Laura Vanderkam

Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.

Good morning.

This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to figure out what it costs to be you.

How much money is required to fund your life and your family's life in the way you'd like to live it?

When you know this, you can make smarter choices about your finances and know what you need to aim for if there's a way you'd like to live in the future.

Today's tip comes from Bobbi Rebell, a certified financial planner and author of the book, Launching Financial Grownups.

Bobbi was a guest on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds, and she suggested people ask this question, what does it cost to be you?

In other words, what do you spend across all purposes and categories to lead your life?

Rent, childcare, vacations, dog walking,

gym membership, makeup, groceries, insurance premiums, and everything else.

Now, I know on some level that this is just getting at the old-fashioned concept of a budget.

People who are wise with their money tend to know exactly what is coming in and what is going out.

But I think this question, what does it cost to be you, is a slightly better way to frame this matter.

because it can be more aspirational as well.

Let's say you figured out what it costs to be you.

You have added up all your expenses and recurring payments and 401k contributions and so forth.

The good news is that this amount is slightly less than what you and any other adult household members bring in after taxes.

Excellent.