Class Calculator

NYTimes has a "Class Calculator" that can show you where you stand in the categories of occupation, wealth, education, and income. 

Here are my scores:
Occupation: 80th percentile
Education: 97th percentile
Income: 97th percentile (projected)
Wealth: 40 percentile (current, not projected)
Average: 77th percentile

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How to get rich, the basics

To get rich, you have to make more money than you spend.  It can't be done any other way.

 

There are some simple steps to becoming better with money:

1) Track everything that you spend.  If you don't know what you spend your money on, you have no chance of saving more of it effectively.

1.5) Save on the little things.  Buy generic instead, save money on the things you don't really care about.

2) Put the rest in the bank.  If you're not spending it today, put it in a savings account that earns interest.

3) Put that in the investment accounts.  If you're not spending it this month, put it in an investment account.  That means conservative stocks, bonds, or mutual funds.  Something with a generally steady growth rate.

4) Be rich.  You've saved extra money, and now you're making the most of saving that money. 

 

That's all there is to it.  Harder than it looks, but that's how to get started.

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Rich Step: Track what you spend

If I asked you how much money you spend and on what every month do you think you could tell me?  I bet not. 

 

Here's the challenge, for the next 4 weeks, keep track of everything you spend money on.  Every time you eat out, every time you plug a parking meter, everything you pay your rent.  I bet you will be very unhappily surprised to see where all the money goes.  Most people don't even realize how much they are spending.  But if you track your spending for a month (i'd say keep doing it if you can), you can see where you will save money.  Before you know how you can save money you won't be able to do it.

 

This goes hand in hand with my posts on goals.  If you want to accomplish something, you need to decide what to accomplish.  It's impossible to accomplish something you haven't decided on.  And vague goals don't help.  Decide that you want to save an extra $100 every month, and find ways to do it.  Goals have to be measurable to be effective as well.  If you can't tell when you've accomplished your goal, you never will.

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