I Will Teach You To Be Rich: No guilt, no excuses - just a 6-week programme that works

by Ramit Sethi

Her system also automatically pays her fixed costs. She’s set it up so that most of her subscriptions and bills are automatically paid by her credit card. Some of her bills can’t be put on credit cards – for example, utilities and loans – so they’re automatically paid out of her current account. Finally, her credit card company automatically emails her a copy of her bill for a 5-minute review. After she’s reviewed it, the bill is also automatically paid in full from her current account. The money that remains in her account is used for guilt-free spending money. She knows that no matter what, she’s already hit her savings and investing goals before she spends a penny of her guilt-free money – so she can truly enjoy buying what she wants. To make sure she doesn’t overspend, she’s focused on two Big Wins: eating out and new clothes. She sets alerts in Money Dashboard to notify her if she goes over her spending goals, and she keeps a reserve of £500 in her current account just in case. (The couple of times she went over her spending, she paid herself back using her “unexpected expenses” money from her savings account.) To track spending more easily, she uses her credit card to pay for all of her fun stuff as often as possible. She knows from her spending trend that she tends to spend £100 a month in cash on coffee and taxis, so she includes that in her guilt-free spending. No tracking receipts or manually entering data. In the middle of the month, Michelle’s calendar reminds ...