Tag: personal finance for professionals

  • Stop Feeling Guilty and Annoyed About Spending Money

    Stop Feeling Guilty and Annoyed About Spending Money

    No matter how far along you are on your personal finance journey, you will always need to make choices on how to spend your money.

    I recently wrote about how I felt annoyed when I wanted to buy a new bike and new golf clubs.

    You have to make decisions like this whether you make a lot of money or very little money.

    The more money you make, the harder these choices can be. When I was in my 20s, traveling and a social life were my biggest spending challenges.

    Now that I’m in my 40s, it’s making good spending choices for not only me, but my wife and three kids.

    The other day, I confessed that I was annoyed because my goal to pay off debt was keeping me from buying a new bike or new golf clubs.

    What I’ve realized since then is that I also felt guilty about spending money on myself when I could better spend that money on my kids.

    I felt guilty because my five-year-old wants to learn how to ride a bike. I should buy her a bike and teach her to ride before I splurge on a new bike for myself, right?

    With powerful feelings like annoyance and guilt, how can we make good spending decisions even as we make more money?

    Don’t ignore key personal finance fundamentals even as you start to make more money.

    What I’ve learned as my career and family obligations evolve is that it’s easy to forget the little things I used to focus on when money was tight.

    This recent experience reminded me that I need to step back and focus on personal finance basics.

    I’m not alone in needing a reminder from time to time about personal finance fundamentals, like budgeting. I talk to plenty of people who tell me that they kept a budget in their 20s but not so much in their 30s and 40s.

    They share with me that even though they’re making more money, it seems like they have less and less money to spend.

    I totally get it because I was the same way. I tracked every penny I made in my 20s until I learned how to stay on budget with two simple numbers. Recently, I haven’t been as diligent.

    My recent dilemma with the new bike and golf clubs reminded me to go back to the fundamentals.

    The benefit is that by remembering the basics, I can help myself by taking the anxiety and guilt out of these types of spending choices.

    So, what are the fundamentals I’m referring to?

    After I wrote that post about the new bike and golf clubs, I reviewed my top 10 budgeting tips for lawyers and professionals.

    My Top 10 Budgeting Tips for Lawyers and Professionals

    1. See the ball go through the hoop.
    2. Don’t cancel your social life.
    3. Talk to your friends about your life money.
    4. Keep on traveling.
    5. Spark and cut.
    6. It’s OK if you occasionally exceed your spending.
    7. Make a game out of it, like the $500 challenge.
    8. Buy it if you want it, but not right away.
    9. You don’t have to go big or go home.
    10. Plan ahead for budget busters.
    person walking inside shopping center showing that we all have choices to make when it comes to our spending.
    Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

    These budgeting strategies helped me realize that I can choose to spend money on what I want and shouldn’t feel guilty or annoyed.

    The key is understanding how a certain purchase fits into the rest of my overall spending.

    On this occasion, 3 of my top 10 budgeting tips stood out and helped me with what to do about the new bike and golf clubs.

    Let’s take a look.

    6. It’s OK if you occasionally exceed your spending.

    What should you do if you overspend one month? Don’t get discouraged and give up. Before all your hard work goes to waste, take the next month to course correct. 

    If you overspent by $300 in August, make it a priority to underspend by $300 in September.

    Is this easier said than done?

    Well, sure. It’s always easier to say you’re going to do something. The hard part is following through. It will take discipline to get back on track. What will drive that discipline? 

    Once again, it’s your ultimate life motivations that we’ve talked so much about (and will always continue to talk about). Without that clear vision of your ideal life in front of you, no budget will ever last.

    Don’t panic. Course correct. Stay on track.

    Even though I didn’t buy the new bike or golf clubs, if I chose to do so, I could course correct the next month.

    Going over budget for just one month is fixable. The key is to not blow my budget multiple months in a row.

    If I did that, I would end up digging a hole so deep that it would be a major challenge to get back to good spending levels.

    8. Buy it if you want it, but not right away.

    Just because I didn’t buy the bike or golf clubs yet doesn’t mean I can’t buy them in the future when the time is right.

    I always think of my mom when I see something that I want to buy but know I shouldn’t buy it right away.

    About 10 years ago, my mom bought me a jacket for a birthday present. It was the exact jacket I wanted. How did she know, I asked her. “You mentioned it when we were downtown four months ago.” Four months ago!

    I shouldn’t have been surprised. My mom has one of those steel trap memories.

    If you only met her for five minutes and then saw her again two years later, don’t be surprised when she asks about your consulting gig, your trip to New Orleans, and that blue dress that she really liked.

    I learned from my mom’s gift strategy and modified it to help myself resist the temptation to make impromptu purchases. I don’t have her memory, but I do have a phone with a notes function. 

    When I see something that I might want to buy, I do my best to resist the temptation of buying it immediately and make a note in my phone. After a couple weeks, if I still want that thing, I buy it. 

    More times than not, I no longer want whatever it was that tempted me in the moment.

    If I still want the bike or golf clubs a few weeks from now, I can still buy them. By waiting, I also might benefit from end-of-the-season sales and can shop around for the best offers.

    10. Plan ahead for budget busters.

    Budget busters are any inconsistent expenditures, good or bad, that can derail your planning. 

    Good budget busters might include trips, weddings, and holiday/birthday gift shopping.

    We can also add a new bike and golf clubs to the good budget busters category. These certainly count as irregular expenses but can wreck our budgets if we don’t properly plan for them.

    Bad budget busters include unexpected car repairs, home repairs, or medical expenses.

    Note, budget busters are inconsistent; they are not unexpected. These expenditures are 100% predictable every year, we just don’t always know when they will surface. 

    woman counting dollar bills indicating the choices we all have to make with our spending and budget.
    Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

    Planning ahead for budget busters is crucial to staying on track.

    To do so, open up a savings account, preferably at a different bank than your checking account. This helps isolate those funds so those dollars don’t disappear. 

    As part of our really lost boy’s Budget After Thinking, you’ll recall that we had a separate line item for budget busters in both our Now Money (bad budget busters) and Life Money (good budget busters).

    I encourage you to do the same. Each month that you don’t spend your budget buster money, transfer it to your savings account so it’s there when you need it.

    One more bonus tip for dealing with budget busters.

    We talked above about how to course correct when you exceed your budget in one month. On the flip side, what should you do when you’ve had a great month and underspent? 

    I recommend you transfer the amount you underspent to your budget busters savings account. Don’t let that hard-earned money sit in your checking account. 

    Those dollars will disappear. By transferring them to savings, those dollars will be at your disposal when needed.

    Instead of buying the bike or golf clubs now, I can transfer some funds in my savings account and wait to go shopping until I have enough saved up.

    Don’t ignore your budget even if you’re far along on your personal finance journey.

    My experience with the new bike and golf clubs served as a great reminder to revisit personal finance fundamentals, like budgeting.

    If you haven’t thought about your spending choices in a while, now is a good time to do it.

    The 10 budgeting strategies mentioned above have worked for me in the past and continue to work for me today. 

    If you review those top 10 strategies, I hope you see that making good spending choices does not have to make us feel annoyed or guilty.

    It just takes a little mental energy, exerted ahead of time.

    When making good spending choices becomes part of your everyday life, you can eliminate the guilt and anxiety that comes with tough choices, like buying a new bike or golf clubs.

    Have you been in a similar situation where you wanted to buy something but were worried about how it fit into your overall budget?

    What did you decide to do?

    Let us know in the comments below.

  • Student Loans and Financial Freedom

    Student Loans and Financial Freedom

    Debt from student loans and financial freedom go hand-in-hand for most professionals. Maybe a better way to put it is that student loans can be a major obstacle on your path to financial freedom.

    Student loans and financial freedom go hand-in-hand.

    Whether you have student loan debt from college or graduate school, it’s important to have a plan to pay that debt off.

    All debt acts as a roadblock to financial freedom. Student loans are no different.

    Of course, the more education you’ve received, the more student loans you likely have.

    When considering student loans and financial freedom, look no further than these recent stats provided by the Education Data Initiative:

    • The average person with a graduate degree owes up to $102,790 in federal student loan debt.
    • 54.0% of all graduate school students have federal student loan debt.
    • 55.2% of people with master’s degrees have federal student loan debt.
    • 74.8% of people with professional doctorates have federal student loan debt.
    • 76.2% of doctors have student loan debt.

    This is why it’s especially important for professionals to realize the connection between student loans and financial freedom.

    Hold on before you tune out because you don’t have any student loan debt.

    The journey towards financial freedom is often a shared journey for many of us.

    This data shows that even if you don’t personally have any student loan debt, the odds are you are going to marry someone who does. Or, you’re the parent, or will someday be the parent, of someone who has student loans.

    That’s why we all need to learn about student loans and financial freedom. You may soon find yourself in a relationship where you’ll want these student loan strategies.

    If nothing else, your prior experiences with student loans can help someone else if you’re just willing to talk about them.

    I’ll never forget the day I made my last student loan payment.

    My family was heading out to Colorado around Christmas time for some snowboarding and skiing. Don’t worry, I didn’t break a wrist that trip.

    My goal that year had been to finish paying off my student loans entirely. However, I can’t take credit for wanting to pay off my loans that year.

    That credit goes to my wife. She was the first person who helped me appreciate the interconnection between student loans and financial freedom.

    Here’s what happened.

    About 11-12 months before that trip to Colorado, my (future) wife and I talked about how we wanted to start our marriage debt-free. We were thinking about buying a home and starting a family. Student loan debt did not fit into this picture.

    She was the one who initiated the conversation.

    She knew long before I did that talking about money is not taboo.

    All these years later, I’m still so grateful that she didn’t shy away from having that important conversation.

    Subscribe Here to Join our Newsletter!
    Name

    Why I wanted to pay off my student loans before I got married.

    M wife and I met in the days where I was just starting to tackle my credit card debt after law school. She knew how heavy that debt felt for me.

    She saw how focused I was in creating a Budget After Thinking and how important it was for me to stick with it.

    My wife also experienced firsthand how much better I felt once I had a plan to pay off my debt. She wasn’t just an observer, either. She was an active participant.

    Whether it was budgeting games like the $500 challenge or sharing a hotel room with my friends for a wedding, she was part of my journey.

    So, when I had finally paid off all of my credit card debt, it was time to focus all that financial energy on my student loan debt.

    This may sound odd, but I was excited to move on to a new challenge. Not that paying off debt is ever easy. But, with my student loans, I knew it was going to be easier than paying off my credit card debt.

    That’s because I had already learned and experienced the hardest part of paying off debt with my credit card experience. I had already shifted my money mindset.

    By this point, I wanted to be good with money. Not only for myself, but for my future family.

    Money mindset is so important to student loans and financial freedom.

    Once your money mindset is in the right place, you can make informed and intentional choices about debt. It doesn’t matter if you’re paying off credit cards, student loans, or even HELOC debt.

    When you’re honest and dedicated to fostering a healthy money mindset, you’re better able to establish habits like budgeting and saving. That’s how you create fuel for your Later Money goals, like eliminating debt.

    Personally, my money mindset was in a much different place by the time I prioritized paying off student loan debt compared to paying off credit card debt.

    With my credit card debt, it took waking up one day and feeling ashamed for how irresponsible I was with my spending before I committed to paying it off. I felt down and discouraged.

    On the bright side, those negative feelings are what set me on the path to learn and eventually teach personal finance.

    With my student loans, I wasn’t starting from a feeling of failure. It was quite the opposite, actually. I had a much better attitude because I had proven to myself that I could pay off debt. I had experienced how good that felt.

    So, when my wife and I talked about eliminating my student loan debt before we got married, that was just one final incentive.

    My wife would say that I’m a quietly competitive person. When she initiated that talk about paying off my student loans before we got married, it was game on for me.

    I didn’t need any extra motivation, but I sure felt extra motivated after that talk.

    I prioritized paying off my student loans the rest of that year.

    For the next 11-12 months, I made it my priority to eliminate my student loan debt. I had been making the required payments each month for years, but eliminating my student loans always took a back seat to my other goals. Now, it was time to prioritize eliminating my student loans.

    Using the Debt Snowball method, I used whatever excess money I had each month to pay off the remaining balance on one loan at a time.

    This was before we owned any real estate, but I had begun my side hustle as a law school professor. Whenever I got a paycheck from the law school, I immediately put it towards my student loans.

    When I earned a raise that year, I put the whole raise towards my student loans. I did the same thing with irregular earnings, like from commissions, bonuses and even my tax refund.

    Snowy mountains in the distance illustrating that the journey of student loans and financial freedom are interconnected.
    “Snow Mountain” by Jeff Hollett/ CC0 1.0

    As our Colorado trip was approaching, I knew that the finish line was in sight. I waited to tell my future wife just how close I was until after I had made the final payment. I’ve always liked surprising her.

    I remember telling her I just made the last payment on the day before we left for the trip. She was thrilled, and surprised, at how quickly I accomplished the goal.

    I thanked her for motivating me.

    The next day in Colorado, I shared the news with my parents that I had pay off my student loans. They were even happier than my wife and I were. All my siblings were there with us. We had a toast and celebrated. It was a night I’ll never forget.

    It’s natural to worry about paying back student loan debt.

    When I teach personal finance for lawyers, student loan debt is always one of the most important topics. It’s natural to worry about paying back such a large sum of money as you are beginning your career.

    Even if I didn’t realize before, I now fully appreciate the relationship between student loans and financial freedom.

    My hope is that by thinking and talking even a little bit about your student loans, you won’t have to worry. You’ll have a plan to pay back your loans in the most efficient way possible on your way to financial freedom.

    In our initial series on student loans, we’ll learn how to:

    • Find your loan balance, set up payments, and other important basics when you’re just getting started.
    • Choose a repayment plan that works best for your personal situation.
    • Strategize to pay off student loan debt within the context of your overall life goals.
    • Navigate the ever-changing landscape of student loans.

    Then, you’ll have your own reason to celebrate with your loved ones just like I did in Colorado.

    Have you thought about student loans and financial freedom?

    Where are you currently with your student loans? Just starting out, nearing completion, or somewhere in the middle?

    Are you the partner or parent of someone with student loans? Have you discussed a plan for paying those loans off?

    Let us know so we can learn from each other’s experiences in the comments below.

  • Personal Finance for Lawyers and Professionals

    Personal Finance for Lawyers and Professionals

    I founded Think and Talk Money after years of teaching personal finance for lawyers. 

    My purpose is to share these principles of personal finance for lawyers with all professionals striving for financial freedom.

    I like to think and talk about money. To help us achieve financial freedom, we can’t be embarrassed or afraid to talk about money with our friends and family.

    That’s why I’m on a mission to convince people that talking money is not taboo.

    I like thinking and talking about life and money.

    “If you want to get Matt talking, bring up life and money.”

    My wife knows me better than anyone. I like thinking and talking about life and money. That’s why I started teaching financial wellness to law students in 2021 and started this blog in 2024. But, I wasn’t always like that. 

    When I graduated law school in 2009, I never thought about money. Within a year, I had racked up $20,000 in credit card debt ($30,000 in today’s dollars), on top of my student loan debt. My salary at the time was $62,000. This was a problem. 

    How did that happen? Well, I wasn’t thinking about money. I certainly wasn’t talking about money. I later learned that I had made every money mistake in the book. Rented a fancy apartment I didn’t need? Check. Paid for Cubs season tickets I couldn’t afford? Check. Traveled coast-to-coast? Traveled overseas? Put it all on credit cards? Check. Check. Check.

    Woman taking out US dollar bills from her pocket wallet because she learned personal finance for lawyers and professionals.

    It’s not that I intentionally decided to get into debt. I generally wanted to make good choices. I am a relatively smart human. You are, too. You’re reading a blog about financial wellness with the entire internet at your fingertips.

    Maybe you’re like me, and it hadn’t occurred to you that money was a thing you needed to think about. And to talk about. Preferably with people impacted by your money choices.

    I dedicated myself to learning about money.

    Since 2010, I’ve dedicated myself to learning about money and its role in crafting a healthy life. I read all the personal finance books. I listened to podcasts. I talked to people I trusted. I kept a money journal.

    Along the way, I started to make choices with my money that matched my values.

    15 years into learning, and now teaching personal finance for lawyers and professionals, here are a few things to know about me:

    I work for clients with mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos.

    Since 2011, I’ve represented hundreds of people suffering from mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos. Most of my clients are in their seventies and eighties. A significant part of my job since I’ve been in my twenties has been meeting with individuals in their homes after they had just found out they have incurable cancer.

    Before we ever get around to talking about the case, we inevitably end up talking about life. I do most of the listening. You can imagine what I’ve learned about life in these moments. Most of my core money beliefs have been shaped by these powerful experiences.

    I am a real estate investor and own rental properties in Chicago and Colorado.

    In 2018, my wife and I bought our first rental property in Chicago, a 4-flat in an up-and-coming neighborhood. We lived in one unit and rented out the other three.

    I’ll never forget riding my bike with my wife and a buddy, heading from the fancy part of the city where I had been living to my new home. I could tell my buddy was skeptical about my new neighborhood.

    Finally, he saw something he recognized and said, “Hey, nice! A spin studio!” He saw a sign that read “Cycle Spin.” It was a laundromat.

    A row of industrial washing machines in a public laundromat illustrating why it's important to learn personal finance for lawyers and professionals.

    He wasn’t the only one who was probably thinking, “what is Matt doing?” Well, that 4-flat allowed my wife and I (and eventually two kids) to live for free for six years.

    See, the rent we collected covered our mortgage, insurance, taxes, maintenance, and then some. 

    With the money we saved, we bought our second rental property in 2019, a nearby 3-flat. In 2022, we purchased another Chicago 3-flat, where my family lived for about two years before moving to our permanent home. My tenants are doctors, lawyers, engineers, TV personalities, pilots, and other young professionals. 

    In 2021, we bought a rental condo in Colorado ski country. This had been a dream of mine hatched at The 1800 Club in Evanston during college.

    Back then, I amused my friends on many a ski trip by cartwheeling down the mountain as I learned to snowboard. To pay for flights and lift tickets, I took a couple part-time jobs in local offices. I told myself one day I would “Get that Mountain.”

    While my wife and I were contemplating life during the height of the pandemic, we determined that a ski condo fit perfectly with our desire to be with family, to be active, and to be outdoors as much as possible.

    I started a money journal in 2010.

    I started a money journal in 2010. It has been a lot of fun to look at as I launched my financial wellness course and as I’m writing this blog. I’ll refer back to these entries as I share my lessons about personal finance for lawyers and professionals.

    Some entries are just scribbles while I worked through that month’s money question.

    Some entries go deep. My favorite: I wrote in 2011 that someday I was going to marry the girl I had been dating at that time for the past few months. That girl became my wife in 2017. 

    I encourage everyone to keep some sort of money journal. It doesn’t have to be a daily log or a detailed memoir. It will help you think. It will also reinforce the idea that we all need to think about money continuously.

    Some of the same challenges I had in my 20’s, are resurfacing today. I am more confident today because I can look back at how I  handled those obstacles back then.

    I have taught personal finance for lawyers since 2021.

    Since 2011, I’ve taught law students how to research, write, and communicate in the courtroom. We work on finding answers to difficult questions. Oftentimes, there are many possible answers, and we have to think and analyze which is the best for our situation. 

    I regularly have coffee with students who want to talk about what comes next after finishing school. I learned that, just like me in 2009, my students didn’t typically think or talk about money and life. They never considered learning about personal finance for lawyers.

    I wanted to help them avoid the money struggles that I had experienced at the beginning of my career.

    Male speaker giving presentation on personal finance for lawyers and professionals.

    That’s why in 2021, I designed and launched a law school course focused on personal finance for lawyers. My goal with that course, and this website, is to help us all think about using money as a tool to build a life that conforms to our personal values.

    The point is not to get rich. Though, you will if that’s your goal and you follow along. The point is to live your life on purpose. Where you actively think and choose what happens next.

    Think about why money matters.

    The first step is to think about a simple and powerful question: why does money matter?

    For me and many others, money is about financial independence, which translates to the power to choose. When we have the power to choose, we have the power to live a life that conforms to our personal values. We can live on purpose, not on auto-pilot.

    We can choose to spend our working hours doing what is meaningful to us. We can choose to spend more time with the people that are meaningful to us. We can choose to use money as a tool to do what we want with our lives.

    My favorite part during my personal finance for lawyers class is when my students share their motivations with each other. We all learn so much from these honest conversations.

    It’s why I believe talking about money is so important. We all benefit from knowing that we’re not alone in our money worries. We can be inspired by hearing what our friends want from their money and their lives.

    If nothing else, I want you to think and talk about money.

    As a lawyer, I’ve been trained to build upon the work of those who have come before us. Think and Talk Money is my contribution to this essential field of personal finance, building upon what I was so grateful to learn. Not just from authors, but from all the people in my life who talk with me about life and money.

    In teaching personal finance for lawyers, I’ve learned that most of us are facing the same challenges. Maybe my voice and my experiences will resonate with you. Maybe not. And that’s ok.

    I will be honest about the mistakes I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned. We’ll talk about motivation, habits, and fundamentals. We’ll talk about careers and goals. We’ll talk about investing in real estate and managing rental properties.

    I’ll share my thoughts on key news and developments. I don’t expect you to agree with everything I say. Not every post will be immediately helpful for you. That’s not my goal or even realistic. 

    Think just a little bit about money every week.

    My goal is to help you think even a little bit about your money choices every week. That way, your money life remains in balance with the rest of your life, and you can continually evolve and adapt your choices as your life changes.

    I want to encourage you to think, and to talk, and to choose. If all I do is help you and your loved ones think more purposefully about your money, this website will be a success. 

    Maybe your goal is also financial independence, or the power to choose. The power to live on purpose. Maybe it’s something else entirely. Whatever it is, discovering your motivation is the crucial first step. 

    It’s so important that I’ll encourage you to think about that motivation every day. I’ve learned that money is something that we all need to think about as a regular part of our lives. Not that we should only think about money. Or that we need to obsess over money. Simply that we can’t ignore money.

    How sad is it when we realize our hard earned money has just vanished? That at the end of each month, we have less money?

    You’re not alone. There are a lot of smart people who need somewhere to turn learn about money. Or, maybe just a reminder to actively think about their money.

    Most of us could use someone to talk to or something to read to help us learn about personal finance for lawyers and professionals.

    I hope Think and Talk Money can be that place for you. I can’t, and won’t, tell you what to do with your money. It’s your life, after all. But, I will strive to help you think and talk with purpose about your money.

    Here we go.

    12 responses to “Personal Finance for Lawyers and Professionals”

    1. Bill Molander Avatar
      Bill Molander

      Well written, Matt! Best wishes to you in future endeavors.

      Reply
      1. Matthew Adair Avatar
        Matthew Adair

        Thank you, Bill!

        Reply
    2. Clarke Nobiletti Avatar
      Clarke Nobiletti

      Excited for the valuable advice!

      Reply
      1. Matthew Adair Avatar
        Matthew Adair

        Thank you, Clarke!

        Reply
    3. Laurie Avatar
      Laurie

      Hey, I think your ideas are very interesting. Thanks for your thoughts. Maybe keeping money journal is a good idea for me too. A fresh outlook and clean slate for starting out the new year makes sense too.

      Reply
      1. Matthew Adair Avatar
        Matthew Adair

        Great attitude, Laurie! Keep me posted on your money journal!

        Reply
    4. Jeffrey Tallis Avatar
      Jeffrey Tallis

      Smart young man! He listens to people! He takes what he hears and learns from it! Great stuff here! Your law students are lucky to have you as a money mentor!

      Reply
      1. Matthew Adair Avatar
        Matthew Adair

        Thank you, Jeff! Glad you enjoyed the first post!

        Reply
    5. Diana Avatar
      Diana

      This was a great read — thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      1. Matthew Adair Avatar
        Matthew Adair

        Thank you, Diana!

        Reply
    6. Nicholas Faklis Avatar
      Nicholas Faklis

      Matt What are your thoughts on index funds vs individual stocks ?

      Reply
      1. Matthew Adair Avatar
        Matthew Adair

        Great question! I invest in index funds and think that’s the best choice for many of us. We’ll have to revisit this topic in a future post. Stay tuned!

        Reply