 2 blog carnivals this week and I’m understandly excited and honoured to have been selected. Reading the articles featured in both carnivals is a great way to learn about the many different facets of personal finance.

Carnival of Personal Finance @PTMoney

“Over at the Magical Penny, Adam presents something to look forward to: a really spiffy car for your midlife crisis. Plan for the crisis now, he says, and you’ll be able to afford it.”

The First International Personal Finance Carnival Personal Finance Bloggers Map

Magical Penny‘s first guest post article 5 Tactics to Avoid Overspending When Traveling was featured in the carnival that features “top contributions from around the world…from bloggers who are included in the Personal Finance Bloggers Map.”

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Using a Credit Card

by Magical Penny on March 1, 2010

Magical Penny is currently exploring the subject of debt as having debt makes growing you pennies more difficult. Previous debt topics include Student Loans, and Car debt.

If you only learn one thing about personal finance it’s this fact: if any of us are going to be successful at saving and investing we need to ensure that there is a gap (preferably a growing gap) between our income and expenses.

Credit cards, in some ways, remove us from our spending, making saving potentially more difficult. Using a credit card means that we don’t have to actually pay for our purchases straight away. A credit card allows you to pay just a small amount each month to ‘smooth’ out the cost. Whilst they can be useful tools for some, for many they act as the gateway to bigger financial problems. Certainly credit card debt is one of the most common forms of debt for most of us.

Understanding Credit Cards

I’ve had a credit card for less than a year. In truth I didn’t see the need for one but decided to investigate my options after reading Ramit’s I will Teach You Do Be Rich. I am by no means an expert on this subject but as part of Magical Penny’s foundational series on debt, this article will get you up to speed on credit cards.

Below are 4 reasons most often given for a credit card and the Magical Penny perspective on each of them.

Credit Card Perks

Credit cards are primarily marketed to consumers by highlighting the ‘perks’: the incentives for taking out and using a particular credit card: ‘air-miles’ , ‘points’ or ‘cash-back’ are the most common. However when you’re searching for credit cards most personal finance information online is very US-centric. In the US it seems that credit cards play a much bigger role in the ‘culture’. The ‘perks’ are better too:

“My credit card offers discounts on most major retailers, plus discounts on concert tickets and a “Make a Wish” service, which recently got me orchestra tickets I couldn’t get anywhere else.”

Ramit Sethi.

When I began looking at credit cards in the UK, I was little disappointed: the perks on UK credit cards are negligible at best, and even the relatively good card perks have now been scaled back due to the financial crisis of 08-09.

Ultimately I conclude that even if you do have a card that gives you ‘cash-back’ or ‘points’, it’s a dangerous game to play psychologically because you may be encouraged to spend more to get the rewards. No one gets rich from credit cards, (and it’s particularly true in the UK where the perks seem minuscule).

Flexibility

The flexibility of being able to buy things before you have the money is helpful for many people and it’s this flexibility that makes credit cards so popular for most people. However it’s dangerous way to live.You can never be sure of tomorrow and you may find yourself in a situation where you’ve bought more than you can afford.

It’s also expensive if you cannot pay off the card at the end of each month as the interest rate is typically over 15%. If you have credit card debt yourself, paying it off should be your first priority if you are ever to be able to grow your pennies. It’s more important than paying off your car and certainly more important than saving up for a house. In fact it should be your most important financial goal.

That said, if you are struggling to pay your bills, your credit cards should be your very last priority because they are unsecured: meaning the credit card company can’t take anything away from you if you don’t pay them (unlike a car loan or house loan where if you stop paying them you risk losing them to your creditors).

Consumer Protection

safety One legitimate and positive reason for using a credit card in the UK is to take advantage of the Consumer Credit Act, which protects you from defects and problems with the item or service you buy. The act makes the credit card company equally liable along with company you bought the item from. Crucially this is only applicable on items over £100.

I saw the Consumer Credit Act work in practice when my friend booked flights to Hong Kong with Oasis Airlines in January 2008. The airline went bankrupt on 9 April 2008 but thankfully my friend had booked using a credit card. The credit card company was therefore responsible for getting her and her friends on a flight on the exact date of the original flight, regardless of cost. It only took a couple of phone calls to sort everything out. It would have been a lot harder to get your money back and replacement flights if you had used a debit card!

Building Credit

building good credit Building a credit score is often cited as an important reason to use a credit card. If you do a couple of minutes of searching online you’ll quickly come across everyone talking about FICO scores. UK readers need not worry. This is a type of American credit score that is used near universally: for mortgages, car loans, even if you’re wanting to rent an apartment or start a new job!

In the UK, there is no universal credit rating. Yes, there are ‘credit reference agencies’: Experian, Equifax and Callcredit for example, but each financial lender has its own criteria to ‘score’ you when deciding to offer you a financial product. It’s a little less ‘joined up’ in the UK compared with the US’s mighty FICO so credit scoring is less than an issue of life and death compared with in the US.

Having a credit card does help build your ‘score’ in the eyes of many lenders though because it shows potential lenders that you have the ability to pay your bills on time (assuming you do pay at least the minimum payment on your credit card each month!).

Ultimately if you’re serious about growing your pennies, your credit score shouldn’t matter too much:

A car loan?

Buy used with so you can afford your mid-life crisis car.

A mortgage?

Save up a substantial deposit to get the best mortgage rate

Furniture?

Just make do with what you can scrape together and in the process make your future self proud and avoid bringing risk your life.

In the end I decided to get a credit card for the consumer protection it offers and establishing credit-worthiness (although I’m not fully convinced how big an impact it will have when I’m looking for mortgages compared with the impact of a down-payment). I don’t intend to take out any other form of loan as I’ve made a commitment to live below my means and grow my pennies.

My credit card offers no useful perks but as it’s connected with my current account it keeps things simple with my online banking.

Used correctly I’ve come to the conclusion that a credit card is like a power-tool: in the wrong hands it can be hugely dangerous to your financial life but it can be useful too, although seemingly less useful than if I were in the US, where FICO rules supreme and the perks are more tempting.

Do you have a credit card? What have you found to be useful?

Further reading:

The Consumer Credit Act

Credit rating in the UK

Optimising Credit Card useage (US centric but a fun read….well, fun for me at least!)

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Lifestyle inflation -the silent killer of dreams

by Magical Penny on February 26, 2010

As we journey through life, it’s natural to want to make progress: to earn more; to see new things; and to grow personally and professionally. However, as our income hopefully grows, many of us quickly find new and exciting things on which to spend our newly earned pennies. After all, we work hard, we deserve it!

This in itself is fine. However it’s important to understand that once you become accustomed to nicer things it’s very hard to go back: beware of ‘lifestyle inflation’.

The Silent Killer of dreams

Lifestyle inflation can creep up on you. Perhaps you begin earning a little more and decide to ‘upgrade’ a few things:

A nicer car that doesn’t smell
A better gym that doesn’t smell
A shiny phone contract that errr…you get the point.

If you allow it to continue you’ll be spending all of your income each month, regardless of how fast you can increase your earnings and any dreams that you have to be financially comfortable will never be fulfilled. Avoiding ‘lifestyle inflation’ is particularly important for those of us in our 20s and 30s because we may still have relatively modest lifestyles. You may be a student, or freshly graduated. Or like me, a few years out from graduation beginning to make progress in a career. One of the best tips I read whilst still at university that helped me to where I am today was:

“continue to live like a student for as long as possible”

And no I don’t mean crazy drunken weekday nights, or take-away pizza every day! Rather, continue to live conservatively like you did when you were a student. Most importantly, avoid finding new ways to spend your newly aquired income, (or that much anticipated raise for those of us already with an income).

Being in our 20s and 30s we are uniquely placed to be in a position to make a huge impact on our future wealth largely because we have so much time to let our pennies grow. We have also had less time to develop expensive habits. Ultimately, avoiding lifestyle inflation by keeping expenses low is a great way to leave you with enough pennies each month to begin investing.

The threat of lifestyle inflation is one of the reasons I gave for avoiding the purchase of a new car in Wednesday’s article on ‘How to afford your mid-life crisis car’: If you start off with a shiny new car, you’ll never want to drive an old ‘banger’ again. After all, no-one wants their life to get more uncomfortable; only better. That’s lifestyle inflation at work. It is one reason why so many people find themselves in debt, as acquiring debt allows us to make purchases to make our lives more comfortable, to ‘inflate’ our lifestyle without any increase in income!

Opportunity Cost

Magical Penny has been exploring the topic of debt this week, most recently: car debt. Sean, a Magical Penny reader and long-time friend, made his case in the comments that I was missing something: the opportunity cost paid when saving for a car rather than financing. Sean explains that hypothetically, during the 2 years of saving of a car, savers would miss out on:

“2 years of fault free motoring and the pleasure of owning a new car…”

…although he admits that:

“The problem with opportunity cost is that it’s very open to personal interpretation”.

Read the full debate by clicking here.

Sean’s completely right on this. Financial priorities are a very personal thing. For me, living without a car was a ‘big win’ that helped me to begin saving and investing. For others, the benefits of a new car (fault free motoring and pleasure) may seem worth it. The difficult part however is fully appreciating how much an experience is truly ‘worth’. The Magical Penny car post seeked to explore this from the perspective of those of us at the beginning of our adult lives, where I believe that the cost of buying a new car is more than most people would think: particularly considering the different opportunity cost of not investing (missing out on stock market gains) having made the car debt a priority.

‘Live like no-one else so later you can live like no one else’

Dave Ramsey (US personal finance personality)

The first ‘Live like no-one else’ means living below your means, something that some of us don’t do very well. Taking out a car debt equal to several months of work is not truly living within your means even if you think you can afford the payments. In Sean’s example, given the huge potential that saving money in your 20s can have, it’s easy for me to accept the ‘opportunity cost’ of mising out on ‘the pleasure of a new car’. That said, some may take my argument to the extreme, lowering their lifestyle to nothing by surviving on ramen noodles and living in a tiny flat-share, all in the name of ‘compounding returns‘, saving a sizable chunk of their income in the hope of huge investment gains. As with most things, however, it becomes a question of finding the right balance for you and remember: Don’t completely mortgage today for the hopes of a pay-off tomorrow.

Personal finance is personal

And so to end this first week of posts about debt here at Magical Penny: I challenge you to think of a ‘big win’ of your own: To avoid spending on something that may seem ‘normal’ to those around you: a car, regularly eating out’, exotic holidays…etc. It’s not about depriving yourself of experiences or nice things, but reconsidering your wants: are they really worth it or is it better to ‘live like no-one else’ so in a few years you could have grown your savings to such an extent that they allow to ‘live like no-one else’.

Follow Magical Penny on Twitter for post updates and other thoughts, and sign up to the newsletter too -some special things are planned soon, only for subscribers! It’s free so join today!

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How to Afford your Mid-life Crisis Car

by Magical Penny on February 24, 2010

Imagine a few years down the line: You’re fat, working a dead-end job and divorced from the love of your life. Let’s throw into the mix that you’re losing your hair too.

The only solution? A midlife crisis sports car of course!

Hopefully you’ll not find yourself in this situation but it always helps to be prepared. What’s a prudent 20 something to do? For the purposes of this post I’ll ignore the fact that we all should be working to improve ourselves, developing and maintaining healthy relationships and finding fulfilling ways to spend our days on the planet.

Instead, let’s focus on logistics of being able to pay for the car!

For many of us, getting a car loan is the ‘normal’ thing to do. How else are we to afford one? When I explain to some friends that I’m saving up for my first car some of my friends really do say:

“But Adam, no-one can afford to buy their first car without help from their parents or a car loan right?”

Avoid your first major debt

Aside from student debt, a car loan is often the first major debt that young people beginning their careers sign up for: certainly a number of my friends bought cars after university using financing, many focusing on the monthly payment rather than the total cost of the loan.

However carrying debt can be costly and adds risk to your life: when you take out a loan you make a promise to pay it back over time but the future is never certain: you may not be able to pay back the loan in the event of a job loss, or you may not be able to afford other things that you need or would like because you are committed to making the payments on the car-loan.

In cases where you buy a brand new car, you could get in even more trouble as the value can quickly fall below the level of your debt so you would not be able to sell the car at a later date without first taking out another loan to cover the difference. With debt you lose both cash flow and flexibility –you are required to keep paying for your purchases even in the event of a change in circumstances.

So what’s the alternative? Here are 4 ways to either avoid or minimise car debt, putting you in a much better position to grow your pennies helping you afford your mid-life crisis car later on in life:

Do you need a car now?

Having a car can provide great personal freedom and for many, getting your own set of wheels is a ‘coming of age’ moment: You no longer need to rely on public transport or lifts from family or friends. However it can also be a financial burden and a commitment that stops you from being able to save money for your future self.

Admittedly it’s easier for some to decide against a car: for example, I love cycling and my trusty bike gets me to work and around my city quite easily. It’s not always convenient but the choice to not have a car makes a significant difference to the amount I’m able to funnel into my emergency, opportunity and future self accounts. Ask yourself:

“Is having a car at this stage of my life really worth it?”

Deciding to wait a little while for a car can mean the difference of tens of thousands of pounds considering how much the pennies you save in your 20s will grow in value over time.

Buy used and older

Most readers of Magical Penny are young 20 somethings just coming to terms with their finances, or at least seeing what all the fuss is about! We already have what almost everyone would pay millions for: youth! Take advantage of being young: you don’t need a shiny new car to enjoy the crazy adventure of early adult life. Not having a car payment (or a very low one) allows more flexibility to travel, visit friends or simply save for other things like a down-payment on a house.

Having an older car also lowers your insurance premiums and it is much easier to purchase an older, lower value car with cash (saved over a few months). Remember, it’s not about depriving yourself: it’s about getting yourself in a position to make a significant impact on your future self’s bank balance: the money you save by buying a old used car in your 20s compared with financing a new car or leasing a car is not just a few thousand pounds: left alone and invested properly, we’re talking significant sums: tens of thousands of pounds; plenty to be able to afford that Ferrari when your hair starts to thin and you need that mid-life crisis boost!

Cheap(er) Financing

For some, having a new car is something that can’t be avoided: they require a new car as part of their job perhaps: it needs to be presentable for visiting clients or reliable for travelling to meetings and events. In these cases spending the time to find 0% finance deals is the best option. All debt has risk but 0% finance deals at least cuts back on the expense of borrowing.

Pay It Off ASAP

Even if the interest is at 0%, you need to work out a way to over-pay -not having debt has a huge phycological benefit of being master of your own destiny, rather than working for your creditors. Also, if you want to be ready to begin seriously growing you pennies through saving and investing, you need to have significantly reduced your car debt otherwise you are taking on too much risk. Find ways to cut back on your lifestyle and add any money saved into the ‘pay of debt’ category in your budget.

Many people feel liberated when they pay off their debts as 100% of their income can be spent on today’s and tomorrow’s needs and wants, rather than yesterday’s obligations. Sounds good doesn’t it?

Finally…

As you’re reading Magical Penny, the blog that evangelises the power of compounding returns, you may be eager to start investing before you finish paying off your car loan. However it’s not generally recommended as the stock market’ return is not guaranteed. The savings you will make when you pay off debt, however, are. The best plan is often to get the expense and risk of a car loan out of your life before you begin to seriously grow your pennies in the market.

Ultimately if you make the choice to lower your car-debt now when you’re still young and still (relatively) cool, you can afford that sports car just in time for your mid-life crisis!

This light-hearted but important post on paying off debt and reducing your lifestyle while you’re still young is part of Magical Penny’s ‘Debt’ series – making sure that you understand the importance of eliminating debt before you begin growing your pennies in the market. Don’t miss any of the action: get free updates by clicking here.

The Guy in the Glass

by Magical Penny on February 19, 2010

We’re coming to the end of the first stage of the foundational articles here at Magical Penny. The aim was make you face up to where you are financially and to prompt you to develop a plan with your pennies before you make any other moves.

Magical Penny will be back on Monday with a series on prioritising and eliminating debt – the next stage of the journey towards growing your pennies. Until then I’ll leave you something a little different: one of my favourite poems:

“The Guy in the Glass”

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgment upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow

What are you doing to make the person in your mirror proud?

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Financial Lessons of a cheese pedlar

by Magical Penny on February 17, 2010

The psychology behind saving, spending and selling is useful to know if you’re to grow your pennies. Equally, it’s important to understand what tactics and strategies help you as an individual to save and to identify in which situations you are more likely to fall prey to impulse spending.

Up-selling

As I started looking out for these kinds of things myself, I became much more aware of sales techniques and ‘upselling’: for example when a waiter suggests you have a side dish as well as a main course, or a sales assistant tries to convince you to take out an additional warranty on an electronic device. Such techniques can are dangerous if you’re trying to follow a budget, but I still find them fascinating!

Call me strange but over the last few weeks I’ve been paying particular attention to the ‘sandwich artists’ in Subway stores, specifically how they handle the ‘extra cheese’ question. Here are 3 examples of what I’ve heard:

“Would you like extra cheese in your sub?”

“Double cheese?”

“Cheese on both sides?” [of the open bread’]

Which of those 3 did you find most persuasive? For me it’s number 3. Here’s why:

#1 –‘extra’ –something in addition; superfluous; less important. It’s easier to say ‘no’ to extra: perhaps you’re on a diet or you simply don’t feel like even more cheese on your sandwich. Similarly when it comes to saving, saving your ‘extra’ money is hard work –who has ‘extra’ money anyway?! FAIL.

#2 –‘Double’ –Double is fun –it’s a 100% increase! If you have the option for ‘double’ you generally take it. But double is also excess, so ‘Double cheese’ was a great up-sell technique amongst the steady stream of drunk customers heading to Subway after leaving the clubs in the early hours, but I doubt it would work so well during the day. Comparing this back to money again, ‘Doubling’ your savings can be even harder than saving your ‘extra’ money –where is it going to come from? Will-power alone won’t be able to help you ‘double’ your savings rate. FAIL.

#3. My favourite technique: the guy using the ‘Cheese on both sides’ line was an up-selling genius. For every customer that I saw, he already had the 4 slices of cheese in his hand (2 standard and 2 ‘extra’) before asking “Cheese on both sides?” His tone of voice made it sound more of fact than a question. Who was I to deny this fact?! Of course I would have cheese on both sides. He made it sound like the thought of cheese on just one side of my bread was ridiculous! WIN.

It’s only a small thing but his success rate at the up-sell was amazing. Extra cheese is 40p and assuming he up-sold to 2 customers a minute, he was increasing revenue by £48 an hour, selling little slices of cheese alone. Over 5 busy lunch-hours he would net an extra £240!

Only one person said no to this technique whilst I was watching, and even then the guy made the customer confirm it: “You don’t want cheese on both sides?” before reluctantly putting the extra cheese in his hand back in the food container.

Connecting this to saving psychology, when it comes to saving your pennies, little decisions can have a huge impact and a strong and certain mind-set helps too:

“of course I are going to save money –it’s obvious! How else am I going to able to live my future dreams: buy a house, go travelling, start a business, if not through saving?”

Will-power is great for getting started but to be certain to save consistently, you have to take the will-power out of the equation and make it non-negotiable. Here are two easy ways to make saving consistently each month a reality:

Pre-tax: Put money in a pension before you see it

If you are a salaried employee you most likely will have the option to join a pension scheme (or 401k in the US). Do it. It’s quite often free money as your employer will ‘match’ what you put in up to a certain percentage of your salary, typically 3%. This contribution will be before tax, so for most of us we can save £100 in a pension but our take-home pay will only seem lower by roughly £78. (Magical Penny will highlight the best ways to invest this pension money and avoid the pitfalls in later articles but for now, just get it set up by talking to your HR department).

Post tax: Automate your savings.

I have a friend who says he’s too lazy to save money each month. But you can still save money and be lazy at the same time: It’s easy to set up an automatic transfer from your current account (‘checking’ account for American readers) to a separate savings account each time you get paid. Before I automated my saving I found that some months I would have an excuse not to make the transfer:

“I’m going on holiday”, “It’s Christmas” etc.

But once it was automated I didn’t have to make that choice: reducing the need for will power or mental energy- You can set it up easily enough using online banking or have a word with your bank. Once set up you just save (and later, invest) automatically and you can go back to being lazy.

Up-sell yourself –the cheesy way

By saving before tax with an automatic pension contribution and automating your post- tax money (your ‘take-home’ pay) you will be saving more, just like the up-selling sandwich artist manages to use psychological tricks to unload more cheese on an unsuspecting public! . By following these two simple tips you can ensure the sandwich of your financial life has cheese on both sides, effortlessly.

Go on, up-sell yourself to yourself!
Adam had a lot of fun writing this cheesy but hopefully insightful post: he’s currently singing in Venice but will return shortly to moderate your comments. Join in the discussion: what other ‘tricks’ help you save or earn money?

Update: Featured by J Money at Budgets are Sexy dot com!

Carnival of Personal Finance #245 @budgetsaresexy
–Magical Penny as a featured ‘editors pick’:

#1) Magical Penny: Financial Lessons of a Cheese Pedlar. Cheese & finance?! AWESOME! 🙂 If you frequent Subway a bit, and like keeping your money, this is a must read. Well done Adam!

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5 Tactics to Avoid Overspending When Travelling

by Magical Penny on February 15, 2010

Adam’s note: As you read this I will be exploring Venice as I have traveled there to sing. Thankfully Fred, a financial writer at Credit Card Finder, has written a brilliant guest post for just the occasion. He helps people to compare credit cards and select the best travel credit card for their needs.

There’s some very useful tips here that I will certainly be taking advantage of and I encourage you to do too. Thanks Fred!

Fred writes:

Travelling overseas is an exciting experience and one which will furnish you with memories and stories for many years to come. However, to make sure those memories and experiences are positive ones, you need to be able to control your money and your spending while overseas, and it can be hard to stick to a budget and watch your spending when you are on holiday. Therefore, here are five tactics which can help you avoid overspending when you are travelling overseas, while still ensuring you have a great time.

1. Get organised on a budget before you leave

A lot of overspending when overseas can happen because you are disorganised so before you leave clarify how much you have to spend on this trip. Now you know the amount you can work with, book as much as possible before you leave; this includes your hotel, your hire car, your tours and any equipment hire you need. Having a clear plan of your activities while you are away and booking them before you leave not only ensures you are prepared to all the costs of those activities but it also means you can save money by booking in advance. Expenses such as airfares and accommodation can be much cheaper if you book them well in advance and these are usually two of your biggest expenses when travelling so it can mean big savings if you can be organise before travelling.

2. Carry a currency conversion chart

If you are travelling to a country with a different currency, it can be easy to overspend when you don’t know what you are spending. Therefore, just before you leave make up a currency conversion chart of the current exchange rates and the equivalent amounts of common denominations. This will provide you with a quick reference so you can decide whether that item at the market really is a bargain or whether you are actually paying £10 for a coffee. Having an accurate conversion chart not only saves you time in making the conversions, but it also means those conversions are accurate and not approximate amounts you think you have calculated correctly in your head on the spot.

3. Avoid tourist traps

When travelling ask the locals for their advice on good, cheap restaurants, or affordable sightseeing opportunities. You don’t always have to join a tour and sometimes you can simply wander through the streets and experience more of a culture than you would from a tour bus. Avoiding tourist-type areas also helps you make savings on food and drinks and even incidental items you need on your travels because in sightseeing and tourist areas the prices in restaurants, cafes and kiosks are much higher.

4. Use your credit or debit card

Not only does this help you track your spending while you are away and means you don’t have to carry cash, credit and debit cards are actually cheaper than using travellers’ cheques. Plus, you’ll also often get a more favourable exchange rate on your credit card compared to a travellers’ cheque.

5. Shop like a local, breakfast like a tourist

When you book your accommodation check on any breakfast deals which may be included as sometimes breakfast can be added for a small cost, and sometimes for free. This can save you a lot of money when you are travelling because going to a cafe for a full breakfast and a couple of coffees can blow out your budget. Also, if you need drinks or snacks in your travels go to a local supermarket or green grocer rather than a deli or restaurant because your food and drink will be cheaper – just like it’s cheaper to buy a bottle of Coke at the supermarket than it is to buy it at a service station.

Enjoying yourself and making your savings stretch further when you are travelling overseas can be as simple as being organised, and being aware of your surroundings. Now all you have to do is start packing your suitcases and start snapping those holiday pics!

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Don’t Act your Age: How to Keep Saving and Keep your Friends

by Magical Penny on February 12, 2010

The majority of us ‘act our age’ for the most part. It’s no surprise as aging is part of the human condition and in many aspects creates a certain structure for our thinking.

For example, many of us think in life-stages like:

Your 20s are for fun and establishing a career (debt and little saving)
Your 30s are for raising a family and growing that career (more debt but beginning to save)
Your 40s and 50s are helping children into adulthood and for achieving mastery in a career (reducing debt and saving increasing amounts as retirement looms whilst hoping to win big on the lottery)
Your 60s are for retirement and beginning of a new life post-work (spending those savings in the ‘golden years’)

For most of us here, our busy lives are a blur between long hours at work and play. With all the time spent on education, pursuing and growing relationships and of course time dedicated to fun, the state of our finances are never seriously considered. And our finances are not helped when for some of us a night out is judged depending on how much money is left in our wallets!

Don’t act your age

Continuing with these assumptions, if you’re reading Magical Penny you are a little different as you are paying attention. Most young people are not.

I want to challenge that.

If more people understood the true implications of beginning to save and invest early, I am confident that more people would begin paying attention as the potential rewards for diligence in saving and patience in investing are mind-blowing.

But still not everyone around you will ‘get it’. You could try shouting…

“THINK OF THE COMPOUNDING RETURNS!!!!!”

…at the top of your voice, but believe me when I say:

It won’t work.

Even with good vocal projection.

For some weird reason it’s simply not effective.

As you begin to understand the significance of being more conscious of your spending, you will hopefully be making small or large changes in your life and to your relationship with your wallet. You may find that if you are serious about getting out of debt for example, you become less enthusiastic about going on that expensive weekend away.

Here are 4 ideas that I have found helpful to keep you on track as you make the active choice to grow your pennies for your future:

Be confident in your budget, not embarrassed

You may need to curb your spending to follow your realistic budget. The worst thing that you can do now however is let your newly found financial habits and goals be dashed by your friends. If you have begun to change your financial priorities they may laugh or think you’ve joined a cult! But if you are going to attack any consumer debt you have or begin saving your pennies you may need to change some every habits or weekly rituals.

Keep at it.

Remember that you are prioritising tomorrow’s dreams over today’s passing wants and that your friends will soon change their views when they see you put that fat down-payment on a house or have pennies in the bank to pay for that holiday in full before you leave.

Accept your goal will be reality, step by step

You may feel daunted if you have an overdraft to climb out of or a credit card to pay off. But as you bring your spending under control you will need to accept that you have already made massive progress: you are paying attention to your pennies and telling them where to go rather than wondering where they went. Know in your mind that you will reach these initial goals and that in time your pennies will be growing all by themselves.

Re-frame your thinking

When I first began paying attention to my pennies I became acutely aware of all the spending that my friends were doing around me, particularly cars, laptops and other shiny electronics so attractive to early 20 something males! But when you find yourself holding back from such spending remind yourself that you’re not depriving yourself, just delaying your wants a little. By reconsidering your spending now, your pennies will go much further in the future as you give them a chance to grow into more meaningful sums. Remember too that although your friends are spending to fulfil today’s wants, your long-term focus can mean that you can dream even bigger for your future. In simplistic terms do you want a state of the art laptop now or a paid-for sports car when you’re 50?

Leave your friends to their spending

Finances can be a taboo subject: it is deeply personal and spending habits are hard to change. When you begin making progress on your goals it will be easy to become enthusiastic and encourage others to follow suit. In fact, this is one of my major motivators for writing here at Magical Penny!

However this is not always the best approach when speaking with friends and colleagues face to face. Ultimately the motivations for increasing saving and living with planned spending have to come from within.

Everyone needs their own ‘light-bulb moment’.

By all means tell your own story to your friends if they ask it, but let that quiet confidence that a solid financial plan can bring do the real talking. It is important to avoid appearing to be judge other’s financial choices.

This can be hard. It was only last week that I came across this myself as I watched my friends empty their wallets into slot machines. No doubt sparked by the way I must have been looking at them as they fed £10 notes into the machines, I had to reassure a friend that I wasn’t judging them: I simply have my eyes on a bigger prize.

To sum up, I hope these points will help you as you maintain your resolve; to not act like most of our age; to show respect to your pennies in the present for a better future tomorrow (and so you don’t have to rely on the lottery in your old-er age).

Being financially secure at any age is never a bad thing so get to it!

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Start the Journey To Grow your Pennies

by Magical Penny on February 10, 2010

I’m really excited to begin teaching you about investing: the best ways to invest; how to avoid the pitfalls and costly mistakes; and how to enjoy the process and sense of empowerment that investing can bring. However, many people jump into investing before they are ready. This article is part of a foundational series at Magical Penny to ensure that you are ready before you start seriously growing your pennies.

For many of us, saving money, really saving money, just isn’t practical right now. We’re at the start of a career, perhaps just getting to grips with a monthly salary. We all have expenses to pay and a limited income. For many of us, it’s not a question of having enough money left at the end of the month but how to survive when there’s still some month left at the end of the money. When this happens we may have a bank overdraft to cover us until the end of the month, or a credit card to tide us over.

But overdraft costs can soon add up and credit card interest can quickly get out of control, your balance increasing with interest and fees, resulting in even higher fees next month: the dark side of the power of compounding.

Take Control

You may be tempted to wait until you get a pay-rise or a better job before you start saving. However, look into your future. You may be earning more but I’m positive that you’ll have more expenses too: perhaps a mortgage; children; a nicer car? There’s never a better time to get to grips with our pennies than now. Getting into the mindset is half the battle, but the next stage is just as important: developing a written plan: a plan to take control of your pennies.

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would be as sweet?

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, 1594

It might not have a sexy name….but it’s a powerful penny-building tool:

A budget

It might seem obvious to you or it might seem completely unnecessary, but a budget is so effective it’s almost magical!

However, even after I discovered the power of compounding I was slow to come around to actually writing a budget. Here’s a passage written just over a year ago when I began penning some thoughts on personal finance; the first spark of inspiration that, a year later, would become Magical Penny.

Sunday 21^st December 2008

I have a confession. I’ve never written a budget.

After graduation when I started earning meaningful amounts my general philosophy was “Save everything you can”. And I did, thanks to my parents who let me live at home with most of my expenses covered until I found my feet post-university. My ‘save everything’ policy came about as I wanted to honour their generosity and set my money to work for my future self.

Whilst reaching saving milestones felt great to achieve, my “save everything I can” strategy was not perfect: Firstly I could not expect my parents to foot the bill forever. [Note: I had already moved out when I wrote this] Whilst I appreciated the savings opportunity that living at home gave me it was by no means easy adjusting to ‘home life’ after 3 years of university freedom. Secondly, watching my savings account balances grow felt great but was I really saving ‘everything’? Some months I would save a lot more than others. I was generally frugal but I couldn’t help but wonder if I could optimise my spending and saving further if I had some kind of plan.

I wrote this shortly before I had written my first ever serious budget. I gave it a go and a year later I can safely say that having a written budget each month has a powerful effect on your spending and saving habits. And it doesn’t have to mean you have to spend a lot less: in fact you can spend extravagantly on the things that you have decided in advance mean a lot to you, and if you can fit it in the budget, then the spending is guilt-free!

It may sound simple enough but here are 5 things to keep in mind as you set up your first budget (or to help you refine the one you already have in place):

Budget with last month’s income for the month ahead

Don’t rely on any additional pennies you think may come your way in the month ahead. Put last month’s income at the top of a page or spreadsheet and then write down all the things that you will need to spend money on in the month ahead.

When you first do this you may find that you already have financial commitments that are bigger than last month’s income. Don’t worry about this for now: the purpose of a first budget is simply to make you pay attention to what you are spending. Just get everything down.

Don’t push yourself with goals straight away

When I first started budgeting I set ambitious savings goals for myself:

“I’ll only spend ½ of my income and save the rest!”

Don’t do this in your first month of a written budget. You are bound to have forgotten something when you first wrote down all of your expected spending and setting ambitious goals will just make you disheartened when you miss the targets you set.

Don’t aim for perfection in a budget

Every month there will be things that will come up that take you off track. It took me about 3 or 4 months before I got anywhere near close to my written budget, and I was already being quite careful with my spending. But as time goes on and you make edits to your budget, you will get closer to the plan and will be able to start making measurable progress.

Start again each month

if you go way over-budget, don’t try to ‘catch up’ the next month. It will just make it harder. The great thing about a budget is that you get to start again each month, aiming to be ‘just a little bit better’.

Include a budget category for irregular spending

There will be things that you need to pay for but not every month. For example, if you need to pay your car insurance once a year, you could ‘budget’ 12monthly payments to yourself then send in the lump sum when the payment is due. When you get really comfortable with saving you could even start saving a little for Christmas or holidays each month. However if you’re starting out with a budget then don’t worry so much about this: just try to get to the end of the month without adding anything to a credit card or going further into your overdraft.

In Summary

Do you really want to grow your pennies? Consistency can be magic: By doing a written budget each and every month you will eventually be able to work towards more ambitious savings goals, and to ‘pay yourself first’ –saving money or paying off debt as the first thing you do each month rather than simply saving anything that is left: do this and you can ensure that you never again find yourself with some month left at the end of your money.

Have a dream. Have a plan.

There’s so many recent articles to help put your first budget together:

How to Build a Zero based budget @Bargaineering

5 factors that will determine what your budget will look like @balancejunkie

The one thing to do @Doughroller

Pay Yourself First @Sweatingthebigstuff

Let me know how you are getting on! What’s the hardest thing about budgeting? Do you have any tips that help you and may help others? Leave a comment and join in with the discussion.

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