金融英語泛讀:改善經濟狀況，從這些做起

20 Tips Which Can Improve Your Financial Conditions改善經濟狀況，從這些做起

Improving your finances improves your happiness, in general, so I thought it would be important to share stuff that's worked for me.

I'm in the best financial shape in my life, despite quitting my job and my wife recently quitting hers too. A lot of that is thanks to you guys, the readers, but it's also thanks to frugality, to eliminating debt, to saving as much as I can.

Here's what works for me.

Use cash

Instead of charging things to credit cards or debit cards, use cash for non-bill spending such as eating out, gas, groceries. Spending cash makes the spending more real, and there's an added advantage of knowing when you're out of cash, instead of spending more than you have.

Small weekly savings transfers

I got this idea from my friend Trent at The Simple Dollar, who automatically deducts$20 a week from his checking to savings. I decided that I could live with$40/week without really feeling it-it's a relatively small transfer that I barely notice, and I save about$2000 a year on top of my larger bi-weekly savings transfers.

Stay home

Going out makes you more likely to spend unnecessarily. You eat at restaurants, go to the mall, stop at the gas station for snacks.It's hard to avoid spending when you're on the road.Instead, stay home, and find free entertainment.It's also a great way to bond with your family.

Don't get catalogs

Or e-mailed announcements from companies trying to sell you stuff. Their announcements of sales or cool new products make it very tempting to buy something you don't need.Instead, stop the catalogs and e-mails from ever getting to you in the first place, and you'll spend less.

Keep a 30-day list

If you have an impulse to buy something you don't absolutely need, put it on a 30-day list. You can't buy anything but necessities-everything else goes on the list, with the date that it's added to the list.When the 30 days are up, you can buy it-but most likely, the strong urge to buy it will be gone, and you can evaluate it more calmly.

Cook at home

I know, it seems more difficult than eating out. But it doesn't have to be hard.Not only is this much cheaper than eating out, it's healthier.

Exercise

Staying healthy is the best way to avoid costly medical bills later.

Use the envelope system

It's the same idea as using cash for spending, but in addition you use envelopes to split your spending cash into categories. My non-bills categories are groceries, gas and miscellaneous spending.Three envelopes, and when they're empty, I've spent my allotment.

Talk with your lover weekly

It's important that you and your significant other be on the same page. A weekly meeting of just 20 minutes.Communication is the key.

The spreadsheet tracker hack

There are expensive programs like MS Money, Quicken, and the like that will do amazing things with your financial information. There are even free ones, on your desktop or online, that can do all kinds of things.Trouble is, I don't need all that.All I want is a way to track my money easily, with no other bells and whistles, and a way to access that online so that I can view it from anywhere.The best way I found to do that is through Google Docs and Spreadsheets.I created a simple spreadsheet to track my bank accounts, that does everything I used to do with MS Money.It has the date of each transaction, the title and amount, a little field for memos, and a running balance.What more do I need?Keep it simple.

Pay savings and debt first

When you sit down to pay your bills（I do them all online），make the first bills you pay be your savings transfer and your debt payments. If not, if you pay them last you'll often end up shortchanging them.But if you pay them first, you'll make sure you still pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries and gas……so you'll just cut back on other spending.

Exercise at home

Some of you will disagree with me on this, which is OK—everyone should do what works for them. But I've saved a lot of money that I used to spend on gyms by just running at the local track or on the roads in my neighborhood, and buying some simple weights and a chin-up bar.

Cut out cable TV

I'm not saying I don't watch TV—I watch DVDs, so that I'm sure that what I'm watching is something great, rather than the useless stuff you find on TV most of the time. And there's a lot of it online for free if you look.Not a huge savings, but it adds up.Declutter.

By getting rid of all the excess stuff in your home, you not only make your life much simpler and more peaceful, but you make it harder to buy stuff that will just clutter things up again. Once you've simplified your home, you won't want to go back.Lend and borrow.

Give books and clothes and toys you don't need anymore to your friends and family. If you need something, send out an e-mail asking if anyone has it.Chances are, they'll give it to you for free if they don't use it anymore.

Barter

It's a lost art, but lots of people will take your services or goods instead of money, especially if you're friends or at least know each other. Get into the habit of offering to barter, and you'll find yourself saving a lot of money.

Use online savings

I use Emigrant Direct, but ING Direct is also popular, as are a bunch of other online banks. Not only do you earn twice the interest of a normal bank savings account, but if you don't get the ATM account it's not as easy to withdraw money……making it less likely that you'll get money out on an impulse.

Try frugal gift-giving

Giving people gifts is one of the most wonderful traditions, as it shows generosity and caring. Until it becomes commerciaIized.Then it's just really really expensive.Instead, try giving the gift of spending time with someone.Try giving them something you baked or made yourself.Try giving them services they'd appreciate.It doesn't have to cost a lot to be generous.

Teach your kids about advertising, saving, earning, and gift-giving

If you have kids, educating them about money will save you a lot of money in the long run. If they know about how advertising influences them in tricky ways, they'll be less likely to demand（OK, beg and plead for）the latest fad toys.If they know about saving and earning money, they'll respect the money that you earn, and that you are trying to save.If they know that gift-giving doesn't have to be about spending a lot of money, they won't necessarily want expensive stuff.

Find happiness in life, not spending

Many times people buy stuff because they think（subconsciously perhaps）that it will bring them happiness. They just HAVE to have the latest gadget or shoes or cars.It's so fun！And yet, you buy that stuff, and you're only happy for a day or two at most.Instead, learn to love life.Find joy in nature！In the people around you！In doing something you love！In exercise and meditation！There's so much in life to make us happy, there's no need to find it in spending.

一般而言，經濟狀況的改善會促進幸福感的提升。因此，我認為有必要將我個人認為很受用的方法與大家分享。

盡管最近我妻子和我都辭職了，我卻認為我們現在的經濟狀況是有史以來最好的。這大多是你們——我親愛的讀者們的功勞，同時還多虧了我一直以來奉行的“方針”——厲行節(jié)約、杜絕負債、能省則省。

以下是我認為很有用的技巧：

使用現金

在可以使用現金的場合，例如餐廳、加油站以及超市，一定要使用現金而不是刷信用卡或借記卡。使用現金能讓你更加真切地感受自己的消費行為；此外，這也便于你更好地掌握自己的經濟狀況，避免入不敷出的情形出現。

每周轉存點錢

我有一個在“簡易美元”工作的朋友，他叫特倫特。他每周都從開支中留出20美元并存到一個固定的賬戶。受他的啟發(fā)，我決定每周拿出40美元存起來——40美元其實不算多，它完全不影響我的日常生活質量。一年下來，我竟然存下了2000美元——這都是每周轉存40美元的功勞。

待在家里

待在外面會使你花掉很多不必要的錢。去餐館會多花錢，逛商場也會多花錢，就連在加油站你都有可能因為買零食而多花錢。你在外面就避免不了各種各樣的花銷，而留在家里，你不但可以觀看免費的娛樂節(jié)目，還能增進與家人的感情——多棒??！

拒絕宣傳手冊

或宣傳銷售產品的電子郵件。他們對其新奇、酷或促銷產品的宣傳很可能誘使你購買你用不著的東西。因此，從源頭上杜絕這類慫恿你買東西的宣傳信息，能大大減少你的開支。

列個“30天考驗”清單

如果你因為沖動而想買一些不是特需要的東西，那么你先把它放到“30天考驗”清單上。你的錢只能是買生活必需品，其他的都列到清單里，并標注好日期。當30天考驗期一過，你就可以買下它們了——但結果往往是，你早已失去那強烈的購買欲了，這也有利于你更冷靜地做出買或不買的決定。

在家就餐

我知道你肯定會說這比下館子麻煩多了。其實，在家做飯并非那么困難。比起外出就餐，自己做飯不但更經濟實惠，還更加健康營養(yǎng)。

運動

保持強健的體魄等于節(jié)省昂貴的醫(yī)療費。

利用信封理財

這與使用現金是一個道理，只不過你需要用信封為你的開支分類。我的非支票支出分類如下：日常食品、天然氣和其他雜項支出。當這三個信封一空，我就不再亂花錢了。

每周與你的愛人聊聊天

你的愛人是否與你同步是很重要的。建議你們每周開個20分鐘的小會?？傊瑴贤ㄊ顷P鍵。

電子記賬法

購買諸如微軟出品的理財通、財付通及其他類似軟件是很費錢的，但它們處理各類財務信息的功能也的確是不錯的。你甚至可以從你的軟件庫里或網上，找到具有此類功能的免費安裝程序。但問題是，那么多的功能我根本用不著，我所想要的不過是一種易操作的方法，來記錄我資金的流向，不需要花里胡哨，只要能兼具聯網功能就可以了，因為這樣我就能隨時隨地監(jiān)控了。通過實踐，我發(fā)現谷歌文檔和電子表格有我想要的功能。以往需要微軟理財通才能實現的賬戶追蹤，如今僅需要建立一個電子表格就可以了。它能記錄每筆交易的日期、內容和數額，還可以添加備注，以及顯示收支狀態(tài)。一切我想要的功能它都有，我還奢求什么？保持簡單最好。

存錢、還款是第一位的

當你開始支付賬單時（我通常在線完成），請務必確保你把儲蓄轉存和債務還款排在首位。如果你不這么做，而是拖到最后才轉存和還款……那么，你會發(fā)現你沒法完成你的預定存款額或還清欠款。但如果你做的第一步就是轉存和還款，那么你會精打細算以確保留有足夠的錢來支付房租或抵押貸款、水電費、雜貨和燃氣費用……從而自然而然地削減其他不必要的開支。

在家里鍛煉

也許你們中有些人并不認同我的這個觀點，我完全理解——因為每個人都該采取對他自己而言最有用的方式。但對我而言，僅需將鍛煉場所轉移到臨近公路上，外加添置幾件鍛煉器械，我就省下一大筆去健身房的開支。

不看有線電視節(jié)目

我并不是說不看電視——我會看DVD碟，因為我能確定我所播放的都是有意義的東西，而不是電視上常播的那些沒勁的節(jié)目。如果你留心注意的話，你還能在網上發(fā)現各種免費的東西。雖然省不了太多，但是積土成山嘛！

簡化房間

把家里多余的東西都丟掉，你會發(fā)現，不僅生活變得更簡單更安寧了，你也不會再輕易買只會給家里添亂的東西了。一旦你的家變得簡潔明凈，你就會竭力保持它的整潔而避免歷史重演。

贈送與索取

把你不再需要的書籍、衣服和玩具送給你的朋友和家人，而當你需要什么東西時，就發(fā)封郵件詢問誰有。你會發(fā)現，如果他們正好有而且再也用不著的話，他們會免費送你所需要的東西。

一物換一物

這是一項失傳的藝術。也許很多人交換的將是你的服務或商品而不是金錢，特別是你的朋友，或者認識的人。你會發(fā)現，以貨易貨的習慣能為你省一大筆錢。

使用在線儲蓄

我用的是移民公司的在線儲蓄服務，但ING公司（荷蘭在線銀行）的也很受歡迎，此外還有其他很多在線銀行。你不僅可以得到幾乎兩倍于普通銀行存款的利息，還可以避免因一時沖動而亂取錢花——因為如果你不開設ATM（自動提款機）賬戶，取錢就很費勁，那么你就不那么輕易花錢了。

送禮從簡

送禮是我們的優(yōu)良傳統之一，因為它表達了你對他人的慷慨和關愛之情。但隨著送禮商業(yè)化，禮物貴得越來越離譜了。那么，就換種方式吧：嘗試多陪陪他人，這也是一種禮物；或者送給他們你親手烘焙或制作的東西；不然還可以試著提供他們會喜歡的服務。總之，你不需要通過花錢來顯示自己有多么大方。

教育你的孩子，讓他們明白什么是廣告、儲蓄、收入和送禮

如果你有孩子，你要告訴他們，從長遠的角度看，錢能生財。如果他們能看透廣告是如何狡猾地誘使他們買東西的話，他們也許就不太會要求你買（應該是苦苦央求你買）最新流行的玩具。如果他們了解什么是存錢和掙錢，他們就會懂得你掙錢的辛苦和努力存錢的苦心。如果他們明白送禮并不一定要花很多錢，他們就不再只要昂貴的禮物了。

發(fā)現生活中的幸福，而不是通過花錢來營造幸福的幻覺人們之所以買東西，常常是因為他們認為（也許是潛意識認為）這樣能帶給他們幸福。因此，他們不得不購買最新款的小玩意兒、鞋或車——還自認為，這多么有意思?。∑鋵?，即使你買了某樣東西，你最多也就高興上一兩天。實際上，你只需要學會熱愛生活。從大自然中尋找樂趣！通過與身邊的人交往而收獲快樂！去做你熱衷的事來獲得成就感！在健身和冥想中提升幸福感！生活中有如此多值得我們高興的事情，我們沒必要靠花錢來買幸福。

實戰(zhàn)提升

核心單詞

catalog['k?t?l?:g]n.目錄冊，目錄簿

miscellaneous[,misi'leinj?s]adj.混雜的；五花八門的

commercialize[k?'m?:??laiz]v.使商業(yè)化；供應市場

tricky['triki]adj.棘手的；復雜的

財經知識一點通

抵押（collaterlization）

是指債務人或者第三人不轉移對《擔保法》第三十四條所列財產的占有權，而將該財產抵押作為債權的擔保。當債務人不履行債務時，債權人有權依法以抵押財產折價或以拍賣、變賣抵押財產的價款優(yōu)先受償。

翻譯練習

I'm in the best financial shape in my life, despite quitting my job and my wife recently quitting hers too.

When you sit down to pay your bills（I do them all online），make the first bills you pay be your savings transfer and your debt payments.

If you have kids, educating them about money will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Fortune time財富人生