Some less usual things people do that I think are very high value but boring (hence why they're not usually done):
- Understanding taxes, the importance of savings and baseline personal finance literacy.
- Reading the political programs of a few parties running for elections in you country
- Reading a few yearly report / financial statements for a public company, an NGO/non-profit/state agency/local government and trying to understand them
- Reading a few top research papers in a field you're interested in and work through them
Actually getting a proper handle on my finances has been the single thing I did last year which has contributed most to my general mental wellbeing. Historically I've been terrible at it, I'm paid incredibly well compared to most of the population, but because I wasn't consciously budgeting I'd end up running down to the last few pounds in my bank account every month.
Putting an effort into setting actual budgets at the start of the month means I'm shifted from impulse buying silly things on the basis that I have the money at the moment to holding off on those and saving some money. (And admittedly still making silly impulse purchases, but with solid data that I can afford to do so and still have enough money left over for food).
I can highly recommend the ridiculously named You Need A Budget (https://www.youneedabudget.com/) if you're not sure what you're doing, since they have a ton of content around how to go about budgeting. Even if you don't buy the software, give their educational material a read.
> Historically I've been terrible at it, I'm paid incredibly well compared to most of the population, but because I wasn't consciously budgeting I'd end up running down to the last few pounds in my bank account every month.
I'll pile on a recommendation for YNAB. This sounds exactly like me. Having a better handle on my money and where it's going has definitely improved my mental health this year.
> Reading the political programs of a few parties running for elections in you country
I too recommend reading more fiction in 2020! (Sorry, I was just a little bit struck with how little this would matter in some countries, mine included).
Political parties are highly skilled at telling people what they want to hear. Reading their programs will keep you current on what people want to hear.
If it doesn't matter in your country, you could look at the voting records of the people running for leadership positions, and thereby separate their words from their actions.
Any tips on the political reading piece? I've found it challenging or a waste of time because either it is hard to find concise info from a variety of candidates that is in an easy to compare format, or I distrust the candidate to actually stick to their platform (vs just saying whatever they need to get elected).
> Understanding taxes, the importance of savings and baseline personal finance literacy.
Ok, what could be a good resource for this? The problem with finances is alike eating: You get so much talk from shaddy "experts" that is hard to see where the good info is.
The Reddit r/personalfinance sub is a well moderated place (no shady experts shilling nonsense). Take a look at their wiki[1] for a good jumping off point.
There are also country specific pf reddits listed in their wiki if you're not in the US.
The basic jist of things is:
1. Create a budget, go through the last few months of bank statements and categorise your spending
2. Pay down your debt (starting with the highest rate first)
3. Save 3-6 months expenses (which you know from your budget) as an emergency fund. (This does not need to all be accessable immediately just available, say 80% in a savings account with 30 days notice)
4. 2 & 3 should be done at the same time, it might not be mathematically the best but paying all your debt off and then being fired/made redundant without a cushion is not good.
Then once you've got a handle on the pf stuff, think about r/financialindependence or r/fire
- Understanding taxes, the importance of savings and baseline personal finance literacy.
- Reading the political programs of a few parties running for elections in you country
- Reading a few yearly report / financial statements for a public company, an NGO/non-profit/state agency/local government and trying to understand them
- Reading a few top research papers in a field you're interested in and work through them