Is there one money habit we should all adopt?
Q: What money habit do you recommend most to your clients, and why?
The financial habit I recommend most is to sign up for a digital tool, like Mint.com or YNAB, to automatically track your spending.
The virtue of using these tools is that, simply put, you’ll finally know where all your money is going. Some even do a pretty good job of categorizing your spending—though they wouldn’t know how you use your cash—which gives you a better understanding of not just how much you’re spending, but also exactly what you’re spending money on.
Often, it’s difficult to identify our worst spending habits until technology makes it easy to add up, whether it’s dining out a bit more than we should, a hobby that needs to be reined in or some old subscriptions you never use. But once it’s right in front of you, most people are able to recognize quickly what needs to change—and then actually make those changes.
In fact, one UCLA study of Personal Capital users found that the average person was able to cut their spending by 15% in the first six months after using the company’s software to track their spending. And that wasn’t even with the intervention of a financial adviser or coach. It’s just the power of having software that easily aggregates the information and reflects it back to you in a useful way, allowing you to make your own financial decisions.
