Becoming the Master of Your Financial Domain

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Financially, I did exceptionally well under President Obama. I have also done exceptionally well financially under President Trump. And I fully expect to hit a financial home run under President Biden.

So what’s the secret of my past, current, and sure-to-be future success? Simple. In 2003, I stopped expecting the government to fix my problems, and I dedicated myself to becoming the “master of my financial domain.” In other words, I stopped behaving like a passive little wretch. The onus for improving my financial lot was forever changed—it fell entirely on me and not some merry band of uninspired bureaucrats and butter-tongued politicians.

And the rest, as the proverbial “they” would say, was history. Once my mindset changed, I went from being a financial moron in 2003 to being a financial juggernaut in a few short years. And by the time 2016 came to an end, I was financially independent and retired.

It’s amazing what one can accomplish when one stops hiding from responsibility.

Becoming the Master of Your Financial Domain

I didn’t do anything glamorous or sexy to become the master of my financial domain. Nor did I unearth any “secrets” that the rich are supposedly hiding from the great unwashed. Nope. Mastering my financial domain amounted to nothing more than spending less than I earned and investing a good chunk of my savings. That’s it. Combining personal finance basics with rudimentary discipline was all it took.

I firmly believe that mastering one’s financial domain is hardly beyond the ken of the typical American. It isn’t easy, of course. Change never is. But if you’re an average schlub with average finances, and you wield an average paycheck and an average amount of willpower, you can get it done—especially if you keep the following three things in mind.

If You Have Time for Sportsball…or Video Games…or Partying to the Wee Hours of the Morning…or Any Other Frivolous Activity…You Have Time for Self-Improvement

I became an SQL guru at my last job before retirement by simply solving five SQL problems a night. Some nights it would take me an hour to plow through five problems. On other nights, it would take me ten minutes. On most nights, however, it would take me 30 minutes. So the investment in time was small. But over the course of several years, those little investments in time snowballed into something big. First, they snowballed into renown. Co-workers with computer degrees from fancy colleges would be coming to me—a schmoe with a journalism degree from a third-tier college—for help on their thorny SQL problems. And then those little investments in time snowballed into something that really mattered: bonuses and promotions.

Now a question. Can you spare half an hour a night in order to become the master of your financial domain? The odds are, you can. So stop wasting all of your free time and start being a little practical. Hone your job skills, start tracking your spending, learn the art of frugality—you get the idea. Do something to tame your spending and increase your ability to save. And if you’re as financially inept as I was prior to my adoption of a personal responsibility mindset, here are three must-reads:

Dave will show you how to get out of debt, make wise spending decisions, and have money to invest. J.L. will show you how to invest. And James will show you how to replace shitty habits (financial or otherwise) with good habits (financial or otherwise). Start with Dave. Then go to J.L. And then go to James. Spend a half-hour every night digesting and applying their wisdom and you’ll be the master of your financial domain in no time.

Compare Yourself Only to Your Past Self

To compare makes you human. To compare yourself to others is all too human too. But if you compare yourself to your superiors you’ll get discouraged, and if you compare yourself to your inferiors you’ll get complacent. Not good. Someone who hasn’t yet mastered his or her financial domain can neither afford the woe of discouragement nor the bane of complacency.

So what to do?

Become a little egomaniacal. Stop comparing yourself to others. Only compare yourself to your past self. Your job is to be just a little better than you were a week or a month earlier. If you’re currently contributing $100 a month to a Roth IRA, start contributing $125 a month. If you’re currently spending $400 a month on groceries, limit such spending to $375 a month. If you’re currently doing diddly-squat on the side-hustle front, start delivering pizzas one night a week. Comparison is fun when the competition is an open book and doesn’t mind being bested. And as long as you keep making your past self look like an ever-expanding loser, you’ll not only manage to become the master of your financial domain but you’ll also be well on your way to achieving the Valhalla of personal finance: financial independence.

Egotrage Is Your Friend

Egotrage is the art of moving financially forward by stepping back. You willingly surrender some of your social standing in order to save more or invest more. A great example of this in my life was when Mrs. Groovy and I moved from Long Island to North Carolina in 2006. We left a beach community on the doorstep of New York City for a farm community on the doorstep of Charlotte. We not only lost the cachet that comes from living in Noo Yawk but we also lost a good chunk of our household income. Our household income went from $126K a year to $94K a year.

But what we lost in social standing was more than offset by our enhanced saving prowess. We went from saving 15 percent of our household income to 60 percent of our household income ($1,500 a month vs. $4,500 a month).

Few things are kinder to your wallet than egotrage. Saving and investing becomes way easier if you’re willing to live in a trailer, drive a crappy car, and deem White Castle suitable for a romantic dinner.

So don’t be afraid to slum it—especially if it’s only for a short while. You won’t suffer materially. Your bed will feel just as cozy sitting in a humble trailer as opposed to a glorious McMansion. You won’t suffer socially. Your family and friends will still love you—even though they will occasionally mock you for your spartan choices. And you certainly won’t suffer an irrevocable blow to your self-esteem. Yes, the snooty disdain oozing from strangers will be irritating. But believe me, that irritation becomes increasingly less irritating as your debt disappears and your 401(k) balance skyrockets.

Final Thoughts

Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. What say you? Is the key to financial success taking responsibility and dedicating oneself to mastering one’s financial domain? Or is the key to financial success dependant on who is or who isn’t sitting in the Oval Office? Let me know what you think when you get a chance. Peace.