Money is usually one of the biggest things people worry about. Will I have enough money? What happens if my income goes down? How do I finance it if something unexpected happens? Can I afford to change my job? Could I work less?

I have been lucky because money has not been a big source of stress for me for almost twenty years. There are always enough other things to worry about.

Part of the reason is simple: I have had a successful career in consulting and I earn a relatively good salary. Income is important. One good career move can have a much bigger financial impact than spending years trying to save money on small things like coffee. Still, I have not always earned a high salary.

Income is only one part of the story. And the reason is not that I live very cheaply, either.

I live in the center of Helsinki. Aviation is one of my hobbies, but writing is actually even more expensive for me: I work four days a week mostly because I want to have time to write. This means I voluntarily give up about twenty percent of my potential salary. I also have a family, so we live quite a normal everyday life.

What has really helped me is a simple financial system that I have used for a long time.

Money Should Buy Options

I find saving much easier when the money has a purpose. For me, that purpose is freedom.

A decent investment portfolio gives you options that salary alone does not. You can survive a few months between jobs. You can turn down work that does not make sense. You can accept a somewhat lower-paying job if it is otherwise better. And eventually, it may allow you to stop working for a salary before reaching the rather absurdly high official retirement age.

You can also work less if you want. That one is very real for me. Every Friday I could be billing a client instead of writing. Over a year, the financial difference is significant. Still, I consider it money well spent.

The fifth day has allowed me to write books, articles, and short stories and gradually build another career alongside consulting. I am effectively buying time for myself.

This has also changed how I think about purchases. The useful question is rarely just “can I afford this?” With a good salary, the answer is often yes.

A better question is whether I value the purchase more than the other things the same money could eventually make possible.

Most Months Should Be Boring

My investing system is not complicated. Salary comes in. Normal life gets paid for. I keep some cash available. A meaningful part of what remains goes into investments. Then I repeat the same next month.

I do have a long-term financial target: eventually, I want working for money to become optional. I also have a fairly lightweight investment strategy to guide how I get there.

These days, there is very little exotic about the investments themselves. Most of my money is in ordinary listed stocks and ETFs. I am not constantly looking for the next interesting asset class, the latest fashionable momentum stocks, or some investment that requires a sufficiently capable language model just to explain where the return is actually supposed to come from.

I also do not try to reinvent my investment strategy every few months. I just keep doing roughly the same sensible things. The boring repetition is the strategy.

That is surprisingly similar to my work. A good career is rarely built on one brilliant project. You make sensible decisions, deliver what you promised, improve your skills, and repeat the process for years. Personal finances work quite the same way.

Higher Income Only Helps If You Keep Some of It

During my consulting career, my income has increased considerably. I have specialized, taken on more difficult work, changed jobs a few times, become more visible in my field, and gradually increased my market value. That has probably done much more for my finances than any spending optimization.

Of course, it is perfectly natural for spending to increase as income grows. You may want a somewhat nicer home, travel more, eat out more often, or simply make everyday life a little easier. I have done all of these myself.

The problem starts when spending grows almost automatically with income. A slightly nicer apartment becomes a larger one. A better car becomes an even better car. More expensive holidays become the new standard. Restaurants become ordinary instead of occasional. Small upgrades gradually turn into necessities.

I occasionally find myself quietly amused when someone earning more than I do complains about not having enough money. It is a good reminder that income alone does not solve much if spending keeps expanding to absorb it.

The useful part is keeping some distance between income and spending. If your salary increases by 1000 euros, there is nothing wrong with spending some of that increase. But if your monthly spending immediately increases by the full 1000 euros, very little has changed financially.

If part of each increase remains unspent and gets invested for the next ten or twenty years, quite a lot can change.

Spend on Things You Actually Care About

I am not particularly interested in minimizing my spending. I like living where most things are close. I eat lunch out regularly. I travel. I fly. And I deliberately give up consulting income to write. These are expensive choices, but they are also choices I care about.

Still, caring about something should not mean being financially careless about it. Even expensive choices can usually be optimized. Living in the center is costly, but I have never felt the need to buy the most expensive home I could afford. Flying small airplanes is not cheap, but I have found ways to keep the hourly costs at a reasonable level.

At the same time, I am relatively indifferent about many other things. My car is old enough that depreciation is hardly a major concern anymore, although it is of a quality brand and I intend to keep it for a long time. And I honestly cannot remember when I last bought any significant consumer electronics. I also rarely use taxis or home delivery services. I have healthy legs, and quite often walking or cycling works perfectly well.

Clothes are much the same. I do not spend much on them, but I buy things that fit me well and work for the occasion. I have even bought a tailcoat when I needed one, although that one was second-hand. That probably sums up my approach quite well.

I could afford to upgrade many of these things more often. I just do not get enough additional value from doing so. This distinction has been more useful to me than detailed budgeting.

Spend properly on things that genuinely improve your life. Be much less enthusiastic about the rest.

A Buffer Is More Than Emergency Money

I also keep enough cash available. Financially, cash can look inefficient compared with investments. In practice, it buys you time.

That is convenient, if a washing machine breaks. But if you want to leave your job, it becomes much more important.

Many career decisions become easier when the next salary payment is important but not critical. A buffer gives you time to find a better assignment, change jobs, take a break, or simply avoid making a bad decision because you need money immediately. That is one reason I do not try to invest every available euro.

I Mainly Track the Big Numbers

I know people who track almost every euro they spend. They know roughly what they have spent on different things each month, and if they want something extra, they consciously decide what they will spend less on to make room for it.

My approach is less ambitious. I want to know roughly how much I am investing, how the portfolio is developing, how much cash I have, and whether my overall spending still seems reasonable. If these numbers look fine, I see little reason to investigate every invoice or receipt.

Financial administration should solve a problem. I already have enough hobbies.

Eventually, Money Becomes Boring

After following roughly the same system for years, money has become surprisingly uninteresting in everyday life for me.

I still think about larger financial decisions. I follow my investments. Markets go up and down, and some years are more expensive than others. But I do not need to think much about whether I can afford normal life.

More importantly, money already gives me options. I can work four days a week. I can spend money on flying. I can make career decisions based on more than the next salary payment.

Eventually, I would like working for money to become completely optional. On paper, that is a financial goal. In practice, it is just as much a goal about time.

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👨‍💻About the Author

Eetu Niemi is an enterprise architect, consultant, and author.

Follow him elsewhere: Homepage | LinkedIn | Substack (enterprise architecture ) | Medium (writing) | Homepage (FI)

Web resources: Enterprise Architecture Info Package (FI)

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Money Should Be Boring