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My Two Cents<\/a><\/p>\n \n Personal-finance columnist Charlotte Cowles asks the nosy, revealing, sometimes uncomfortable questions about money so you don\u2019t have to.\n <\/p>\n \n Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images\n <\/p>\n If rogue AI agents wipe out humanity<\/a> in the next decade, who cares what\u2019s in your 401(k)? If your job won\u2019t exist in five years<\/a>, does it matter if you get a promotion now? Why try to plan for a future that\u2019s increasingly governed by reckless billionaires<\/a> and other forces beyond our control? \u201cIt seems like we\u2019re five seconds away from an apocalypse, and I\u2019m over here investing in my Roth IRA,\u201d says Melissa Jean-Baptiste, a financial educator and author of So \u2026 This Is Why I\u2019m Broke<\/a>. \u201cSometimes I\u2019m like, What\u2019s the point?\u201d<\/p>\n Conventional financial advice involves making sacrifices now so that your future self will benefit. But that premise starts to break down<\/a> in the face of precarity, when it\u2019s less clear if those trade-offs will ever be worth it. Here we are, shuffling dollars between accounts, gritting our teeth at skyrocketing gas prices<\/a>, and all for what \u2014\u00a0a financial future that, according to a recent Gallup poll<\/a>, the majority of Americans believe is getting worse? No wonder financial nihilism<\/a> is<\/a> spreading<\/a>: \u201cI can\u2019t afford to buy a house, so why don\u2019t I just be gorgeous?\u201d posited a viral piece<\/a> in Bustle last year about millennials who\u2019ve given up on homeownership and are spending their money on Botox instead.<\/p>\n This cynicism can be contagious, says Hanna Horvath, a certified financial planner<\/a> and writer of the personal-finance newsletter Your Brain on Money<\/a>. \u201cMy social-media feed is so doomerous about the economy,\u201d she observes. \u201cThere\u2019s a crisis every other day. It\u2019s hard not to fall into a panic spiral.\u201d But it\u2019s also clear to her that doing nothing \u2014 surrendering to the bad vibes, if you will \u2014 could easily turn our fears into a self-fulfilling prophecy. \u201cFor most of us, the future is probably going to arrive,\u201d she says. \u201cDon\u2019t you want to give yourself the option of having more choices when it does?\u201d<\/p>\n Even in a hypothetical worst-case-scenario, it\u2019s likely that money might come in handy. \u201cLet\u2019s take the nihilism on its face,\u201d writes financial reporter Alicia Adamczyk in a recent essay, \u201cSaving for the Future at the End of the World<\/a>.\u201d \u201cWeather events will be more extreme, AI may lead to widespread job loss, and our political leaders will continue to leave us to fend for ourselves. From that perspective, it is unlikely you will be better off having less money set aside. Having savings may save your life.\u201d But if you\u2019re scrambling already, what does preparing yourself even look like? Here, financial experts share how they\u2019re bracing for the worst, just in case \u2014 and what you can do too.<\/p>\n Instead of freaking out whenever you check your bank account (or the news), set a specific date to do so in the future. \u201cI will literally block out time to worry about my money,\u201d\u00a0Horvath says. \u201cI have a standing 30-minute appointment on my calendar, typically every few weeks. Whenever I get stressed about something, I\u2019ll write it in the calendar notes.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, when the appointment arrives, she reviews what she\u2019s written and makes a plan for how to deal with it \u2014\u00a0or let it go. \u201cNinety percent of the time, I\u2019m not worried about that thing anymore, and I don\u2019t even remember why I was worried about it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it helps me close the loop.\u201d<\/p>\n These appointments also give her time to come up with contingency plans. \u201cI\u2019ve done a mini run-through of what I would do if, hypothetically, I lost my job<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s basically a checklist<\/a>,\u201d she adds. \u201cKnowing that I have steps to follow is enormously calming.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, writing down your financial anxieties can help you figure out what exactly is driving them. \u201cDid you read a scary headline? Did you see that your friend just bought a house, and then it made you feel jealous? What was the trigger?\u201d asks Horvath. \u201cIs it the fear of falling behind your friends<\/a>? Is it the fear of losing everything<\/a>?\u201d Those fears are valid, but identifying what pushes your buttons will help keep your anxiety from getting out of hand.<\/p>\n The advice to \u201csave more\u201d can be deeply annoying, especially when many people aren\u2019t in a position to do so. Still, taking stock of your spending is always a good idea. \u201cGetting clear on your own cashflow is the first step in understanding where your money is going and feeling more in control of it, even if things are very tight,\u201d Horvath says.<\/p>\n Fixed expenses are tough to reduce;\u00a0most people can\u2019t just move to a cheaper home or cut their health-care costs tomorrow. But researching your options to potentially do so in the future \u2014\u00a0say, when your lease ends, or when open enrollment begins \u2014 is a good thought exercise. \u201cLowering your overhead costs will give you a lot more freedom with your money. It\u2019s one of the biggest levers you can pull,\u201d Horvath says.<\/p>\n Keeping her rent as low as possible is how Adamczyk, currently a writer for the Purse<\/a>, managed to save up a healthy emergency fund over the past decade. \u201cI\u2019ve lived in some apartments that were really not nice,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not for everybody. But ultimately, it was worth it for me to be able to save money that gave me more freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n The internet is awash with books and programs and influencers who claim that you can save money fast and easily, without feeling deprived or jealous or grumpy about it. But for most of us, that\u2019s just not realistic, and we might as well get used to it. \u201cAll the things you\u2019re supposed to do\u00a0\u2014 saving money, having an emergency fund \u2014 it\u2019s hard,\u201d Adamczyk says. \u201cIt just is. It has always been hard, and it\u2019s always going to be hard.\u201d<\/p>\n It also takes patience. \u201cIt took me 12 years to get to a place with my own money where I feel fine,\u201d she says. \u201cCould I have done a better job along the way? Sure, I probably could have spent less. But now I am at a place where I am okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Creating a consistent, doable habit, like setting aside a certain amount each week or month, is key \u2014\u00a0even when it feels like it\u2019s not enough. \u201cI can\u2019t control AI or the war in Iran or interest rates, and those things stress me out,\u201d Adamczyk continues. \u201cSo what can I do? I can set up a $50-a-month deposit from my checking account into my savings account.\u201d It\u2019s not a ton of money, she says, but whenever she can, she transfers extra. \u201cAnd it\u2019s added up over time. Now, looking at that number does make me feel better. Like, Okay, I did this. I have this.\u201d<\/p>\n Jean-Baptiste is also keeping her budget tight these days, and, while she doesn\u2019t enjoy it, she tries to stay positive. \u201cI know it\u2019s a privilege to be able to spend less,\u201d she says. \u201cSome people literally can\u2019t. I can\u2019t go get my nails done every four weeks, and I hate that for me. But I know I\u2019m lucky to have things I can cut.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not keeping thousands of dollars under my mattress,\u201d Jean-Baptiste says. \u201cBut I do keep a good amount of cash on hand, at home, just in case of emergency \u2014 if the power goes out, I can\u2019t get to a bank, can\u2019t get gas, can\u2019t get money out of the ATM. It\u2019s enough to keep us afloat for a few days if something really bad happens.\u201d<\/p>\n She also uses a few different investment accounts and banks. \u201cWe don\u2019t keep everything in one place,\u201d she says. \u201cThe idea is that if one bank or one brokerage goes down, we can access our money someplace else.\u201d She admits this line of thinking borders on paranoia, but it helps her sleep at night. \u201cI think that spreading your eggs among several baskets, across the financial spectrum, is a smart thing to do in general.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s isolating and scary to feel unprepared for the future. But remember, you don\u2019t have to do it alone. \u201cOne of the most practical ways to help yourself is to build community,\u201d Horvath says. \u201cThat support can be direct, through local mutual-aid organizations, or it can be more indirect.\u201d Set up a carpool, join a co-op, launch a meal train, organize a clothing swap (or local buy-nothing group), arrange a rotating child-care situation \u2014 all are good examples.<\/p>\n Jean-Baptiste knows someone who recently started a neighborhood potluck to help feed people who\u2019d lost their jobs. \u201cIt became a fun activity, instead of something that people might feel awkward or embarrassed about,\u201d she says. She also recently set up an informal bartering system: She helped several of her neighbors set up a Roth IRA for the first time, and they repaid her by giving her supplies at their community garden. \u201cThe barter system can be surprisingly beneficial, both mentally and financially.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo say that a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance is required to keep on trucking day to day is perhaps an understatement,\u201d writes Adamczyk. It takes a certain level of denial to put down your phone, load the dishwasher, read your toddler Harold and the Purple Crayon, and go to bed, but there comes a point where you have to accept that you\u2019ve done what you can with the resources you have.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you get to a place where you decide, This is good enough? You\u2019re taking steps toward where you want to go, and you\u2019re not going to spend any more mental energy thinking about it for now?\u201d asks Horvath. \u201cI tell myself that I have a plan and it\u2019s going to work in some capacity. But it\u2019s never going to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Email your money conundrums to\u00a0mytwocents@nymag.com<\/a> (and read our submission terms here<\/a>).<\/p>\n More From This Column<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My Two Cents Personal-finance columnist Charlotte Cowles asks the nosy, revealing, sometimes uncomfortable questions about money so you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[3005,3054,28,2066,57474,147,530,5568],"class_list":["post-868843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advice","tag-budgeting","tag-business","tag-money","tag-my-two-cents","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}