Within any given day I interact with many different people. Between running into friends at the coffee shop, meeting new fitness enthusiasts at the gym, or just shooting the breeze with co-workers, I end up learning a great deal from others. These days it’s not rare for a communication to turn to money matters. I don’t preach or any thing, but I do listen attentively. This is why I wanted to share some money management myths that college graduates need to stop believing:

Myth #1: I will worry about saving money when the time comes.

Fact: The time is now.

When the time comes it’s usually too late. This is a common reason that I find most college graduates cite when they talk about how and why they’re not saving any money at the moment. Sure this thinking does have some validity to it. I mean without any financial goals, it may seem like saving money is pointless.

It’s just that we never know what’s going to happen. We never know how soon we’ll get married, have kids, need to buy a new car, want to move out, or just want to buy something cool. This is why it’s critical that we start saving money today instead of putting it off. Do you want to be prepared or do you want to struggle to put money together when something comes up? I would rather be financially prepared so that I don’t go into credit card debt when my car breaks down or when an opportunity comes along.

Myth #2: There’s no point to save money when I don’t make a lot of money.

Fact: The sooner you develop good habits the better.

This is like saying that you don’t need to eat well or train at all just because your metabolism works great at the moment. If you build strong money management habits at a young age they will roll over with you as you get older. It doesn’t matter if your next paycheck is $500 or $5,000. What matters is how much of that paycheck you’ll save. If you don’t save money now it doesn’t mean that you’ll save in the future. As you get older and make more money, you’ll generally have more reasons to spend even more money.

I personally got into the habit of saving money back when I was making $8/hour for cutting grass and doing other yard maintenance. I would strive to save half of my tiny savings. It wasn’t much money but I built money management skills before I was old enough to drive.

Myth 3#: Time is always money.

Fact: Time is not always money.

I used to believe in this point for the longest time. Then I realized that this expression is nothing but an excuse for paying for everything. What I mean is that people will pay high premiums and justify it as “time is money.” It’s like when someone always takes a cab instead of the bus because they value their time so highly. Another example is paying for basic yard work. Sure you do save yourself more time, but is your time that valuable? I find that over the years efficiency has become overrated and we are spending too much money just to save a little bit of time.

Myth #4: There’s no time to make money on the side.

Fact: There’s always time for everything.

If you can keep up on every single hokey stat, then you can easily fit in an extra hour to work on increasing your income. I’ve had many friends tell me in the last little while that they would love to earn money on the side but they just don’t have the time to do so. This is usually nothing but a lazy excuse. If parents can fit in time to run a blog or earn more money, why can’t a single 23 year old with minimal responsibilities? If you have a goal to earn more money on the side, the only thing stopping you is you.

Myth #5: Saving money is for cheap people.

Fact: This has nothing to do with being cheap.

In my opinion cheap people are those that never have any fun, save money on everything, and don’t pay for value. Saving money has nothing to do with being cheap. Saving money is about consciously spending your money on things that you enjoy, while putting a side a certain portion of your earnings. I love to go out all of the time. This doesn’t mean that I’m careless with my finances. It means that I take care of my savings first and then spend a certain amount on having fun. The key takeaway here is to remember that just because you save money it doesn’t make you cheap.

Are there any money management myths that you think college graduates need to stop believing?

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Lately there have been many positive reviews and comments here on the popular Tim Ferriss book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Usually when a friend sees the title their quick to bring up that it sounds shady. I can totally see it too because it’s ingrained in us that when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Just so that you guys don’t see us as shills for the book and the ideas within it, I wanted to play devil’s advocate today. By looking at the other side of the discussion here I’ll point out why the 4-Hour Workweek can be viewed as shady:

Credibility issues.

There are a few credibility issues in the book. When talking about his kickboxing success, Ferriss mentions winning on a technicality where he would push competitors outside of the box, thus getting them disqualified. He did win, but at what cost? Not all of us are willing to compromise our credibility to get ahead. After checking out a few blog posts on the topic, I noticed that many others weren’t too impressed with this point either. Walking the fine line of cheating can definitely come off as shady.

The concept of work.

This ties in with the credibility issues mentioned above. Ferriss clearly works more than four hours a week. Likely also more than four hours a day. Just because you enjoy something, is it really not considered work? He holds tango records. To become an exceptional tango dancer you clearly need to invest lots of time and effort into honing your craft. Isn’t this work? Just because you enjoy an activity, does everything surrounding this activity become not-work? The concept of work in this book has sparked many interesting debates online.

The concept of time.

While I was able to tremendously improve my time management skills, I’m unsure of what to think about his perception of time. This also brings us to the next issue regarding time– what do you do with all of your free time? Some of us enjoy our work and don’t mind it. Sometimes too much free time can be a problem. Staying busy isn’t such a negative as long as you find time for yourself and the things that you enjoy.

Bold claims.

I understand how someone can be turned off when they read bold claims about how you can make thousands of dollars a month and only work a few hours a week. This is probably why it took me so long to actually purchase this book and read it. I’m naturally highly skeptical of any book or person that writes about getting rich with little effort. I often feel that the person is simply getting richer by selling the “how-to get rich” product. I’m not surprised if the title of the book or the bold claims on the  cover have turned you off from it.

Communication strategy.

I’m really not sure why Ferriss hates communicating with others so much. I love responding to reader emails and checking out the comments on the blog posts. Sure I don’t get a fraction of the readers that he does, but I couldn’t imagine outsourcing talking with readers. Speaking from experience, it goes a long way when I email a blogger and they actually take the time to respond. Auto-responder or being ignored totally sucks.

For me, the 4-Hour Workweek is a book that you shouldn’t read from start to finish (as mentioned by Tim Ferriss). The best strategy for reading this book is to pick out the topics that resonate with you. While I personally did enjoy the 4-Hour Workweek, I wanted to present the other side of it here. What did you guys think? What side are you on?

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Mike mentioned yesterday how he recently read Crush It! (Gary Vaynerchuk) and The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss) in the same vacation. Mike recommends you read both in the same afternoon. I doubt I could pull this off because I make extensive notes whenever I read a book. However, his post yesterday got me thinking about both titles and I ended up reviewing my notes on both books.

For those of you that are undecided on either book, allow me to show you the main differences between Crush It! and The 4-Hour Workweek:

Passion about work.

On the second page of Crush It!, Vaynerchuk mentions how he goes by three rules in life: “love your family, work superhard, and live your passion.” This tends to be the overall theme of the book. Passion is the message when it comes to work, family, and life in general.

The 4-Hour Workweek treats work more as a source of income so that you can create your ultimate lifestyle. Ferriss is passionate about other areas of his life and in the book he basically mentions money as a tool for lifestyle design.

Time spent on work.

Crush It! promotes how you’re going to have to work longs hours with late nights (he mentions 3 am), and early mornings as you try to start your side business. One of the main suggestions in the book is that you should be ready to hustle harder than ever. The philosophy of working hard is summarized best with this sentence; “someone with less passion and talent and poorer talent can totally beat you if they’re willing to work harder and longer than you are.” It was kind of weird to see this at first since most entrepreneurship books talk about “passive income” and “being your own boss.” This was a nice slap of reality because creating your own personal brand, blog, or business is not meant to be passive whatsoever at the beginning. Maybe eventually you can begin to outsource work.

The thoughts of the 4-Hour Workweek on time spent on work are pretty self-explanatory. Ferriss suggests that you spend as little time as possible on actual work. I’m really not sure what he defines as “work” because it seems like he works pretty hard. The book even comes with examples of proposals to work remotely with your current job. It’s a definite must-read for anyone that wants to escape their long and dreadful 12 hour shifts.

Communication.

Vaynerchuk takes pride in his obsession with legacy by doing his best to respond to every single tweet, email, or comment. Ferriss on the other hand takes pride in having all of his email done by a VA and only checking in for a little bit of time every Monday. I personally enjoy getting in touch with readers, but I imagine staying on top of clients/business associates can get pretty annoying.

Travels.

I’m not sure that Vaynerchuk ever takes time off for himself. The 4-Hour Workweek is mostly all about mini-retirements and taking time for yourself. Ferriss goes into detail on the whole concept of ditching the deferred life plan and living in the moment. He encourages that you take many mini-retirements throughout your life time as opposed to waiting until you’re 65 to hang it up. The book also details the whole process of planning a mini-retirement and travels around the world. I’m planning on using it as my guideline when I do some long term travel later this year.

Income.

The 4-Hour Workweek is excellent for those of you that want step-by-step tips for building a sustainable source of passive income while you travel. The book outlines exactly how you can find a profitable “muse” (income generating tool), manufacture it, market it, and make money off it.

Crush It! on the other hand provides the reader with a monetization strategy, but no really detailed tactics.

How does Crush It! suggest you monetize a blog/online business?

• Advertising.
• Speaking engagements.
• Affiliate programs.
• Retail.
• Articles.
• Seminars.
• Books/tv.
• Consulting.

These are all viable strategies that are worth looking into for anyone looking to earn a living from their blog. At the end of the day I would recommend both books to anyone that’s into entrepreneurship and making money off passions.

Now I’m just curious: Did you notice any other major differences/different messages between both titles? Have you read either of the books?

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Over the years I feel that my time management skills have improved. I was able to work crazy hours, go to college, and still party while my peers couldn’t even hold jobs. Now that I compare myself to people like Mike and other bloggers that have a full-time job and a family, I realize that maybe my time management skills aren’t the greatest. In fact, I’m amazed by how much work others can get done within the same 24-hours. This is why today I wanted to open up the discussion on time management and productivity.

Some thoughts, tips, and opinions on time management:

Stop trying to be so efficient.

Efficiency is often overrated. Eating breakfast while you drive to work and call your boss on the phone is not so efficient. Sure you get three important things done at once, but you risk a major accident. I’ve found over the years that by trying to be efficient all of the time I’m just putting unnecessary stress on myself. Do we really need to be efficient 24/7?

Customize your schedule.

Just like with budgeting you can’t lie to yourself. You need to work with your weaknesses. If you spend an hour every night watching tv don’t expect for this to change over night. Telling yourself that you’ll workout for two hours every evening and then come home to work on your eBook isn’t realistic if you’ve never done this before. As you work on becoming more productive I find that it helps if you allow more breathing room into your schedule.

Accept laziness.

To tie in with the previous point you must accept certain realities. I wanted to finish this post the other night. Well I got side tracked writing a post on time management (sounds dumb I know). I wasn’t feeling too ambitious. So I decided to turn on the good ol’ tv to see what was on. I watched an hour of Teen Mom on MTV and I came back ready to work. It’s okay to feel lazy at times. It happens to all of us.

Embrace creative moments.

If your creative juices start flowing at 2 in the morning and you feel super motivated, then go with it. Take advantage of momentum when it’s on your side. You never know when that next great idea or sudden boost of energy will hit.

Deal with minor things immediately.

Just because you’re not working on something actively it doesn’t mean that it’s not taking up mental energy. That bill that you need to pay or that email that needs a response should be dealt with as they come. Don’t let a bunch of these minor issues linger on your mind. I read a theory once that stated you should deal with two minute tasks as they come along. By delaying a bunch of these small tasks, you create unwanted work down the road. Now I try to deal with minor issues as they come along, as opposed to putting them off until later.

Do one really important task.

If there was one task that you completed today that would make your day a success what would it be? Once you figure this out for the day, do that thing first. If there’s a major project on your mind then write it down. Then determine what the next step is. This will alleviate much of the stress that comes with lingering projects. The best strategy is to always take the next small step. This keeps you focused on your main goals in life.

Those are my most recent thoughts on time management. Is there anything you guys would like to share on the topic? I’m always looking for new ways to improve my time management skills. What has worked for you?

Be sure to check out Mike’s time management tips from almost a year ago.

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I started reading the Art of Non-Conformity the other day and the idea of the life list/bucket list got me thinking again. I started thinking about my bucket list for what I want to accomplish before I turn 30 (in 7 years). Then I started to get more specific. I started thinking about what I want to accomplish financially before 30. Then I realized that my mind was all over the place.

Since every financial bucket list is unique to your own situation, I decided to outline 30 financial moves that might be of interest to your unique financial situation before you turn 30. The following are 30 financial moves that all 20-somethings should consider. The list is completely random and has something for everyone.

1. Build a strong emergency fund.

Keep a buffer in a savings account because you never know when a rainy day will hit you out of nowhere.

2. Pay off bad debt.

You can debate good debt vs bad debt, but at the end of the day you should try to kill off your credit card debt before you turn 30.

3. Contribute to a Roth and Traditional IRA/RRSP.

The sooner you start planning for your retirement, the sooner you have compound interest working on your side.

4. Make a major investment mistake.

You may not try to do this deliberately but it’s bound to happen. We all make mistakes surrounding an investment in our 20s.

5. Learn from your major investment mistake.

When you make a major mistake with your money, learn from it. Understand where you went wrong and move on. Don’t feel sorry for yourself or dwell on it.

6. Pay off all debt.

Never mind comparing your student loans to your mortgage, try to become debt-free totally.

7. Create long-term career goals.

By 30 you might want to be in a situation where your income is stable and you know where your career is going. You should also have an idea of where you see yourself in the next few years.

8. Get a promotion.

If you get a job in a reputable company, strive to work your way up the ladder. Remember to always over-deliver and smile.

9. Quit your job.

On the other hand, if you hate your job, try to save up enough money or to create a backup plan so that you can quit your job. This alone might be the best decision of your 20s.

10. Start a side business.

There’s no better time than your 20s to start your own side business. With time on your side there’s no stopping you from where you can take your business.

11. Invest in your side business.

If your business isn’t growing then invest into it. Hire someone, outsource some work, or pay to improve your skills. Don’t just give up.

12. Chase bank rates.

Chasing bank rates is usually a poor idea but you need to try it out for yourself to see.

13. Switch to online banking.

If you’re tired of annoying bank fees you need to switch to online banking. You will save money on fees and receive competitive rates on savings accounts.

14. Pay back your parents.

If your parents helped you get started in life, don’t forget this. Do your best to pay them back or to compensate them somehow. My favorite technique here is to send them on vacation every year.

15. Donate to charity.

Once your income grows, you can start giving back to the community and to those in need.

16. Help out a friend in need.

There will be times where you struggle. There will also be times where you prosper. Don’t forget about your friends. Try to help them out even if they have too much pride to accept your help.

17. Take a career risk.

Take a chance with your career before you have a mortgage or family holding you back. What do you have to lose?

18. Try negotiating.

Don’t be afraid to open your mouth. Try to negotiate a better price or a better deal. You’ll see how excited you feel after you get the better end of the negotiation.

19. Start using sub-savings accounts.

Learn how to use sub-savings accounts and watch as they help you save up for your many different financial goals.

20. Take advantage of your health benefits plan.

If you have health coverage from your employer, take advantage of this plan. If a massage is owed to you then go for a massage.

21. Set a retirement target date.

As you become better at managing your money, you should set a retirement target date to see where you are financially and what you need to improve.

22. Start a 529 College Savings Plan/RESP.

If your parents helped you get through college you know how important this is. If your parents never helped you than you should be even more motivated to help your future children out.

23. Track your credit.

Don’t wait until you apply for a mortgage to look into your credit score. Start monitoring your credit now to see where you stand.

24. Travel the world.

While you’re single and have no major expenses, you should try to see as much of the world as possible. The longer you put this off the less likely it is to happen.

25. Save up for your wedding.

It doesn’t matter how much you love the bachelor lifestyle. Chances are that you’ll get married one day. Be prepared so that your future wife doesn’t marry a bum.

26. Spend your money frivolously once.

If you work hard and consciously save your money, you deserve to splurge once in a while. Go ahead and try it.

27. Create a will.

It’s never too early to start planning for what will happen when you leave this world.

28. Try a random part-time job.

If you’re bored on the weekends you can try out a few part-time jobs to kill some time, make some money, and meet new people.

29. Sell your crap.

Get rid of all of that crap in your place before you find yourself living with someone else (spouse or kids).

30. Live like a scrooge for a bit.

Sucking it up and hustling/saving for a few months can do wonders for you bank account. Try it out for a little bit. Just don’t get carried away.

Which of these have you tried? Which are you working on? If I missed anything then please share it!

Check out Mike’s post on Financial Planning Goals While Turning 30.

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