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Gaby Deimeke
For the last six years, focusing on my personal finances has been one of my main goals.
I spent most of my 20s being reckless with my money and making countless mistakes, from ignoring my savings account to not having a retirement plan. It was after I got laid off from my full-time job in 2015 that I decided I wanted to make big changes to my financial portfolio and spend quality time strategizing what to do with my money.
I asked anyone I could for advice. I was so eager to learn and make better financial decisions that I not only reached out to professionals but to friends who seemed to have their money in smart places. However, some of the advice I received wasn't the right advice to follow, and I'm glad I didn't — especially the advice that came from a friend of mine who was on a mission to become a millionaire by age 40.
They were four years away and less than a half-a-million dollars away from reaching that net worth. But when they told me I should put my finances on autopilot and not manage any of it myself, I knew that was advice to ignore, especially since I had been so aloof with my money for years.
In the end, I was right. Here are three reasons I'm glad I didn't listen to that costly advice.
When I first started managing my own money, from my day-to-day finances to my investments, I knew I had to be hands-on in order to learn how everything worked. I decided not to find a financial advisor to help me divide up my money and instead read personal finance books and articles, did a deep-dive into my finances, and set my own money goals. Doing this allowed me to become educated about all the options available so I could make the best decisions for myself.
I also decided not to use any robo-advisors during those first few years so I could have full control over the stocks or mutual funds I was investing in.
Giving up this control early on in my financial journey would have allowed me to skip over the education phase, which I felt I desperately needed.
Another rule I established for myself that went against my friend's advice was to do weekly money check-ins. I'd take inventory of where I was spending money and how my investments were performing. This was essential because it allowed me to catch errors on my credit card statements and adjust contributions to my retirement and emergency fund based on monthly income.
Because I am a solopreneur and my income fluctuates monthly, being hands on with this process allowed me to make sure I was managing my finances in a way that made sense based on current cash flow.
If I had just done direct deposits or automatic contributions, my variable income means my numbers would have been off every month and I could have overdrafted certain accounts, perhaps without realizing.
A big lesson I learned in my personal finance journey is that managing your money is not a generic process. It was important for me to have not only long-term financial goals (like a retirement plan and a savings fund for a potential mortgage) but also short-term goals (like paying for a wedding or vacation).
With those goals in mind, I would then research different options and strategies that were low-risk to help grow my net worth and allow me to inch closer toward those goals — something I know I wouldn't have been so proactive about had I listened to my friend and automated my finances.
This article was originally published in January 2022.
