Is there a specific budget rule on how to save money?

Toni: There's actually none, like we always say, personal finance is personal. In terms of the percentage of how much you allocate your savings, your investments, your operating fund, that's for you to decide initially. But they say, the old rule is the 50-30-20. Like 50% to your needs and then 30% to your savings and then 20% to your wants.

But again, it also depends on your income. So the higher your income, then you also have to change the percentage that you set for your savings or for your investments. But in your case, how did you do it, Sean, when you first started out, like when you started having a system for your money?

Sean: I went through a phase in my life where I was eating a pack of Skyflakes for breakfast and lunch. The thicker one.

Toni: Me too.

Sean: Yeah. You probably understand me when I say saving is a must for survival during that time. And I carried that over up to today. I mean, the toys that I buy are, it's just like you, you get your budget for crypto investment from your brand deals, I get it from my public speaking money. So whenever I have a talk and a client pays, I tell my wife, oh, this is my play money. This is not the company's money. This is my play money because I spent time and it's my one hour when I spoke there at that conference.

So yeah, when I was starting out, I saved a lot. I probably saved 50% or more. Now I save 95%. So I only spend like 5% or 10%. I don't spend too much. I don't spend too much, especially now during the pandemic. If you keep buying stuff, your house will easily be filled with things and I already have too much stuff in the house and I have to get rid of some actually, so I save a lot. So for me, the rule is just to save as much as you can.

Toni: True. What can help also is just to simply automate your finances already. Even in my case, what I do is when I receive income already, I set, I allocate a portion of that straight into my savings and straight into my investments, and I just spend whatever is left. It helps me better. So that at least with whatever money that's left, if I end up blowing it again, then at least that's fine because I've already saved initially before I started spending. So that can also help you.

But if you're asking for a more specific percentage, just like what they say, if your cash flow is healthy if your operating expenses or your needs don't go beyond 60%, so maybe that can be a benchmark for you, but it still depends. It depends on how much you're earning. It's going to be different from a minimum wage earner and different from someone like Sean. So he saves 95%, which means 5% of his income goes to his needs. Right?

Sean: Yeah, I just save as much as I can and live a simple life. Don't try to keep up with other people because you're never going to be happy. And you have to be at peace with yourself, meaning, you’re okay with yourself, who you are, you know who you are, you're aware of your character, you're aware of your identity and you're at peace with that, you're not going to need more stuff. What you're going to need is more maturity in life and in your spirit, that's it. You’d come to that point.

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