🎆 Alright, what's your money resolution? 🎆
Hi friends!
Welcome to the lazy final moments of the decade.
I love the melting of time between Christmas and New Years, where the entire world seems to shut down. I’m in Australia and honestly most shops and restaurants are closed from before Christmas until 2020. I spent two days sick in bed with a head cold (planes are the worst) and I still feel like I’ve been here for weeks, playing with nephews and catching up with darling friends on long and sweaty days.
It’s already New Years Eve in Oz and nearly the end of the decade. Which feels a bit overwhelming but luckily I’m not demanding new decade resolutions (dear god) just a lil 2020 one.
My 2019 was a big tough sad year and I’m quite happy for 2020 to be a medium-sized low key fine year. My 2019 resolution was to host Pasta Sundays (an open dinner party once a month) and I held about… five of them? Honestly I was impressed by five. I might try and bring them back. My overall resolution for 202 is just … enjoy it.
But I do have a money resolution. Yes this is different! It’s always worth thinking of a specific goal for your moneys.
Look overall next year I want to save more — both in retirement funds and in my brokerage account — blah blah blah but the best resolutions are the specific ones so my actual 2020 money resolution is: roll my damn 401(k) over.
I have three accounts. I only need one. I have thought about rolling two of them into Roth IRAs just to… have them… but I think I’m just going to put them all in the same damn 401(k) account. Streamline this shit. My current one is Vanguard and I can roll the others over and put the money into low-cost ethical funds. Multiple forms need to be filled out but it will happen.
So tell me, what’s your 2020 money resolution?
Whether it’s a nice big vague “spend less” (my brother-in-law) or a very specific “open a brokerage account and put X amount of money in it,” please reply to this email and tell me, I’d love to include them in next week’s email. Or tweet at me!
If you’re looking for money resolution ideas, then honestly a look back at the 2019 Better Have My Money archives — aka an end-of-year review because it’s easier than coming up with completely new content — offers a few decent options. For eg:
Improve your personal saving rate — tell me what it is and what you want to get it to!
Build your fuck layoffs fund — honestly this is for your mental health as much as anything.
Set up apps to automatically deduct your money without you having to think about it.
Get rid of your investments in companies whose ethics you don’t agree with or figure out which ethical companies you do want to invest it.
Open an account and get investing! People tell me constantly that they love reading this newsletter so that one day they can invest. Maybe 2020 is the day. Make it the day! Try Robinhood or Ally if you want to buy individual company stocks or specific ETFs. If you want somewhere that makes the investing decisions for you, Ellevest or Wealthfront are good options. (If you open an account with Ellevest using this link, we both get $20).
Increase how much money you give away — the heatwave and bushfires in Oz are terrifying, so many friends had to pack up from camping trips yesterday because of fire warnings, so giving some money to the CFA, the volunteer fire brigade from Victoria, is a good start.
And for the easiest 2020 resolution: do the one damn money chore you’ve been avoiding!!!
Next week we have a guest post from my pal and money friend Isabelle! I’m so excited, it’s all about student loans aka a thing I can’t talk about in the US as all my student loans are Australian and haven’t been paid in… a minute. Her advice is super practical and helpful.
Happy 2020 to all of you, I hope the fireworks are beautiful and the midnight song a perfect choice.
Cheers,
Amber Jamieson
Better Have My Money is on Twitter @bhavemymoney, so please tweet nice things (aka the link to our sign up page) and tag us. Got a mate who is trying to get their money together in 2020? Forward this onto them and tell them to subscribe.
As always, if you've got any questions about stocks, this is a shame free zone. Just reply and ask away.