IMPORTANT ADVICE:

There aren’t any affiliate marketing links, and I don’t receive anything at all from companies I mention in this article. This article is not financial advice. It’s just my own experience. Take it only as a personal opinion I’m sharing with you.

”Money is the enemy to defeat.”

That’s what we’ve been taught since we were kids.

Money is evil, and a lot of horrendous things happen because of it:

• Arguments,
• conflicts,
• disputes,
• crimes,
• murders,
• drugs,
• wars,
• …

Apocalypse now!

It’s the image someone gave to us.

People with money are:

• Greedy and selfish.
• They don’t care about others.
• They take the best out of society, and they never give anything back.

In our retina and our mind, we have perfectly recorded Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge, counting money all day long, just thinking how to earn (or steal) more.

Merciless people. Those are the ones who have, think, and manage money.

Yes, it’s sad, but that’s what someone sold us.

• Why don’t we think about entrepreneurs who bet their money to create something great?
• Aren’t entrepreneurs and workers good people to talk about money and manage it?
• Aren’t they giving real added value to society?
• Do you really want a life of survival, going from paycheck to paycheck, without any future, for your kids?
• Why are personal finances not taught at school?
• Maybe “the system” prefers unconscious people who spend their money carelessly?

”Money won’t give you happiness.”

Something I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of.

It’s true… but having it helps A LOT to achieve happiness (and you don’t need A LOT to reach joy).

This doesn’t mean everything you do should be done for the money, but learning how to manage it can take you much further, talking about fulfillment and happiness, something we all look for.

And there’s no point of discussion about these 2 key goals: everybody wants to live a life of fulfillment, and we all want to be happy.

Let me explain my perspective before someone begins to shout out how wrong I am (and maybe I am…).

As a positive thinker, I always try to look at things from the most constructive perspective.

Obviously, hundreds of unpleasant and terrible things are made in the name of money. But we could say the same about cars or nuclear power.

Cars kill people, and nuclear power does so.

But let’s see the other side (because there are always two sides to any scenario).

Cars allow you to make your life easier, to travel to lovely places. You can enjoy their design, their power, their comfort…

Talking about nuclear power, even though there are many other alternatives and green energies out there, nowadays, we can have electricity in our homes, mostly thanks to nuclear power. It’s a fact.

There’s always been a scenario I never understood.

It’s the typical one in which you can see poor people laughing and someone saying something like this: “You see it? They’re happy. You don’t need money to be happy…”.

I’ve always wondered: what about all those people you don’t see, who are wisely managing their money, without suffering? Aren’t they happy?

Just because you can’t see them (because it’s not well seen) doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

There are millions of people out there thinking about their money and taken the best out of it.

Because you just need the basics.

You don’t need to know technical analysis of stocks, stocks futures, or understanding a Japanese candlestick chart.

Personal finances are, fortunately, much simpler than that.

You just need these basic concepts to treat money as your ally:

• Compound interest.
• Differentiate investment vs. expense.
• Budgeting.
• Basic reporting such as controlling your net worth.

You can learn it just by reading a couple of books, watching several YouTube videos, or looking for info on the Internet.

It’s so easy, and it can be so life-changing that I can’t understand, as I said above, why this isn’t taught at school.

I’m pretty convinced our society will become better if people manage their money better. As I’m convinced, our society will be better knowing things such as productivity, personal growth, and entrepreneurship.

For me, those are the core values of any human being.

Those that make the difference between animals and humans.

Those that give us an unbelievable advantage to have lives full of great moments, taking the best out of them, and helping others “join the club”.

Why money matters

Money is just a way (a means) we have found to exchange products and services more convenient than exchanging cows for fruit.

From my perspective, that’s how you should see it.

I’ve always said money is not a goal by itself. Money is just a consequence of doing things right. It’ll come to you without looking for it.

Entrepreneurs who create new services or products need money to develop their projects.

Workers need money to give their kids an education, develop their personal projects, and enjoy a more meaningful life.

You just need the amount of money you need to feel comfortable with yourself, to don’t pay any attention to it, and focus your energy on the things that really matter to you.

For me, that’s the only importance of money.

A tool that changed my life

Talking about reality, to stop doing philosophical reflections, I’d like to share with you a piece of software that changed my life. It’s named YNAB (You Need A Budget).

I’ve been using YNAB since 2012.

I’ve never found a better software talking about personal finances, even though, as a tech/productivity geek, I’m always trying to look for new software, apps, or solutions.

YNAB simply changed my life because I could throw away a bunch of spreadsheets I had to manage my whole personal finances.

For me, it’s essential in life:

• To create a monthly budget based on my incomes and outcomes. It takes me 30 minutes each month.
• To control my expenses. It takes me only 5 seconds to record each of my expenses (and most of them 0 seconds because they’re automatically generated).
• To have basic reporting, such as my net worth, to see if my financial situation is going up or down.
• To quickly have a whole picture of my finances to help me taking decisions when I need to make a significant expense or investment.

Takeaways

Being able to manage your money will drive you to a peaceful state.

Being able to make your money works for you is a fantastic sensation.

Whenever you know how to invest, and your money starts working for you, you can focus on other (and more important) things in life (the ones that really matter).

Like all the things I do in my life, I’m a long term believer.

I believe in doing the right things day by day, small little actions, and let the time, the compound interest, do its job.

Investing and reinvesting your earns (what’s called Buy & Hold strategy) is what will get you to success effortlessly. In my opinion, that’s all the time you have to dedicate to money.

Whenever your finances are under control, and you don’t live paycheck to paycheck: 

• Your life becomes better and more comfortable.
• Your stress decreases.
• You have more time to make better decisions.
• You have more security, control, trust in yourself and your future.

Money:

• Gives you the freedom to choose what you want to do in your life.
• Breaks those chains that bind you to that situation you don’t want to live for.
• Is just a tool that helps to achieve that fulfillment in life we are all looking for since we were born.

It’s very hard to earn money to let it go in an easy, uncontrolled, or stupid way.

Take care of it, and it will take care of you, giving you an amazing life, full of great moments, awesome projects, security, control, relaxation, common sense, fulfillment, and happiness.

Photo at the top courtesy of Morgan Housel on Unsplash.