Investor and financial literacy expert Alexei Maksimchenkov spoke about 5 principles of financial well-being and how to get rid of bad habits in handling money.
- Alexey, what 5 basic principles of personal finance management can you single out?
- First of all, always keep track of expenses in order to understand where the money is going. It is important to count the consumption and keep track of it.
The second is to constantly create new sources of income and increase overall profits. To increase the number of sources of income, you can master new specialties, new areas of business or investment (for example, the stock market, real estate). It is also possible to profit from commissions by recommending quality contractors and supplying them with clients.
Be disciplined about money. If you said that you are saving 10% for investments, then you need to save. And not to say that "next week" will start. Or if he said to write down income and expenses in a notebook, it means to write down every day.
Follow a personal financial plan: where you invest, how much.
It is better to draw up a personal financial plan under the guidance of a professional consultant.
- What are the "useful" and "bad" financial habits?
- Good habits: manage budgeting, that is, distribute income and expenses to personal funds, such as "apartment", "food", "training" and so on.
Bad habits: counting income and expenses "on the fingers" without writing them down. Take "bad" loans, which, conventionally, pull money out of your pocket.
Good loans make money. That is, you take money to make more money. And not to buy a phone, and they pull money out of your pocket.
- What "life hacks" do you use in personal finance management?
- Many people use mobile applications to manage their personal budget, I use a regular notebook. I definitely use bank cards with cashback, which return the percentage to the account balance. I use promotions and special offers in online stores.
When you buy an apartment, you have to return the tax deduction.
If you often fly by plane, save miles. For example, now I can get a ticket for 3 thousand and go to Moscow for free. Or pay extra for a ticket and go to another city.
- How to accumulate capital that will provide sufficient passive income? Where to begin?
- First, you need to set aside a percentage of income in savings, form a "safety cushion", then start investing, learn and practice this.
It is important to count expenses and incomes, to do home bookkeeping. Distribute expenses by “funds”: food, rent, tuition, clothing, entertainment, and so on. Keep track of expenses within the outlined financial plan.
You can learn to invest from 1 thousand rubles. You can invest in PIFs, the stock market, precious metals, currency.
- On what do people most often lose money? And how can you avoid this?
- Most often, people lose money due to financial illiteracy on high-risk investments that promise a lot, but do not
If you are told "take a loan, we will interrupt it immediately," stay away from such people.They make money from your mistakes. It is unlikely that a financial expert will offer to take out a loan in a hurry.
You need to invest only "free" money, not the money you live on.