What are your biggest pain points with personal finance?

[chanfest22]

What are your biggest pain points with personal finance? What problems do you have that you wish someone would solve?

Some of mine are:
- Splitting recurring expenses with roommates (e.g. rent, utilities, internet, etc.)
- Figuring out how to invest my money and how much to save
- Figuring out what to put into retirement savings (e.g. 401k)
- Setting up a budget and adhering to it

[Jluke]

I hate being responsible/overly conservative then watching other people go through life without a care in the world in regards to personal finance and saving for the future.

expenses are everywhere and "people" are out to separate you from your hard earned money (think home projects and even investing if you don't know the ins/outs).

[disneysteve]

Some of mine are:
- Splitting recurring expenses with roommates (e.g. rent, utilities, internet, etc.)
- Figuring out how to invest my money and how much to save
- Figuring out what to put into retirement savings (e.g. 401k)
- Setting up a budget and adhering to it

The first one only applies to folks in that situation, but I'd say the other 3 are pretty universal.

[disneysteve]

I hate being responsible/overly conservative then watching other people go through life without a care in the world in regards to personal finance and saving for the future.

I can't say I hate it, but it certainly irks me at times. But I do my best to remind myself that I'm the one with the big bank account, very little debt, and a solid financial future and retirement ahead of me. The folks I'm surrounded by are buried in debt and have little to nothing to their names.

[Gailete]

What are your biggest pain points with personal finance? What problems do you have that you wish someone would solve?

Some of mine are:
- Splitting recurring expenses with roommates (e.g. rent, utilities, internet, etc.)
- Figuring out how to invest my money and how much to save
- Figuring out what to put into retirement savings (e.g. 401k)
- Setting up a budget and adhering to it

I learned the hard way, that having a spouse with no money sense was my biggest pain, followed by a spouse that didn't want to include me in any sort of planning financially.

Setting up a budget of any kind is difficult when you have a tiny income and no way to budget for all the necessary categories. So you have to pick the most important things, even if it means no saving and no retirement funds, etc. at the beginning. And then obviously finding a way to make more money.

[Jody Lynn]

Not really a pain to me but I just want to do it at an earlier age. I hope that everything has been put into place before I retire. So these are the things, I usually thought about:

- Figuring out how to invest my money and how much to save
- Figuring out what to put into retirement savings

[kork13]

This is a good, challenging question for folks in these circles... Thanks for bringing it up.

What's tough? Impulse control, both positive and negative. Sometimes (like right now), I really, really want to pull the trigger on a major bathroom remodel (likely $20k-$30k), with scarcely above that available in my taxable account. Other times, I really, really want to strip our expenses to bare bones & just horde 70% of our income. As is so often the case in personal finance, a middle ground is most often the best choice.

Ignoring the financial talking heads & staying the course is also a challenge. I read alot of news articles every day, including financial news, so I'm constantly exposed to opinions saying everything from "the market's going to crash!" to "buy XXX stock while it's still at historic lows!" or "buy real estate it's a sure thing!" I have my investment plan, and I more or less stick with it, but it's often very tempting to make changes that probably are neither needful nor wise. I suppose this goes back to my first on point, though... Impulse control is tough.

[Smallsteps]

My biggest pain is not able to talk with many about saving/ investing getting out of debt etc.
If you chat on some forums or with other savers they always seem to tell me I am doing it WRONG ( not THEIR way) or have to one up me on any progress...
on the other side if you talk with others not saving in debt etc, they sometimes show interest but then zero follow through............. then if you have made that mistake of talking with them they now see you as a loan outlet. No I do not share real info but they know I am frugal so I must have cash to lend them for their next crisis.

After watching some make some very odd moves I lose a lot of respect for that person. I have recently walked away from some friendships because who they are becomes clear by their actions or priorities.

[disneysteve]

My biggest pain is not able to talk with many about saving/ investing getting out of debt etc.

Agreed. That's why I love this site so much. It's the only place where I can ask questions and get intelligent answers, share my successes without people thinking I'm bragging, and offer advice to others who actually appreciate it.

Not having people IRL to talk to about financial stuff is a challenge.

[Gailete]

I have recently walked away from some friendships because who they are becomes clear by their actions or priorities.

If 'friends' only like you for what you can give them, then they aren't friends in any sense of the word. Hard to understand those folks that want money from you because you are frugal and making fun of you at the same time. However, you won't catch them being frugal.

When I see snippets on the news about those highly, ridiculously highly paid ball players of every sort, spreading their money around like water, then they blow out their knee or shoulder and the next thing you know they are just about ready for bankruptcy. If they had taken that first $1,000,000 and set it aside, even in a conservative investment and then 10% of everything they earn thereafter, they will have money for a decent middle-class life (if needed) for the rest of their lives. All those guys need to be set down and have the facts of financial life explained to them. Instead they learn about financial pain after they have wasted all their money.

[Jluke]

My main problem: I can not select a source for the diversification of investment channels, so often the money is out of work

if I'm following along that this is specifically "stock" related, diversification of investments doesn't mean having numerous investment funds... simply investing in a total US stock, total international stock and a total bond fund will give you all the diversification you could possibly need.

Now, if you want to own other funds, that is called tilting.

so is there anything we can do to help?

[snafu]

I really appreciate having the safe haven of SA to express financially related ideas without repercussions worse than being 'flamed.' I'm ok with income stream, long term retirement and taxable investments which have become too profitable to change.

I've decided market timing is worth the risk and will increase holdings via a gold ETF, July to October because the technical charts favour it just now.

[cypher1]

I'm going to go with impulse control as well. Or I see others splurging on different items or updating house projects and I get envious and start looking for DIY projects/updates as well.


This year I've been spending more loosely since I'm on track for my savings goals based on %. But when it comes buying "want" items, I still over analyze if I really should buy, or try to find the best deal online.

[chanfest22]

I hate being responsible/overly conservative then watching other people go through life without a care in the world in regards to personal finance and saving for the future.

expenses are everywhere and "people" are out to separate you from your hard earned money (think home projects and even investing if you don't know the ins/outs).

@Jluke — I agree, that's frustrating! Would seeing how your situation compares to the average person like you (e.g. by geography or age group) help mitigate this annoyance?

The first one only applies to folks in that situation, but I'd say the other 3 are pretty universal.

@disneysteve — cool, thanks for affirming. What are some tools/systems that you use to tackle these pain points today?

I learned the hard way, that having a spouse with no money sense was my biggest pain, followed by a spouse that didn't want to include me in any sort of planning financially.

Setting up a budget of any kind is difficult when you have a tiny income and no way to budget for all the necessary categories.

@Gailete — this totally makes sense. Have you found any ways to effectively co-budget with a spouse? And how did you first get started with budgeting? Any specific tools/spreadsheets/people that you found helpful to use?

Not really a pain to me but I just want to do it at an earlier age. I hope that everything has been put into place before I retire. So these are the things, I usually thought about:

- Figuring out how to invest my money and how much to save
- Figuring out what to put into retirement savings

@Jody Lynn — saving early seems to be one of the best ways to prepare for a financially secure future! Are you already investing/saving? If so, what tools do you use? If not, what is currently holding you back?

This is a good, challenging question for folks in these circles... Thanks for bringing it up.

What's tough? Impulse control, both positive and negative. Sometimes (like right now), I really, really want to pull the trigger on a major bathroom remodel (likely $20k-$30k), with scarcely above that available in my taxable account. Other times, I really, really want to strip our expenses to bare bones & just horde 70% of our income. As is so often the case in personal finance, a middle ground is most often the best choice.

Ignoring the financial talking heads & staying the course is also a challenge. I read alot of news articles every day, including financial news, so I'm constantly exposed to opinions saying everything from "the market's going to crash!" to "buy XXX stock while it's still at historic lows!" or "buy real estate it's a sure thing!" I have my investment plan, and I more or less stick with it, but it's often very tempting to make changes that probably are neither needful nor wise. I suppose this goes back to my first on point, though... Impulse control is tough.

@kork13 — thanks for this detailed response! It's good to hear that you have an investment plan that you are trying to follow. I'm curious—how did you create the investment plan and what tools (if any) do you use to adhere to the plan?

My biggest pain is not able to talk with many about saving/ investing getting out of debt etc.

@Smallsteps — I see; this sounds frustrating, especially if it is impacting real world relationships. Are forums like SavingAdvice the primary method you use to get anonymous financial advice? Would you find it useful to talk to a financial planner in person or on the phone? Or are you more interested in having conversations with friends/family about this more socially?

My main problem: I can not select a source for the diversification of investment channels, so often the money is out of work

@Maxgam — I'm curious about this. Are you saying that you can't diverse your investments through an investment service (e.g. Vanguard, Schwab, Wealthfront, etc.) or that you want to have multiple different investment services (or something else entirely)?

I really appreciate having the safe haven of SA to express financially related ideas without repercussions worse than being 'flamed.' I'm ok with income stream, long term retirement and taxable investments which have become too profitable to change.

@snafu — +1; what tools or services do you use for your retirement investing? How did you come up with a investment plan that worked for you?

I'm going to go with impulse control as well. Or I see others splurging on different items or updating house projects and I get envious and start looking for DIY projects/updates as well.


This year I've been spending more loosely since I'm on track for my savings goals based on %. But when it comes buying "want" items, I still over analyze if I really should buy, or try to find the best deal online.

@cypher1 — thanks for affirming this pain point. How do you control this impulse for yourself and stay on track for your savings goal? Also, I'm curious how you came up with your savings goal % to begin with if you are willing to share.

Thank you everyone for your responses!

[scfr]

Because retirement is looming a bit closer on the horizon, the big questions that cause me the most consternation are:
- How will I know if DH & I have saved enough & have enough to last us for the rest of our lives?
- What will be a initial safe withdrawal rate for us?

What I am starting to figure out and come to terms with is that there is no perfect answer for either of these questions. There have been no guarantees in my life so far (financial or otherwise), so why should I expect that suddenly, when I hit retirement age, answers with guarantees attached to them will magically appear. They won't. All I can do is come up with the very best educated guesses that I can (and I think I have already done this though I try to learn more), make a plan (done), and work the plan (doing).

P.S. chanfest22, I find it interesting that you asked what problems we wished someone would solve. When it comes to our finances, isn't it up to us ourselves to do the solving?