Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about what to do with a small windfall.
Speaker 1: It is fun to use money intentionally rather than see
Speaker 1: it all disappear into the same wash of money going
Speaker 1: in and out. So if you do find yourself with
Speaker 1: a little extra sometime, here are some ways to think
Speaker 1: about it. So today's tip was inspired by a recent
Speaker 1: conversation about budgeting. I have run my own business for
Speaker 1: many years, and my income tends not to come in
Speaker 1: at regular intervals. But I know a number of people
Speaker 1: get paid every week or every other week on a
Speaker 1: certain day. Now, normally this would mean either to or
Speaker 1: four paychecks a month, but on occasion, you get an
Speaker 1: extra paycheck a month, just by virtue of where the
Speaker 1: days of the week happen to fall. Twenty six paychecks
Speaker 1: a year means two most months, but three in two months.
Speaker 1: If the vast majority of your spending is budgeted out
Speaker 1: monthly based on two paychecks, then getting an extra paycheck
Speaker 1: can feel like a little bonus. Or perhaps you might
Speaker 1: get a small windfall for other reasons too, like a
Speaker 1: slightly bigger tax refund than you thought you'd get, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's a rebate on something that finally came through.
Speaker 1: So when this happens, what should you do with it now? Obviously,
Speaker 1: if one has any high interest debt, the money should
Speaker 1: go to that. But if that is not the case,
Speaker 1: which I'm guessing maybe the case for a lot of
Speaker 1: people listening to this, then I think this can be
Speaker 1: a fun question. A small windfall isn't going to change
Speaker 1: your life, but of course that means it's easy to
Speaker 1: see a small windfall disappear into the wash of money
Speaker 1: going in and out for various things. It would be
Speaker 1: more fun to use it intentionally. So I personally love
Speaker 1: the idea of peace of mind, and so if your
Speaker 1: emergency fund is a bit underfunded, you might allocate a
Speaker 1: bit more to that if things did go awry, not
Speaker 1: needing to worry about money for even another two weeks
Speaker 1: or so could buy you breathing room. If you did
Speaker 1: want to spend the windfall on something, I think the
Speaker 1: absolute best thing to spend it on would be an experience.
Speaker 1: You will make memories that will last a lot longer
Speaker 1: than most other things money can buy. Maybe there's a
Speaker 1: weekend trip you'd like to take somewhere, make a long
Speaker 1: weekend of it, go somewhere fun, and then consciously record
Speaker 1: the memories to think about later. This is what my
Speaker 1: windfall enabled. Or it might be an experience like taking
Speaker 1: your family boding or buying a membership somewhere that you
Speaker 1: visit again and again. Another good category would be social spending.
Speaker 1: It's fun to treat people to things, and this is
Speaker 1: almost universally reciprocated, which means the windfall will keep generating
Speaker 1: benefits in the future. For instance, you might decide to
Speaker 1: take four different friends out to dinner, either individually or altogether.
Speaker 1: Either way, these people are highly likely to then invite
Speaker 1: you to do things with them, which means you'll get
Speaker 1: a lot of lunch or coffee invitations spread out over
Speaker 1: the next few months. You could also create a lot
Speaker 1: of meaning by donating at least part of a windfall.
Speaker 1: There are many worthy causes in the world, but I
Speaker 1: think you'd enjoy this most by donating to a smaller
Speaker 1: group where it would make a big difference, perhaps a
Speaker 1: local place where you already volunteer. Then you are there
Speaker 1: seeing what your money is enabling. It is so much
Speaker 1: more fun than losing track of it. In any case,
Speaker 1: even if you don't have a windfall on the horizon,
Speaker 1: this can be a fun question to ask yourself, what
Speaker 1: would you do with a small windfall? People sometimes daydream
Speaker 1: about what they would do if they won the lottery,
Speaker 1: but this is highly unlikely to happen, particularly if you
Speaker 1: don't usually buy lottery tickets. The odds of a small
Speaker 1: windfall happening, though, are reasonably good. People who budget monthly
Speaker 1: but get paid weekly or bi weekly, we'll see it
Speaker 1: happen about twice a year, and many other people will
Speaker 1: no doubt see some amount of extra cash come into
Speaker 1: their lives at some point. So make yourself a list
Speaker 1: of what might be fun, and then, who knows, maybe
Speaker 1: you will figure out a way to make those things happen,
Speaker 1: regardless of what is going on with your finances in
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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