70-10-10-10 rule

Hey guys, so I think it’s important to write this post many people including myself have been battling addiction with the hobby. So, I keep up with real investment channels and business channels not just collectibles and I do have a financial advisor I pay. So this is something I think people to live by and you won’t ever have to stress about finances as much. 1) 70% of your income should go to adult responsibilities (rent, Mortgage, groceries, credit cards, car payment, etc) 10% should go to your IRA or 401k, 10% should go to your savings account don’t just rely on your ira or 401k for retirement. Also Incase of emergency, finally last 10% should go to whatever you want. Me it’s collectibles, my fiancé loves loungeflu bags and getting her hair and nails done, some people like going bars or going out. If you follow this rule you won’t have to worry about fiancés and it allows you to live within your means.

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This post sure comes off like you’re trying to justify something to yourself but okay go off

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If 90% of your income is going towards bills/savings then I don’t think you’re living within your means to start with, that’s a one way ticket to self destruction

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No not at all, but it’s a great structured way to live. 70% to adult live responsibilities, 10% to savings, 10% to retirement and 10% of whatever you want. It’s structured.

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I agree with the core message (don’t overspend). Of course you can spend more on stuff like collectibles if you spend less than 70% on basic necessities. That can be achieved by living frugal or by living in an apartment/house that costs less per month than the maximum you can reasonably spend on rent. A high monthly income sure helps here.

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I don’t know where you’re getting 90% to bills. It’s 70% regular cost of living stuff. Gotta have gas, groceries, bills, just regular life. Should have savings, a retirement fund, and you gotta live a little otherwise you will spiral out of control eventually.

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Usually people don’t classify groceries and such as cost of living, and I think the more widely accepted percentage is 50% for rent and utilities. Regardless, if you have a plan that works for you; great!

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Even if you made 3k a month you could do this 2100 goes to bills, 300 goes to savings, 300, in a retirement and 300 for fun. You could buy a lot of great stuff for 300 a month. It creates a easy formula for budgeting

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Don’t forget about charitable giving

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I think it’s important to classify for food and gas because you need that. You go into Costco you spend couple hundred bucks. That money gotta come from somewhere. The people I’m trying to reach are the middle class collectors and hobbiest. Big guys on here who are extremely wealthy already know the formula to success but the other 90% in hobby this can help them

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I won’t claim to relate to folks saying they’re addicted to pokemon collecting, but I don’t think we should conflate budgeting with solutions to addiction. Setting a budget doesn’t ‘cure’ an addiction, but it does help you avoid one of many bad outcomes, in this case, overspending. If pokemon collecting is getting in the way of you living your life; if you choose not to do things with a significant other to instead sit on buyee or pwcc; if your work/job suffers because you are distracted by collecting related things, etc. - none of that is solved by limiting your spending.

I feel like folks are making a bit of a mountain out of a mole hill when it comes to being “addicted” to collecting. It’s ok to spend the majority of your time or even money on a hobby when it isn’t detrimental to other aspects of your life.

As far as budgeting advice there are a multitude of resources online that can help you set an appropriate budget based on your individual financial goals

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Money into a savings account and a pension scheme I would class as a bill, it’s not money to be played around with essentially. Leaving yourself with 10% of your wage every month just doesn’t sound appealing, but if it works for you more power to you

I agree with 50%. This is purely from my observation and obviously cost of living is different in every country.

For example taking 1500€/month for a young person with no children, once you have maxed out your emergency fund, you have
—500 rent
—200 groceries/food
—100€ utilities/bills

This is ~50%, for a person living accordingly to his income I think? Then maybe you’ll have to decide what to put in savings/401k and what to use for your hobby. I don’t really have a good advice here, it really depends of what you feel you can afford. I see people going full VWCE/SP500 and people who don’t care at all. If you plan to have babies and buy house, don’t overspend!

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I think it needs to be said that this is Pokemon tcg hobby forum and everyone should talk to a real financial advisor when it comes to money / investing. What comes to battling with addiction, talk to a therapist. Talking with like minded collectors may help and usually the root cause is much deeper than that.

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Yep :+1:

Agree that online forums are generally not where I would look for any hard and fast financial advice. That being said it can be good food for thought, so here are mine. Will give a different frame than monthly budgeting:

  1. Set a $1000 emergency fund (or enough to cover deductibles or what an emergency may look like for you)
  2. Pay off high interest debt
  3. Save up 3-6 month emergency fund
  4. Fund retirement accounts (at least an employer match if they offer it, and up to 20% of post tax income if you can swing it) (Roth 401k/Roth IRA)
  5. Max out retirement accounts/contribute to taxable brokerage account
  6. Pay low interest debt like mortgage

And hobbies slot in where it makes sense assuming you are working through the above. I personally wouldn’t spend anything on a hobby until my emergency fund is taken care of, I’m free of high interest debt, and I’m hitting my employer 401k match if it’s an option.

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And what if my bills are just $1700? I’m just saying that it’s not necessary to intentionally inflate bills for basic necessities just to reach 70%. If everything necessary is covered with 50% of your income, you can of course put more into savings or hobbies.

Its a rule of thumb. If you have a very low cost of living that amazing. I mean say you lived with your parents and you didn’t have to pay rent hypothetically my advice would put more into your savings but reality that is your choice. Now the point of this post is not to tell you what do with your money. Its safe to say that pretty everyone on the forums are consenting adults. However, at that same sentiment many people have posted about collecting addiction including myself. I have been financially responsible being that fact that I am an accountant and I do follow many business outlets. Now this is just a great budgeting formula. Whether you make 2000 bucks a month or 20k a month its a good way to balance out finances.

You’re a CPA?

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