“The Intersection of Minimalism and Finance”

The idea of minimalism seems to have gained momentum over the past decade.  From personal experience, I can say it has been a rewarding and interesting journey for our family and I can see why the “movement” has gained so much traction.  There are so many benefits to minimalism and there are different levels of intensity that you can approach it with.  In our experience, taking small but meaningful steps towards a more minimalistic lifestyle has been liberating.  In this article we explore a few ways that minimalism can also help your wallet!

Items Can be Sold as You Rid Yourself of Them

With the boom of Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, Nextdoor, and Ebay (yes, still Ebay!) it has never been easier to “sell” something online.  As people start on their minimalism journey it can sometimes be difficult to simply throw things away in order to get rid of the clutter.  A beautiful intersection to this problem is to not only get rid of the item, but also look to sell it on one of these online marketplaces.  The benefit of decluttering is a mental boost and getting some extra cash in your pocket is the cherry on top!

Combining old Accounts can Eliminate Stress

Minimalism doesn’t always mean getting rid of tangible things.  When it comes to finances, we often talk with individuals who have multiple “old” 401K accounts, checking accounts, credit cards, or savings accounts.  Sometimes there are legitimate reasons to having these multiple accounts, but a lot of times combining these old accounts into one spot helps to eliminate stress.  The prevalence of online accounts and how you structure them should really save you time and fees in the long run.  Not only is combining accounts good to try and reduce the fees you are paying across multiple accounts, but it’s also nice to see one account with a larger balance than 3 individual accounts.

A Financial Plan Should Be Simple

Traditional financial plans are dozens of pages long and are not only daunting to read through, but quickly become irrelevant as life circumstances change.  The idea of having a minimalistic financial plan is something we believe in and push for in our client’s situations.  Sure, there needs to be significant data and research behind the plan, but the action items and goals should be adaptable, executable, and motivating for the clients to achieve!

We would love to chat with you or anyone you know that might be looking to get rid of their tangible or financial clutter!  Click here to have a free chat with one of our advisors on getting started!

August 9th, 2019