Stop checking your budgeting app every day. Instead, automate everything: split your paycheck into retirement, savings buckets, and guilt-free spending, then pay credit cards in full monthly. You'll think bigger when you're not obsessing over daily balances.
Why the hell do you have a budgeting app on your phone? You don't need that. In fact, you don't even really need any financial apps on your phone. I don't have them. Why would I? I would rather have a system that works automatically than me having to log in and check stuff every day. Guys, when you have like 10 financial apps on your phone, you're logging in every day to get that dopamine fix. Ooh, what's in my checking account? You are playing small. You should not even be thinking on a daily basis. You should be focusing on a monthly and actually beyond that. Here's the way to think bigger. You want to set up a financial system where your money comes from your paycheck into your checking account, and from there it is moved to where it needs to go— to a retirement account, to a savings account. In fact, it's subdivided into different savings goals like a down payment, vacation, emergency fund. You're using it to pay your bills, including anything that you charge on your credit card in full every month. And of course, you know exactly how much you have for guilt-free spending. You do not need to have an app on your phone for this. And in fact, I would challenge you, if you have an app, certainly if you have 2 or 3, you're probably playing too small.
