If you have ever shook your head when you saw someone buy something from a company that oppresses or takes advantage of them, you need to look at yourself in the mirror first. How much is your bank charging you for your checking account? ATM fees? Credit card interest? How much interest are you paying on that loan? In total, not the monthly payment.

You may need to dramatically decrease your living expenses if you are facing job loss, unexpected expenses, or overwhelming debt, etc. On the other hand you may be in a situation where you feel like you would like to significantly ramp up your savings capacity in the short term, through lowering your living expenses. If you find yourself in any of these situations, here is what I recommend you consider:

I’ve got some awesome news! We received a grant from the Civic Joy Fund to put out a literary magazine celebrating SF and acting to counter the stupid “Doom Loop” narrative. It’s a gift to the people of San Francisco. And after months of working on this project it’s now available

Would you rather spend $2 on average per day on coffee or have $119,754 in 40 years? (based on 6% annual interest rate, from http://finishrich.com/lattefactor/)

You may say yes and you may say no. I don’t judge you either way. There are many things I would rather experience today than have lots of money later. However there are other things I choose to go without. What I want for you is to know your priorities and to make an intentional and conscious choice versus an unconscious one.

Why should I care about my credit score? – c.c.

Ok so what I am hearing is, “Why should I care about my credit score when it doesn’t matter because I’ll never afford to buy a house in sf/nyc?.. and I don’t need a car.” I can understand this…

Now, it doesn’t take an economist to discover that housing is barely affordable for people with “fill in the blank” situations (certain jobs, students, broke asses, etc.), especially those who live in cities with extremely high costs of living.

Did you know that “very low” income for one person living in San Francisco is $39,600?

Having a difficult conversation about finances is a coming out of sorts. When I dated a woman for the first time I was totally closeted. The amount of energy it took to keep that secret was enormous. I made up horrible stories in my head about how my friends and family would react to me having a girlfriend. After talking about it, I remember saying, “that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” which is exactly what clients say about having the difficult conversation.

What about those situations when you are thinking, “Am I supposed to tip this person? If I do will I offend them? If I don’t will I offend them? If I do tip, how much should I give?” Then you ask your friend “dude, how much are you giving?” then you give more because your friend is a joker and you wanna tip right.

What do you value? What are your priorities? It is impossible to look at spending and savings to see if it is aligned with your priorities if you don’t know what your priorities are. In addition, if I told you how to spend and save your money based on my priorities or Joe Bob’s, then you may do it for a short time but in the long run it isn’t sustainable. You create sustainability when you identify your priorities and align your spending and savings with those priorities.