金泰琳:如何结束月光族生活

几年来，我经历了艰难的金融海啸。我越来越负债累累了，有些账单还不了款（那些账单随后就到了收款人的手里），甚至在发薪日，我也是入不敷出。我花了一段时间反思，并认识到这种情况是我自己造成的，由于我自己的选择和理财习惯，而且这种习惯是有能够改变的。

Today, things have gotten better, although I’m not out of the red yet. I have begun saving, I’ve paid off several small debts and am well on my way to paying off my credit card (which I’ve canceled), and hope to pay off my car by the end of the year. I plan to be debt free in a little over a year, with good prospects after that. I’m also planning for retirement, a little travel, and a simple house. My finances are much better off today than they were just a year and a half ago.

现在，尽管我还没有摆脱财政赤字，但情况已有所好转。我开始存钱，偿还了几笔小的债务并且正在还我信用卡（已经注销的）里的欠款，希望能在今年年底付清我汽车的钱。我计划利用一年多一点的时间来还清我所有的欠款，然后过上无债一身轻的生活。此外，我还打算退休，举行一次小旅行，买一处简单的房子。我的财务状况已经比一年半前好了很多。

Kiplinger magazine just posted a good article entitled, “Stop Living From Paycheck to Paycheck” and I’d like to share my thoughts on the subject as well. Some of my advice will be similar to Kiplinger, but mine is more practical, I think. I’ve been there, and I am living this advice.

《Kiplinger》杂志刚发表一篇好文章，题为“停止月光族的生活“，我想分享关于这个问题我的一些想法。我的一些意见可能与杂志的观点相似，但我想我的更实用。因为我是过来人，正在一步步实践这种方法。

First things first

首先

Kiplingers recommends starting by tracking all of your spending on a daily basis, which is a typical recommendation from financial advisors and blogs, and is good advice. But mine is attempting to be practical — I’ve been there, in the trenches, and I know that keeping track of daily spending can be difficult. I advise you to do it, but if you don’t, for whatever reason, don’t let that stop you from fixing your finances.

《Kiplingers》杂志有个很好的建议就是详细列出日常开销，这是一个典型的财务顾问或财务博客式的建议。但我的方法也许更实用，我曾经也是众多债台高筑者中的一份子，我知道要坚持跟踪日常开销是多么困难的一件事。但是我劝你（按照杂志建议的）去做，不管出于什么原因，不要让这些阻止你改善你的财务状况。

My recommendation is that, whether or not you track your spending (and you should), at least do the following:

我的建议是，不管你是否打算列出你的日常开销（往往你又不得不做），至少要做到以下几点：

Stop the bleeding. Stop using your credit and debit cards immediately. Cut them up, or put them in the freezer in a ziploc bag filled with water, effectively freezing your cards. Also stop taking other loans, either from banks or finance companies or friends or family. Stop getting into more debt. 

1.停止借贷。马上停止使用信用卡和借记卡，把它们切碎或者放在装满水的保鲜袋里，让它们见鬼去吧。停止一切借贷，无论是从银行、财务公司、朋友或家人。停止获取到更多的债务。

Start saving now! The next most important step you can take, in the beginning, is to start a small savings account if you haven’t already. Begin depositing into it regularly, at least $100 per paycheck but more if you can. If you can’t find $100 then see the next step for how. Make it an automatic deposit, the first bill you pay each payday, because it is the most important! A savings account will help you smooth out your finances — when an emergency comes up, like your car breaking down or someone having to go to the hospital, you won’t be thrown back into debtedness or brokedness. You will have some cash to pay for that emergency, and you can use your regular paycheck for regular expenses. 

2.从现在开始储蓄 ！接下来最重要的事就是储蓄，如果你以前没有一点存款的习惯，那就从这一小笔存款开始。定期在发薪水的时候存入100美元，如果可能越多越好。可是如果你一百块钱也存不下来怎么办呢？那就开一个自动转存账户，这样你每次发薪水的第一笔支出就是存入固定的存款到这个账户中，因为它是最重要的。一个储蓄账户能够帮你理顺你的财务状况，这样当你出现紧急情况需要用钱时，譬如你的座驾罢工、有亲人或朋友不得不去医院，你就不会又回到债台高筑甚至破产的处境了。你可以预留一些现金应急，并且日常开支的话，（剩余的）工资足够应付了。

Look at discretionary spending. If you can’t find $100-200 to save per paycheck, then you need to cut some things from your spending. This is where tracking your spending comes in handy, but even if you don’t, you know some of the extras you spend on — cigarettes, coffee, snacks, candy, desserts, eating out, magazines, shopping for clothes or gadgets or toys or shoes, books, going out … these are just a few of the examples. I’m not saying you need to cut everything out, but if you can cut a few of them, or maybe just one at a time, that can add up. Then, take the money you didn’t spend on those discretionary items, and put that amount into savings each payday. Increase this over time. (See How I Save Money.) 

3.审查日常开支。如果你实在不能在发薪水的时候存下100~200美元的话，那你就需要削减一些你不必要的日常开支洛。列出日常开销的好处在这里就体现的淋漓尽致了，但是即使你不那么做，我们也能够知道你的额外消费在哪里，例如香烟、咖啡、小吃、糖果、点心、外出就餐、杂志、买衣服、鞋子、书籍、旅游……这里列出的只是很小的一部分，我不是说要你把所有这些都削减掉，但如果你能削减其中的一些，或者只是一次一个，那用于储蓄的那部分钱就增加了。然后，把这些增加的钱在发薪水的时候一并存入，积少成多。

Start a debt snowball to begin getting out of debt. If you haven’t read about debt snowballs, they’re simple. List out your debts and arrange them in order from smallest balance at the top to largest at the bottom. Then focus on the debt at the top, putting as much as you can into it, even if it’s just $40-50 extra (more would be better). When that amount is paid off, celebrate! Then take the total amount you were paying (say $70 minimum payment plus the $50 extra for a total of $120) and add that to the minimum payment of the next largest debt. Continue this process, with your extra amount snowballing as you go along, until you pay off all your debts. This could take several years, but it’s a very rewarding process, and very necessary. 

4.启动债务雪球计划来摆脱债务危机。也许你对债务雪球的概念还不太了解，其实很简单，按照金额大小，从少到多依次列出你的账单。把你的主要精力都放在最上面一张账单上，尽可能多的把你多余的钱投入其中，即使它仅仅只是额外的四五十美元（当然用于还债的钱越多越好）。当你还清一笔债务的时候，小小的庆祝一下。然后计算一下你还债的总额（比如计划最少每次还70美元加上50美元额外的还款总共是120美元），并且把它（假设是120美元）作为你下一笔债务的最低还款数。以此类推，每次加上你的额外还款数，像滚雪球一样，直到换完所有的债务。这可能要花好几年时间，但是这是非常值得尝试的方法，也是非常必要的。

Now that you’re out of the ER

现在你已经告别了债台高筑的日子了。

Those are the first, emergency steps to take. While you’re doing those steps, start on these:

这些都是首要的，很必要的步骤，当你开始做这些的时候，有些准备工作需要去做：

Make a budget. I know, it’s a dreaded word for most of us. But it’s not that hard, and if you set it up right, it’s fairly simple. I recommend using a simple spreadsheet. List all your regular expenses (rent, car, utilities, internet, etc.) and their amounts, and then your variable expenses (groceries, gas, eating out, etc.), and then your irregular expenses (things like car maintenance or medical that might not come up every month, but break them into estimated monthly expenses — if you spend $600 a year on car maintenance, budget a $50 monthly expense). Now match that up against your income. The expenses should be less. 

1.做好预算。我知道对我们大多数人来说，这是个令人恐惧的词。但是它真不像我们想像的那么艰难，如果你安排恰当的话，它是相当简单的。我建议用一个简单的电子表格，列出你的一些日常开支项目（比如房租、汽车、水、电、煤气和垃圾处理等费用、网费等等）和具体的金额，然后是一些可变支出(比如日常食品、外出就餐等)，最后是一些偶然支出（例如汽车维修费、医疗费等不适每个月都有，但是把它们平摊到每个月的开销里------如果你一年在汽车维护上花费是600美元，那每个月预算就是50元）。现在如果你发现你已经入不敷出了，那有些消费就必须被削减掉。

Automate your bills. As much as possible, try to get your bills to be paid through automatic deduction. For those that can’t, use your bank’s online check system to make regular automatic payments. This way, all of your regular expenses in your budget are taken care of. Make sure that your savings is done the same way – automatic deduction. 

2.自动化账单。尽可能的通过自动扣除支付你的账单。对那些无法自动扣除的，通过你的网上银行，自动定期转账。这样，你预算中作为日常开支的部分就有所保证。确保你预计作为储蓄的部分也按照这样----自动扣除。

Save for your irregular expenses. Some call it a Freedom Account, but the key to ensuring that you have smooth finances and that you stick to your budget is to take into account all your irregular expenses, such as insurance, car maintenance or repairs, gifts (think Christmas!), medical and other such things. List them out, estimate your annual spending, and begin saving for them each month. Again, if you spend $600 on car repairs, budget $50 a month for that expense, and put that amount in savings. You could set up different accounts for each expense in an online bank such as ING or Emigrant, or put it all in one account and use Money or Quicken or a spreadsheet to keep track of each. Then, and here’s the key, when these expenses come up, use that money for those expenses! That way, you can use your regular budget for the stuff it’s meant for, not for these “unexpected” expenses. 

3.节省你不合理的消费。有人称之为自由账户，但是确保这项的关键是拥有灵活的财务状况并且要坚持按照预算把这些不合理的消费重新审查一次，像保险费、汽车保养和维护、礼品、医疗等等。详细列出它们，估计出你一年的花费，然后分摊到每个月。例如，你一年花费600美元修车，每个月的预算就是50美元，然后把这笔前存起来。你可以为每项支出建立不同的账户，在荷兰国际集团或移民银行，或者放在一个账户里边并做好记录。另外，关键是一点，当这些钱存起来以后，只用在它计划被用的地方。这样，就可以物有所用了，而你也避免了面临拆东墙补西墙的尴尬。

Use the envelope system for your variable expenses such as food and gas. This is optional, but it’s a good tip. I’ve been using it myself, and it works like a charm. Let’s say you set aside three amounts in your budget each payday — one for gas, one for groceries, one for eating out. Withdraw those amounts on payday, and put them in three separate envelopes. That way, you can easily track how much you have left for each of these expenses, and when you run out of money, you know it immediately. You don’t overspend in these categories. If you regularly run out too fast, you may need to rethink your budget. 

4.对于像食品和汽油这类可变的开支，可以使用信封系统。这不是强制的，但的确是个好方法。我正在使用并且效果出奇的好。假如你预计在发工资的时候留出了三笔钱-----一份支付汽油消费，一份用来购买食品，一份作为外出就餐的开支。在发薪水的时候把这份钱留出来，并分成三份分别放在三个信封里。这样，你能够很轻松的知道你在这三项里的开支是多少。当这些钱要用完时，你马上就知道了。在这些项目上你不会再超支了。如果你还是很快就超支了，那你就需要重新考虑你的预算了。

Start thinking about your goals, and planning for them. When do you want to retire? How often do you want to travel? When do you want to buy that dream house? Do you want to save for your kids’ college education? Think about what you want in life, and start planning to save for them, especially once you’ve done all the above. 

开始考虑自己的人生目标，并为之规划。例如，打算什么时候退休？多久旅行一次？什么时候买你梦寐以求的房子？是否打算为孩子存下上大学的教育经费？一旦你完成了上面那些，想想你在生活中还想要什么，并开始计划为这些做些储蓄。

Once you’ve gotten beyond these steps, you should be past the paycheck-to-paycheck syndrome. Now there’s a whole world of personal finance options available to you, including investing your money for your goals. But getting past these first stages is important.

完成这些步骤，月光族生活对你来说就永远成为了历史。以上这些就是我为你做的有效的个人财务建议，包括怎样为你的目标去存钱。但是开始做才是最重要的。