Told this story a few other times in blogs/posts, so sorry if you’ve heard it. Around early September 2017, when I was a strapping (ha) 36 year-old, one Friday afternoon I had about $9.36 in checking. I had other money sources, sure. But checking was #piped. I got through that weekend largely by going to bars/restaurants where I knew servers and getting comps, then I started grinding out work on Monday and asking for immediate invoices. It worked out OK. The fall/early winter of 2017 was tough, but I got through it.
The next summer, in late July 2018, I was doing much better financially. Stayed a night in western New York with my friend, his wife, and their two kids. One of their kids, who was five at the time, had $36 in his piggy bank. So, across an age difference of 31 years, that kid had 4x what I had in one account. That was humbling.
Well, now it’s late December 2019 and I woke up today with a similarly (not as low) checking account as September 2017. This time the culprits are varied: (1) I have about $4,000 in invoices out, but it’s Christmas Eve and I’ve been getting out-of-office messages for days, so I won’t see any of that anytime soon; (2) I have shitty financial literacy, which I am working on; (3) the holiday season, both parties and some presents, contributed here; (4) my girl and I are moving to a rental house in January and there’s some transition costs there.
All told, it’s on me. I could have been better. And I have a few 2020 things starting to line up, so I’m hoping this phase is only a couple of weeks.
Here’s what you should do as a human being:
- Continue to invest in your own financial literacy.
- If you have kids, teach ’em up on that.
- Realize that nothing is forever job-wise and have a funnel/pipeline, whether that’s savings, investments, or side hustles.
- Don’t spend $25 on two beers + chips and salsa simply because your friend wants to meet at 3pm.
- Get more stuff about invoices and payment schedules in writing and deeply in advance.
- Stay humble, but stay hustling.
That’s all I got for now. I’m out here trying to make it a good one. Hope you are too.
