Di first year wey di money genuinely comfortable, e notice am for small small ways. Car payment stop to be big event. Going out to chop no longer need calculation for parking lot. So e decide say make e start to give properly, e open spreadsheet, e look am for twenty minutes, den e close am back, because e no sabi which number no go shame am.
Dat na good problem to get and plenty people get am. Almost nobody dey learn method for dis area. Tithing dey, na specific answer from specific tradition. Effective altruism arithmetic dey, e dey serious well well and e fit make person wey wan give for di first time feel say e need research degree before e go send fifty dollars. For di middle, plenty capable people dey wey for dey give on schedule if person just show dem sensible way to pick di number.
Na dis be one way to pick am. E dey take like ten minutes, and na once you go do am.
Wetin giving on percentage really dey do for you?
E dey change wetin your income mean before e change any oda thing. Money wey dey comot automatically, for fixed proportion, dey stop to be scoreboard wey you dey try beat and e dey start to be supply wey get work attached to am.
Dat change na di part wey nobody dey write about, and e worth pass all di arithmetic wey dey under am. Person wey still dey gather money towards one feeling no dey ever sabi when di number don correct, because di feeling dey move every time wey di number move. Person wey don already decide wetin one slice of am dey for don answer di question before time. Dem dey read account balance differently, dem dey negotiate with more calm because di number no dey carry dia self-worth enter di room, and dem fit wait out bad offer without di waiting go feel like judgement.
Di research on giving dey point for friendly direction without promising you anything. Dunn, Aknin and Norton find, across survey, longitudinal and experimental work, say spending money on oda people predict more happiness pass spending di same money on yoursef. Dat na finding about averages, no be guarantee about your own Tuesday, and dis article no go tell you wetin go come back to you. Wetin e go talk na say percentage wey you decide before time dey remove one recurring argument from your year, and dat one alone worth di ten minutes.
Which percentage I suppose pick?
Pick number wey you no go renegotiate for bad month. For most people wey dey start dis thing, dat one dey land somewhere between one and five percent of gross income, and di correct answer na di biggest figure wey you genuinely confident say you no go switch am off come December.
Small mechanics dey wey dey make am stick.
Percentage, no be amount. Amount go need review every time your income change, wey mean say e go quietly turn decision again. Percentage dey scale with you automatically, so good year go raise am without any meeting.
Gross or net, pick one and write am down. No moral answer dey here. Na only di version wey you go still fit talk correctly for eighteen months time.
No pick number wey need good year. Di whole point of dis exercise na say e go survive flat quarter. Figure wey dey only work when things dey go well no be percentage, na mood.
No moral number dey. Anybody wey tell you otherwise dey sell framework. Na only workable number dey, and workable mean say e go hold for January and e go hold for month wey client pay late.
When I suppose start, and one percent too small to count?
Start now, with whatever percentage go survive bad month. One percent wey start dis year beta pass ten percent wey go start when you feel ready. Di habit na di hard part here, di arithmetic never be di hard part.
Waiting get one particular way wey e dey fail. Di threshold dey move. For thirty, di plan na to start once di salary pass one number, for forty na once di mortgage don small, for fifty na once di pikin dem don finish school, and each one of dem reasonable well well if you look am alone. But together, dem be life where di giving dey always one milestone away. Di person wey start with one percent for twenty-eight go don run di practice for twenty years by dat time, and e go easy am to raise am, because raising something wey already dey na smaller decision pass starting from zero.
Add one escalation rule while you dey here. When your income go up, move di percentage by half a point. You no go feel half a point on top of raise, and di practice go dey grow for di speed of your career instead of waiting for mood.
How I go set am up so willpower no go enter?
Automate am for date wey you no dey ever look, den stop to dey decide. Standing monthly transfer di day after payday dey remove di choice completely, and na di only reliable way to keep something running through one wicked quarter.
Di evidence for defaults strong unusually. Madrian and Shea study of 401(k) participation find say flipping enrollment from opt-in to automatic change behaviour dramatically without changing even one economic feature of di plan, and say people largely stay wherever di default put dem. Inertia na di most powerful force for personal finance. Point am towards something wey you choose on purpose and e go work for you all year.
Three rules dey make di automation honest. Set am monthly instead of yearly, because twelve small transfers no dey visible while one December transfer na negotiation. Review am once a year, for di same hour wey you dey review everything else, and na only den. And no renegotiate am for middle of year even for good month, because percentage wey dey go up on excitement na percentage wey go come down on anxiety.
Wetin if I never get di money?
Den give di skill wey dem dey pay you for, no be only your hours. One afternoon of di thing wey you genuinely sabi worth more to small organisation pass di same afternoon wey you bill and donate, and e dey available years before di money dey available.
Dis na di part wey people dey skip, and na di part wey dey make di whole practice available to person wey still dey climb. Four of di most valuable things wey you fit give person dis month no cost anything at all. Talk person name inside room wey dem no dey, wey be sponsoring and no be di same as advice. Praise one specific thing for public, in front of people wey dia opinion matter to di person. Do di introduction wey you for keep to yoursef. Teach di thing wey you sabi, and na also di fastest way to find out which part of am you dey form.
Di evidence on volunteering dey encouraging and e worth to talk am carefully. One systematic review for BMC Public Health find say volunteers show better outcomes on depression, life satisfaction and wellbeing, plus lower mortality risk for di pooled analysis, but di authors make am clear say dem never settle di causal mechanism. So do am because e cheap and useful, and because na di version of dis practice wey you fit start today, no be because person promise you return.
Pick di number today, no be for December
Write di number down before di good feeling comot. No be di receiver, dat one na your own business no be dis article own, and no be pledge, because pledge na promise wey get audience. Na just di percentage, whether na gross or net, and di date wey di transfer go run.
Den go back to work. Percentage wey you set no be tax on ambition and e no be argument for smaller career. Na di opposite: na wetin dey stop di next ten years of hard, well paid work from being about scoreboard, and person wey no dey manage scoreboard dey ask for more, dey wait longer, and dey still inside di game when di big numbers finally show.
Sources
- Science, Spending money on others promotes happiness
- National Bureau of Economic Research, The Power of Suggestion: Inertia in 401(k) Participation and Savings Behavior
- BMC Public Health, Is volunteering a public health intervention? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the health and survival of volunteers