Jason Unger

Day 11: Open Long-Term/Retirement Accounts

Today’s post may be one of the most important chapters in the entire book. It’s a perfect example of the mentality that, if you just get it done, you will be set for the future. We all love a little bit of procrastination, but given that saving for retirement is all about maximizing your time, […]

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Day 10: Automate Your Short-Term Savings

OK, there’s not actually any robots involved in today’s post, but the image above was too good to pass up. Now that we’ve got your accounts open, it’s time to put the system in place to automate your success. The beautiful part about this is that once you set it, you can essentially forget it. […]

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Day 9: Open Your Online Savings Accounts

I know I’ve written about it before, but the day I opened my first online savings account literally changed the way I manage money. It was back in the good old high-interest days of the mid-2000s, when you could find an account paying 5% or 6% in interest. I remember putting money into the account, […]

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Day 8: Establish Your Savings Goals

So at this point, if you’ve been following along, you’ve basically gotten a big picture look at your financial situation. You know what you’re bringing in, how much you’ve been spending and what you’ve been spending it on. But now it’s time to focus on what you’re keeping — your savings goals. I have to […]

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Day 7: Create a Budget

Budgeting. Even the word screams BORING, right? Well, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but it is crucial to hitting your financial goals. If you assign a value to every dollar you bring in in a month (from fixed costs to flux costs to savings), you’ve given yourself a path to success. So […]

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Day 6: Get Realistic With Your Spending

What do you spend your money on? Your mortgage/rent, food, utilities, entertainment, clothes, cell phone … what else? Do you know how much you spend on each every month? How about your irregular expenses — what are they and how much do they cost? Today is all about understanding your spending.

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Day 5: Realize Your Expected Income

There’s two pieces to personal finance success: what you bring in and what you spend. The most important (and extremely simple) equation for personal finance success is what you bring in – what you spend. If that number is positive, your net worth is growing. If it isn’t, you’re going in the wrong direction. On […]

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Day 4: Categorize Your Spending

If you don’t know where you are, how will you know where you’re going and how to get there? Today’s entry is all about better understanding where your money goes. How much are you spending? What are you spending it on? Is it in line with your expectations? Thanks to the financial tools we have […]

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Day 3: Find Your Net Worth

It’s time for Day 3 in the posting of Automatic Finances: 17 Days to Your Financial Freedom. See the previous posts here: Introduction, Day 1 and Day 2. ****************************** After everything you’ve done to organize your finances, it’s time to take a look at where you stand. Whatever your situation – whether your net worth […]

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Day 2: Open an Account Aggregator

It’s Day 2 (or three, if you count the introduction) from Automatic Finances: 17 Days to Your Financial Freedom, where I’m posting the contents of the ebook absolutely free for you to read. Previous entries: Introduction and Day 1. Here’s Day 2: Open an Account Aggregator. P.S. Don’t complain that I’m including what one might […]

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Day 1: Organize Your Finances

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m giving away my ebook, Automatic Finances: 17 Days to Your Financial Freedom! Over the next two-and-a-half weeks, I’ll be posting a chapter a day from the book for your consumption. If you like what you’ve read, you can get yourself a PDF version of the ebook using the “buy now” link […]

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I’m Giving Away My eBook — Start Here

I’ve done it. After some time working to get out of debt, build up an emergency fund and actually get to spend money on wants and not just needs, it’s time to celebrate. I want to celebrate with you. That’s why I’m going crazy and giving away my ebook — Automatic Finances: 17 Days to […]

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The Only 2011 Advice You Should Care About

It’s January, which means it’s time for New Year’s Resolutions (that you won’t keep), suggestions on where to invest your money this year, and plenty of predictions for the state of the economy — both Wall Street and Main Street. While the media and blogosphere churn out stories about what to do in 2011, do […]

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Jason Unger

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