Latest / The Money Clarity Podcast / 7: Pennies Might Be Dead, But Tracking Isn't!

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7: Pennies Might Be Dead, But Tracking Isn't! · The Money Clarity Podcast

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  i have a short episode for you today.
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  maybe just a few pennies for my thoughts,
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  if you will. it was the end of an era
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  here in the united states recently.
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  the end of the penny era, that is.
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  the last penny was recently minted at the philadelphia mint.
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  if you are not in the states, this may not seem like a big deal
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  to you because i know you haven't had 1¢ coins in decades.
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  or a lot of countries haven't had 1¢ coins in decades.
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  but for some reason, here in the states,
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  we have been hanging on to them. i actually remember when i was
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  traveling in australia and new zealand,
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  oh my, over a decade ago, and there were no pennies.
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  even then, i wondered, why do we still have pennies in the us?
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  transactions were always rounded to the nearest 5¢ if you paid in
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  cash. and honestly, it was so much simpler.
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  not having to carry all of those 1¢ coins around.
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  though, those countries do also have 1 and $2 coins instead,
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  which were hefty, but i also loved them.
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  so i guess there is that trade off.
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  anyway, i talk about picking up a penny in the parking lot all the
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  time, and i'm always telling you to budget down to the penny.
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  so how does this lack of physical pennies affect how we budget
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  today? drum roll. honestly, it has absolutely no
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  relevance. and here's why. it is still incredibly
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  important to budget down to the penny,
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  but it is so easy to do so when you are using my favorite
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  budgeting tool, ynab. think about it this way.
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  one of the biggest obstacles i see my clients face is this thing
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  called mental accounting. right? that is where you're looking at
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  your checking account balance and thinking,
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  oh, i have plenty of money to buy that shirt right now.
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  but then a day or two later, whoops,
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  you realize you forgot about a bill and now you're officially
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  stressed out out because you've already spent that money.
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  this is where the power of tracking to the penny comes in.
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  whether or not that penny is sitting in your wallet.
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  this is really all about intentionality and awareness so
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  that you can get the clarity you are looking for.
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  if we are looking at this in terms of ynab,
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  tracking to the penny is really just following ynab's first rule.
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  give every dollar a job. we assign every single dollar,
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  yes, and every single cent, a purpose,
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  which helps us see exactly where our money is going and make
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  intentional choices. i will go ahead and link to a blog post of
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  mine that talks about all four of ynab's original rules.
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  they have since shifted to questions to ask yourself,
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  which feels a little cozier than rules.
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  right? anyway, so if you track a purchase
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  that's $14.99, for example, you are being
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  specific. you are being intentional.
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  you are looking at the exact number you need to assign to your
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  clothing category or your entertainment category.
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  by being accurate, you are eliminating that financial stress
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  and gaining financial clarity. and
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  honestly, the amount of purchases i make in cash these days is so
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  close to zero and that is simply because it's so much easier to
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  track in ynab when the transaction gets imported
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  directly from a card. but, you know,
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  because i'm one of those budget nerds that wants to know where
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  every single last penny is spent, it makes it easy.
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  the software handles all of those pennies for you.
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  so you don't even have to worry about rounding errors or carrying
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  physical change. you just approve the transaction and it's done.
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  right down to the last cent. so does this mean i will
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  not be picking up a penny if i see it in the parking lot?
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  heck no. absolutely not. it might be even more relevant
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  to pick up that penny now. i hear they might be good collector's
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  items now. look at it this way. every single cent
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  is a reminder that we are being intentional.
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  we are choosing where to spend or save our money.
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  it's a reminder that that penny is helping you make progress
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  towards your biggest wildest dreams because,
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  remember, those dreams are what money should be a tool for rather
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  than an obstacle. so go forth and budget to the
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  penny, my friends. and if you want a step by step guide to
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  setting up and mastering your own ynab,
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  check out my course, ynab made easy.
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  you'll find that link in the show notes.
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  until next time, keep creating that positive relationship with
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  your money. because remember, your biggest wildest dreams
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  are within reach. let's go make some money moves so that you too
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  can start to experience financial freedom.