My teeth broke recently, but I didn’t have a dental insurance. My current job gave me an amazing network and exposure to founders, but it really doesn’t pay well. I can barely make my end meets.
As a person not so driven my money, I don’t really mind not having money, it is just sad that I don’t have money now, and I will still not have money if I decided to found my startup. That’s the hard part.
And the worst is not about being poor, but the bad decisions I have made due of lack of money. So I started to ask myself a series of questions.
What kind of bad decisions I’ve made due to my scarce financial mindset?
I didn’t have good insurance, don’t feel comfortable buying productivity tools (e.g. mac and monitor), and my furnishing was initially a disaster because I just don’t feel comfortable spending money on it until I realized it’s fucking up my brain. House search and moving a house is also stressful.
Yet, if I want to work on a startup, or persists on anything for a long time, it needs to be sustainable. So the next question for myself is,
What kind spending are actually necessary for being a happy healthy human being?
a decent insurance, taking uber in the SF evening, spending money on tools for work, going to dance classes, yoga classes, buying clothes, furnitures, and travel from time to time.
how does sustainable in finance for me feels like/look like?
I don’t feel stressed when I spend on necessities mentioned above, and I can feel comfortable making good decisions for my heath, education, living, safety, and productivity.
I can pay back my current debt.
I also want some saving for emergencies.
How much extra money I have that I will feel comfortable?
At least extra 2K a month in SF with 60K in the bank.
When do I want to reach that?
Next May for the monthly goal
What is the effort to put in to reach that?
More cost cutting for spending. I set up a month financial reflection meeting with myself.
Switch my job
Find other money stream
The big challenge here is that if I don’t have money, I also don’t have runway to work on my stuffs too.
Should go back to well paid big tech to accumulate some wealth to get ready?
Should I work for bigger edtech company as a compromise in between?
Is there way to raise fund early and quick?
I realized I’ve been just sucking my money problem up, but building my passion is useless if I’m not even healthy and happy. How does all these founders navigate their money problem in their early years? What are some financial attitude to cultivate?
Please enlighten me if you have ideas or readings.