how many hours a day do you spend on financial planning? Is it your hobby?

[unplugged]

OK  "financial planning" was the best word I could think of?

 I read, I think, in the millionaire next door, that it's ok to devote time to this and it pays off. It's our "hobby" I guess because my husband and I don't really have other hobbies outside family life, and home maintenance. My minimalist side did not go well with the knitting and sewing I tried.  I don't obsess over our $ but I do enjoy learning and tracking our finances.  It's the only hobby I have ever enjoyed.

[fuzzed]

I often joke to my friends, the 2 things we discuss the most in our house.  Financial Planning/Retirement and Travel.  Nothing else comes even close...

[arebelspy]

I often joke to my friends, the 2 things we discuss the most in our house.  Financial Planning/Retirement and Travel.  Nothing else comes even close...

Our two would be is early retirement and real estate.

That'll shift quite a bit once we have kids, so trying to get those two things out of the way quickly.

[lauren_knows]

I often joke to my friends, the 2 things we discuss the most in our house.  Financial Planning/Retirement and Travel.  Nothing else comes even close...

Our two would be is early retirement and real estate.

That'll shift quite a bit once we have kids, so trying to get those two things out of the way quickly.

Yup. Lately, the top 2 topics of conversation at my house are: How my son ate that day, and what his poop schedule has been.

Fun times.

[Mike]

That'll shift quite a bit once we have kids, so trying to get those two things out of the way quickly.

Kids aren't things.  They're parasites.  :D

[arebelspy]

That'll shift quite a bit once we have kids, so trying to get those two things out of the way quickly.

Kids aren't things.  They're parasites.  :D

Hah!  By "things" I meant that we're trying to get the early retirement and real estate out of the way, so we can focus on the parasites.  :D

[yolfer]

Yup. Lately, the top 2 topics of conversation at my house are: How my son ate that day, and what his poop schedule has been.

Fun times.

LOL! Just wait till you have more than one. Our top 2 topics are: who hit who and who broke whose toy.

[chucklesmcgee]

It's a reasonable hobby. One you can't get into too much depth with people, but fine nonetheless. Most people spend the majority of their waking hours either at work or getting to and from work with the intention of making money- doesn't it seem reasonable to take a little time to figure out how that money should be allocated so that one doesn't have to do that?

[dragoncar]

I spend way too much time if you include reading FI forums.  I should probably go outside instead.

[Richard3]

I'm lucky in that I have a few friends who are also in to investing to a greater or lesser extent so discuss it with them sometimes.

I probably spend about five hours a week, mostly on researching shares I own (and might want to sell) or shares I might want to own. Sometimes I get all macro and try to make sure my portfolio is balanced. Keeping track of my expenses / income is probably an hour spread over 60 1 minute chunks entering transactions.

[totoro]

I'd say 15 mins a day.  The rest of the time is kids, renos and cooking mostly.  I have gone through periods where I spent more time though - especially when we were looking to buy property.  Expect it will ramp up a bit when we finish renos and are looking to invest rental income outside of RE.  Its fun... not odd.. right?

[arebelspy]

Its fun... not odd.. right?

It's both.  I'm okay with that.  :)

[Adventine]

Apart from the daily hour lurking on personal finance forums?

I spend an hour or two a day writing down budgets, goals and projected stash growth, interspersed with sketches and snatches of poetry. I've got maybe a year's worth of journals (about a foot high now) filled with this stuff.

[happy]

errr I think the money mustache forum has become my hobby. Some days I spend almost no time, other days a post will spark several hours of calculations/ comparisons/goals/ projections/internet searches and researches,  looking at different possibilities. Like Adventine, except with out the sketches and poetry!

Its kind of a spiral process of figuring out where I'm going, what are the priorities and what am I willing to trade for time/money etc.

[plantingourpennies]

Yes! Totally a personal hobby for Mrs. Pop and I.

We've also found that our relationship works best when we're engaged together on a hobby/project, FIRE is the current one.

And why not? If we do this thing the right way we'll have lots of time later on for all kinds of neat stuff (travel, craft, writing etc.)

Best,
Mr. Pop

[DreamingofFreedom]

I probably spend at least five hours a week tracking my spending, making monthly spreadsheets, reading FI blogs, and lurking here.  If all of that can get me retired in ten years, I will consider it an excellent investment.  :)

[GuitarStv]

An hour every couple months?  Maybe?

I mean, we tend to try and reduce costs on a regular basis . . . but once you have your investments, mortgage, and bill payments in order there's really not much to do.

[unplugged]

Maybe I should have asked how often you think about your finances/frugal/goals/dreams/avoiding consumerism?

I sort of think/research/work on/dream/avoid consumerism/read all day but not obsess. This has really worked for me.

[momo]

Hm, becoming more self-aware of my health and finances typically take up 1.5 hours per day, so approximately 8 to 10 hours per week. The thing is even if I felt I learned enough I want to improve myself. So I'd still dedicate time to at the very least learning different financial topics like estate planning. I find over the years learning has become part of my lifestyle, rather than a hobby.

[PolarBeer]

Probably a bit less than 1hr a day, and that includes all tracking and reading about investing etc. Even though I've been reasonably frugal for most of my life, I discovered MMM about 3 months ago and found that I could still improve a lot. So the time I spend now is focused on learning stuff. Its a phase that will only last for a time until I'm reasonably equipped to deal with most financial related stuff. After that I can focus on living my life and spend way less time on finances, except for some future useful lessons that will probably present themselves when random stuff happens that needs to be dealth with.

That's how I've learned most other skills... something happens or something sparks my interest, and I'll research it quite obsessively until I lose interest or further study isn't giving much utility.

[Wiggle]

I'm only getting started here but ultimately I find it to be self-limiting.  Cause really it's limited by how often I need to manage my money and really I don't see alot of need for intervention.  Haha wished I got paid more often only for the reason that I like dividing my money up.

[Mike]

. . . but once you have your investments, mortgage, and bill payments in order there's really not much to do.

Come on, you can still log into Mint repeatedly and stare longingly at the pretty charts and graphs.  :D

[pbkmaine]

Actually, investing/financial planning is my profession. I don't spend a lot of time on our own stuff. My husband spends zero. Automatic savings, investments in a diversified portfolio of mostly indexed funds.  I log into Vanguard once a month to check balances, rebalance yearly and that's about it.  No mortgage, no other debt, no budget. (Like MMM, I know what we spend.) We have enough capital for FI. I will continue to work (.75 of full time this year, next year TBD) as long as I am having fun. I also like building a cushion. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy. 

I do love reading blogs like this one, but I count that as recreation. 

[Parkertom]

I often wonder if I obsess over finances a bit too much. It is a daily discussion in our house. I hope to get to the point where we are on a course where the only real efforts are once a week as we are paying bills, etc.

Reading blogs has begun to take a good bit if time as well. I would consider finding ways to save money and learning about smart choices others have made a good hobby to have.