Inside my own money plan

The lazy guide to doing well with your cash

Welcome to Frances Cook's Money Memo, where you stay up to date with the latest tips to keep your cash under control.

Hey team,

It’s funny being someone who talks about money for a living, because there are two conversations that come up quite often.

One, is that people are super keen to know how I handle my own cash, but often nervous to ask.

Two, is that once they do ask, they’re often expecting perfectly optimised perfection.

Some kind of Excel masterpiece, perfectly colour-coded, every dollar accounted for, with charts that would make a bank manager blush.

I love people who can do those types of things.

I am not one of them.

Look, my first book was called “Tales from a Financial Hot Mess”. It was well named! And I am still the same person!

So if you’re someone like me, can we still get ahead financially without having a personality transplant?

Absolutely yes.

My money plan is held together with automation, laziness, and the knowledge that if I have to think about it too much, it won’t get done.

And frankly, it’s going pretty great.

I’m not saying that to brag, I’m saying that because sometimes, we need someone else to show us the way it can be done.

No problem. Let’s jump into my own money plan.

(Quick reminder that this is not financial advice, it’s just telling you what’s worked for me, and your own situation may need different strategies.)

Everyday spending

Rather than trying to remember where everything is going, I set up a bunch of bank accounts, and each one has its own job.

Everyday spending. Emergency fund. Vet bills. Birthday presents.

They’re all separate so I can see at a glance what’s safe to spend, and what’s already spoken for. No mental gymnastics required.

That’s also how I budget. I don’t track every coffee, I just make sure the right amounts are flowing into the right accounts automatically.

If there’s money left in the “fun” account, I can go out for dinner without guilt. If there’s not, I stay home and make pasta. That’s it.

To make sure this money mentality hack doesn’t cost me anything, most of these accounts are online-only access, which also means they’re zero fee.

I’m hot on fees, as in, getting those suckers OUT of my life. They add up more than you expect, often don’t get you anything extra, and are one of the few things you can control in the money world.

I don’t pay a fee if I don’t have to, and if I do have to, it’s as low as possible.

Lazy girl investing

Then there’s my investing, which is the definition of “set and forget.”

Every week, an automatic payment goes straight into my investing account.

Personally, I love a global index fund, so that’s what it goes into.

(If that means nothing to you, join my Market Memo newsletter, where I teach you the easy ways to invest.)

My money is automatically going into different countries, different industries, different companies, and getting all the benefits of being so well spread around.

I don’t have to log in, check prices, or convince myself I can beat what everyone else is doing.

The money just goes in, gets to work, and starts making me money, while I continue on with my very busy life.

I run my own business, I have a four-year-old and an 18-month-old and I don’t want to miss a second of their childhood, a husband I should probably pay attention to occasionally, and friends that I try not to totally ignore.

That’s a full plate! I’m not adding researching stocks into that mix!

How does it compare?

Meanwhile, my husband does like to have a mix of index funds, and then some individual companies that he believes in.

Some have done great. Others have not.

And between the two of us… I’m winning.

My lazy, chuck-it-into-an-index-fund-and-get-back-into-life strategy, is absolutely smashing his.

It really annoys him, and frankly, I love that.

Of course, like a good wife, I make sure not to be too smug about it.

Just kidding - I’m very smug about it.

Anyway, I dive into this in more depth, as well as answering all the questions you’ve sent me recently, on the latest Making Cents podcast.

Easy ways to stay on budget, what does financial freedom look like for normal people, and can you rebuild after hitting reset on your life in your 30s?

It’s all in the latest episode, so tune in!

Look rich, feel broke?

Ok, heads up, this week’s Ask the Experts is probably going to wind people up a little.

Our listener has no mortgage, two multimillion-dollar homes, a healthy share portfolio… and is still stressed to the eyeballs about money.

On paper, they’re “living the dream.” In reality, the dream’s feeling more like a trap.

They’re earning $6,000 a month, spending $10,000, and watching their savings drain faster than they can refill it.

Sure, it’s a problem plenty of people would love to have, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Many people are struggling with their own version of this. Maybe not multimillion-dollar homes, but that creeping sense that the lifestyle you’ve built is costing more than you can comfortably afford.

And most of us don’t talk about it, because it feels embarrassing to admit you’re drowning in something that looks good from the outside.

So we’re digging into this, and what options are available, this Thursday.

Katie Wesney from EnableMe is in the hot seat, and as ever, she’s ready to drop some Truth Bombs.

Make sure you’re subscribed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, to get it in your ears first thing.

And if you have your own money question, email it to me. ask@francescook.co.nz

Until next time.

- Frances

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