Financial Management: How to Get Started 财务管理：如何开始

How to break free? I have experience – reading a lot of psychology books. Nietzsche believed that “everything is subjective,” and there’s some truth to it, because modern psychology tells us that we are all influenced by our own subjective consciousness, to a greater or lesser extent. However, some people can adjust themselves through an understanding of psychological knowledge.
如何挣脱束缚？我有经验——读了很多心理学书籍。尼采认为“一切都是主观的”，这有一定的道理，因为现代心理学告诉我们，我们都或多或少地受到自己主观意识的影响。然而，有些人可以通过对心理学知识的理解来调整自己。

Another very effective method is to cultivate a hobby that doesn’t cost so much. For most people, spending money is essentially “just killing time” – female readers should laugh, because they understand this best. In my opinion, reading is a super cost-effective hobby, but surprisingly, many people think “books are too expensive”! This is also inevitable, because “even hope is extremely dangerous for some people.” For instance, playing the piano is a hobby that costs relatively little, and the guitar costs even less than the piano. The benefit of having a hobby is having a place to put leisure time – no time to spend money haphazardly, isn’t that great?
另一种非常有效的方法是培养一种不花那么多钱的爱好。对于大多数人来说，花钱本质上是“消磨时间”——女性读者应该笑，因为她们最了解这一点。在我看来，阅读是一种超高性价比的爱好，但令人惊讶的是，很多人认为“书太贵了”！这也是不可避免的，因为“对某些人来说，即使是希望也是极其危险的”。例如，弹钢琴是一种成本相对较低的爱好，吉他的成本甚至低于钢琴。拥有爱好的好处是有一个地方可以放闲暇时间——没有时间随意花钱，这不是很好吗？

From another perspective, financial management is nothing more than “increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.” Relatively speaking, “reducing expenditure” is certainly important, but “increasing revenue” is the right way. For young people, it is urgent to improve their future revenue-generating ability. Although it’s essential to check Weibo and WeChat Moments, it’s more important to spend more time systematically studying formal books and honing one’s labor skills. Don’t just focus on upgrading your phone system; upgrade your brain more often, choose better and stronger modes of thinking, and then have the ability to make different choices.
从另一个角度看，理财无非就是“增收减支”。相对而言，“减少支出”固然重要，但“增加收入”才是正确的方式。对于年轻人来说，提高他们未来的创收能力是当务之急。虽然查看微博和微信朋友圈是必不可少的，但更重要的是花更多的时间系统地学习正式书籍和磨练自己的劳动技能。不要只专注于升级您的电话系统;更频繁地升级你的大脑，选择更好更强的思维模式，然后有能力做出不同的选择。

Ultimately, people who cannot save money have a common characteristic – they often have “unilateral wishful thinking.” They start with “hope” in their hearts, and later “assume” that everything will automatically get better, and even successfully deceive themselves: “This is positive energy” … fundamentally, this is a refusal to grow, a refusal to take responsibility, and there is even a specific term in psychology – the Peter Pan Syndrome.
归根结底，存不了钱的人有一个共同的特点——他们往往有“单方面的一厢情愿”。他们从心中的“希望”开始，后来“假设”一切都会自动好起来，甚至成功自欺欺人：“这是正能量”……从根本上说，这是对成长的拒绝，对承担责任的拒绝，甚至在心理学上还有一个特定的术语——彼得潘综合症。

The reality is that although the world and society are generally getting better, the situation for each individual is not necessarily improving. Many people are getting worse; no one automatically gets better, only action brings change, and expectations in the absence of action support can only lead to self-deception.
现实情况是，尽管世界和社会总体上在变得更好，但每个人的情况并不一定在改善。许多人的情况越来越糟;没有人会自动变得更好，只有行动才能带来改变，没有行动支持的期望只会导致自欺欺人。

Alright, now there are no more excuses. Start saving.
好了，现在没有借口了。开始保存。

How much to save? The advice from the “pros” is – yes, they are the “pros”:
要节省多少？“专业人士”的建议是——是的，他们是“专业人士”：
50% for essentials of life; 30% to improve the quality of life; 20% to save.
50%用于生活必需品;30%用于提高生活质量;节省 20%。

What’s wrong with this advice? The problem is that it is neither suitable for the current situation, nor is it suitable as a future goal. For young people who have just entered the workforce, the current situation may not be so optimistic. It’s possible that the proportion of “life’s essentials” will exceed 80% of income, or even be insufficient. Therefore, this kind of “pro advice” often only leads to discouragement. And as for using this advice as a goal? It’s too “low.” Society is progressing, and the dependence of “life’s essentials” is increasingly reliant on mental abundance. For future financially-independent individuals, material life accounting for 10% to 20% is the ideal, isn’t it? In fact, much of “material” is becoming increasingly affordable, and will be even cheaper in the future.
这个建议有什么问题？问题在于，它既不适合当前的情况，也不适合作为未来的目标。对于刚步入职场的年轻人来说，目前的情况可能并不那么乐观。“生活必需品”的比例有可能超过收入的80%，甚至不足。因此，这种“专业建议”往往只会导致气馁。至于把这个建议作为目标？它太“低”了。社会在进步，“生活必需品”的依赖越来越依赖于精神上的富足。对于未来经济独立的人来说，物质生活占10%到20%是理想的，不是吗？事实上，许多“材料”正变得越来越实惠，而且将来会更便宜。

To write this article, I carefully read a post on Zhihu, “What kind of life can be had in Beijing with a monthly salary of 5,000 RMB?” and a post on Tianya, “Analysis of living expenses for a normal Beijing family (with children who aren’t in kindergarten yet),” the differences between people are indeed quite significant.
为了写这篇文章，我仔细阅读了知乎上的一篇帖子，“月薪5000元在北京能过什么样的生活？”和天涯上的一篇帖子，“一个普通北京家庭（孩子还没上幼儿园）的生活费分析”，人与人之间的差异确实相当显著。

However, there is a fact worth noting. In the vast majority of cases, if your income is reduced by 20%, you will eventually adapt; if a 20% reduction is very challenging, then try 10%; if it is still difficult, then try 5% – generally, a 5% reduction won’t result in a noticeable discomfort.
但是，有一个事实值得注意。在绝大多数情况下，如果你的收入减少了20%，你最终会适应;如果减少 20% 非常具有挑战性，那么尝试 10%;如果仍然很困难，请尝试 5% – 一般来说，减少 5% 不会导致明显的不适。

Choose a proportion that you think is appropriate. Not choosing is not an option, because you don’t want to become that kind of person. After reaching adulthood, almost everything in life is a result of choices. Then, set up a mechanism for yourself so that you cannot use the money you save. At this point, deceiving yourself is actually useful – do you remember how those 4-year-old children learned to resist eating marshmallows? Just consider that money lost. Once it’s gone, it is not for “emergency use” – it’s simply lost! “Lost” means it’s gone, that money is completely gone!
选择您认为合适的比例。不选择不是一种选择，因为你不想成为那种人。成年后，生活中几乎所有的事情都是选择的结果。然后，为自己建立一个机制，这样你就无法使用你节省的钱。在这一点上，欺骗自己其实是有用的——你还记得那些 4 岁的孩子是如何学会抗拒吃棉花糖的吗？想想赔钱就知道了。一旦它消失了，它就不是“紧急使用”——它只是丢失了！“丢失”意味着它消失了，那笔钱完全消失了！