Being Citybroke is about perspective. It’s about seeing glitter in the gutter and a sense of humor when life is giving you everything you don’t exactly want and you’re hanging on for a dream that you sometimes can’t remember.
It’s not sales or survival - it’s an electronic letter from the trenches. It’s what suits who make $60K in at age 24 can’t even imagine. It’s Freedom. It’s Poverty. It’s Broken. It’s Beautiful.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Useful Financial Planning Website?

feedthepig.com is sponsored the the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and The Ad Council. It's supposed to give tools to young broke folks so that they can one day understand how money operates. Lessons on credit, savings, budgets etc.
Getting started, I check out its recommended sister site: 360financialliteracy.org. It has a wheel of lifestages that a clueless consumer can click on to learn about what they should already know at their age and circumstance. I just got referred here by feedthepig and the closest thing I can find to where I am at is "career," "entreprenuer" or "life crisis." -Okay pig, you know I exist. Where's the one for a check-to-check twenty-something?
So I check out "careers." None of the links worked. Disappointing. I'm calling these guys. I did. We'll be in touch. Nice lady.
Back to business. I was able to get "Establishing a Financial Safety Net Started" to wake up finally. It begins with a good question: "How much is enough?" Their answer: 3-6 months of living expenses should be tucked away for a rainy day.
Hmm...If your paycheck is tiny, the bad news is that your incoming $ probably matches your outgoing $. Therefore, saving is tough. The good news is that used are used to be poor so your "living expenses" are fixed and low.
I did the math and after subtracting what I pay to work 9-5 (clothes, subway etc) I need about 9 grand to get by for 6 months. See - I'm broke so you could sponsor me and I'd cost about the same as a UNICEF kid. Bonus.
I'm awaiting Feedthepig's reply, but I will keep you posted about more useful article and tools.

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