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December 25, 2024 - June 18, 2025
when you are constantly surrounded by something you deal with all day long, it is pretty fucking annoying to have to do it for yourself.
Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are all different products, but they are all indulgences, ones that have similar addictive and financial properties. Drugs and tobacco, as with alcohol, are incredibly costly, and if you are a habitual or recreational user of either, I highly encourage you to plug the costs of your monthly habit into a compound calculator to see how much a 30-year habit will cost you.
one of the main regrets I have is that I let my surroundings and the “YOLO” vibes that come with being a SIP prevent me from seeing the truth.
Many of the people who were out drinking or coming into my place of employment had safety nets in place that came before their outings and habits (savings, employer benefits, regular salaries, etc.). Those nets didn’t diminish the fun they had when they were there, and when their money ran out, those nets were still in place. It’s an important distinction: on far too many evenings, we spend what we have, whereas non-SIPs would spend what they have left over
SIP environments mess with our perception of the world and how we live. In our jobs, we are shaping experiences; we are selling fun and a feeling of being carefree. Those experiences are also shaping us, our expectations, and our assumptions for how to live life.
Most importantly, this is about building up an awareness, taking note of the overt or subtle ways your career has been affecting and shaping how you spend your money, as well as taking note of what you currently value.
Financial Freedom Road Map Steps Take these mindful action steps to understand how your environment is messing with your money, so you can increase your control and move yourself closer to financial freedom!
Security is what you need to survive, and choice is what you need to be happy.
will start to look at our hustle as a means to buy our choice and security. That being said, remember this—the money made in the service industry can become addictive. This new mindset about the hustle is for setting and achieving goals, not to run you ragged.
Generally, if you approach management openly, honestly, and with the establishment’s needs in mind, you will find success. Of course, there will always be managers who take such changes or mere thoughts of changes rather personally. Insecure managers can view your desire to split your time as an attack on their own choices—“I’ve chosen this place full time. So should you.”
That means you have to be an active participant in making sure you are in environments where you can have agency and choice. If the environment is not malleable and capable of aligning with your goals, you need to start looking for something else.
Some call it brownnosing; I call it hustling. We will use that extra effort of focusing on getting more income to help us grow our choice and security funds.
We excel at communicating in general, mirroring, and making ourselves likable or relatable to different audience types, sometimes at the same time a mere few seats away from one another. This includes both verbal and nonverbal communication.
You are awesomely skilled, and we need to talk about it because as SIPs, we stare down society’s judgment on a daily basis, all while serving them and making them feel good about themselves.
We take our skill sets for granted and assume others with more formal educations or “proper” work experience have more marketable skills. This feeling is called “imposter syndrome” (where we feel like a fraud, despite our obvious skills and experience),
He had just bought the bar and read too many books on entrepreneurship. He was so blinded by his ability to own a bar in Las Vegas that he lost sight of his core clientele.
I worked weekends at the bar and cocktail lounge and made an average of $800 a night. I made that all through the art of upselling.
the focus should be on what you can do with what you have.
Even if your check is mostly or totally eroded by taxes after the increase, it is still an added benefit. The hourly wages in your paycheck cover some of the money you owe for taxes. Therefore, the higher your paycheck, the more taxes it will cover, which means,
Make a list of all the ways you go above and beyond in your role—be specific and list examples. If you cannot recall anything specific, or frankly, even if you can, start a running list. You can keep a notes file on your phone—a gold star list. After your shift, record any examples of going the extra mile. If you do this, you’ll always have it at the ready! Make your pitch a win-win. Your employer gets to show that good employees are valued and rewarded, and it strengthens the commitment you have to them. If your employer is hesitant or concerned about how it would look to other employees,
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“Lifestyle creep” is another name for what we are trying to avoid. In the nine-to-five world, it would be when your friend, who has consistently received raises in her career and makes $100,000 a year, is constantly broke.
All that spending, and whoops, there goes her raise—and then some—as she tries to keep up with the newer and bigger lifestyle.
We most commonly see celebrities, lottery winners, or professional athletes succumb to lifestyle creep and lose their fortunes.
The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley, which details how millionaires spend their money. As it turns out, the majority of millionaires spend less than $399 on their most expensive item of clothing.
it’s the money you keep that makes you wealthy.
Identify examples of hustle opportunities within your establishment—things you have done or things you have seen coworkers do. Make a list of all the ideas, pick a different idea each shift, and rotate them to keep things fresh. If your current job is limiting you or your income opportunities by not allowing you to fully hustle during a shift, begin looking for a new or secondary place of employment. If you were looking for a sign, this is it.
Hell yeah!!!! Budgeting!!! Let’s fucking DO this!!!
If you are serious about budgeting and personal finance, it will be helpful to find a few like-minded people who you can talk to about your new and exciting endeavor. It makes all the difference if you find people you can connect with who are also just starting down this path. Studies show making changes with others who are doing the same leads to greater commitment and higher success.
The caveat to that is just because you want all new clothes, a five-star vacation, or that brand new car doesn’t mean you need it.
Time spent without something gives us an opportunity to analyze its importance.
No” is the new “yes.” “Yes” is how others get what they want. Learning to navigate boundaries and saying no is necessary to get the things you truly want.
if they feel that you sticking to a budget will mean you are less likely to spend money on them or time with them.
You don’t need to share your goals or your budget numbers with others, especially if you are worried about being shamed or judged.
feeling shame about the things you want will simply push you further away from budgeting.
you should spend at least a few minutes a week monitoring it to make sure it goes exactly where you want it to go?
If you are saying to yourself, “I know where it goes. It all goes to bills and groceries,” then I challenge you to consider someone you know who makes less than you do.
All you need to be good with budgeting is tracking and adapting,
A budget is an estimate of the income and expenses listed over a given time period; it’s a goal of what you want the month to look like.
Like you, most businesses never have the same two months of income, and they rely on budgeting, guessing, and reworking their numbers to afford their expenses.
Budgeting month after month will make you more comfortable with the process, and you will start to “know your numbers” soon enough.
Step 1: Actuals. Actuals is just a fancy word to describe the real (or actual) numbers for your spending.
Step 2: Targets. Targets are our goals. When you set targets, you are asking yourself those gut life questions.
Step 3: Forecast. In forecasting, you take the targets, figure out what they cost, and map out how you can fit them into your new actuals.
Step 4: Implement and Iterate. Take action, plug your new numbers into a budget that you can adhere to, set up any accompanying accounts or systems, and adjust over time as you get new information. Track your spending (actuals), and make sure it aligns with your budget (targets) each month, once all the expenses have been posted and categorized.
We have a tendency to lie to ourselves, so tracking is necessary to keep us honest and keep us on the path toward our goals.
Maybe your current financial strategy is one where you work five shifts and make $120 per shift, cover your expenses, and everything leftover is for spending.
Luckily, there are so many ways to create a budget or spending plan, and not all of them involve writing down every transaction and saving all your receipts.
Essential spending is anything you spend to make sure you can stay alive and stay safe.
Lifestyle spending is anything you could cut in the event of an emergency. If it doesn’t keep you safe and alive, it falls into this category.
You may be disputing some of my examples here, but the fact of the matter is, if shit went down, the person collecting your car payment would not be at the top of your hierarchy of needs.
