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Remember Kemahiran Hidup Project Kayu?
We are given a guide sheet by the teacher to build our little wood project.
Without the guide sheet, I can’t imagine what our final products will look like haha!
Guess what?
We can have similar guide sheets for our finances too.
In today’s newsletter, let us talk about creating our own money rules and how it helps us in our finances and life.
Ramit Sethi and His 10 Money Rules
Today’s topic is inspired by Ramit Sethi’s 10 Money Rules.
People often think rules are restrictions. But that’s not the case.
You will notice some of Ramit’s rules allow him to spend money without guilt. Well, most of his rules are living the rich life, not a restricting life.
But there are also rules that don’t make sense to you. It’s because those are HIS money rules, not yours.
You and him have different careers, backgrounds, risk tolerance, and living places.
The point is your money rules should be personal and fit you like a handmade glove. It looks good to you, but doesn’t fit others.
Why You Should Have Money Rules
We should use money rules as our guidelines for money and life.
You can use these money rules for many purposes. But here are some good purposes you can choose:
1) Keeping the balance between money and life
While we work hard in earning, saving and investing our money, we may also want to keep our health and relationship in good shape.
Money rules like “no limit on health expenses” or “treat someone nice foods once a week” will achieve that.
2) Guide for making money decision
When it comes to making decisions in life, not just money, our head suddenly hurts.
Which foods should I order? Which car should I buy? Which partner should I choose?
With money rules like “choose quality over cheap items”, they guide us to make the decision that we will not regret.
3) Keep you on track with your money
Sometimes we lack discipline in managing our money.
Having that reminder like “Pay all our bills after salary in” or “save first, spend later” can help to remind us of important things to do and pull us back to the right track.
4) Focus on your values in life
Everyone has different values in life.
Some like to travel often, some like to read books, some like to spend time with loved ones.
You can have money rules like “Save 8% of income for travel” or “no limit on buying books I like” to keep you happy in life while managing your money.
How to Define Your Money Rules
Firstly, they should be personal. You don’t have to worry if your rules are weird or ridiculous to others, as long as they fit you well.
Secondly, they are specific enough. “Save first, spend later” is a good rule, but “Save 10% of income before spending” will be better.
Thirdly, don’t only create rules that say “NO”. You should mix with rules that say “YES” too.
For example, “Avoid taking high-interest loans” is the “NO” rule, which is good. But you can have a “YES” rule such as “Book hotels with at least 3-stars”.
Lastly, your money rules may change over time. As we grow up, our life priorities may change. So it makes sense for money rules to follow suit.
As reference, here are my 10 Money Rules:
I created my 10 money rules 2 years ago and just revised it last month.
While writing this newsletter, I just realized some of them are not specific enough.
But it’s okay, I can always update them again when needed. So as you with your money rules.
Also, you can check out Ringgit oh Ringgit’s 10 Money Rules
In Summary
While we call them money rules, they don’t have to be about finance. They can be guidelines that will improve our life with finances.
You don’t have to create exactly 10 rules. It can be 5 or 7, or even more than 10. It’s totally up to you.
When you have your own money rules, create a monthly, weekly or daily reminder in your note app so you can be reminded of your money rules over time.
No matter what are your purposes of your money rules, here’s a good reminder from our Goldfish Uncle:
That’s all for this week, my friend!
Talk with you again next week.
Your Money Buddy,
Marcus
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
1) Book a 1-to-1 Call Session with me to pick my brain, whether it is about investing, money management, or any topic you’re interested to learn
2) If you’re not sure which platform to invest your money, here are 3 platforms that I personally use:
→ Rakuten Trade – Where I invest in US index fund ETFs. Get RM30 worth of RT points if you register & unlock foreign trading with my referral link.
→ Wahed Invest – Where I invest in Shariah-compliant US ETF. Get free RM10 if you register a new account with my referral code “markeo1”
→ Versa – Where I invest my emergency fund for a 4.3% return (up to RM30k). Get free RM10 if you register a new account with my referral code “AL9JZJ9H”