You’re no longer a broke weeaboo.  You finally got yourself a job. You’re  getting into the money (legally or illegally I’m not judging).  You made enough money off your paycheck or hustle to afford some cool things.  In fact, after you paid the bills, you have money left over.  You’ve been eyeing that Darkness Ford Lalatina figurine off eBay for a minute.  However, there’s also an out-of-state anime convention that you want to attend.  You want both, but your funds say you can only have one.  You want a new figurine to add to your collection, but going out of state for a larger convention sounds fun.

Let me ask you this:  Would you rather go to the anime convention in a major city that’s new to you. A convention where there’s a bunch of fine ass Darkness cosplayers, and one of them may actually like you.  In fact, she might want to hook up with you with you (while she’s in character in cosplay mind you).  Maybe that Darkness cosplayer is a famous internet personality. She likes you and what you’re doing with your vlogging. In fact, she wants to do a collab with you in the future.  That collab could bring more people over to your brand. In addition, there’s an exclusive Darkness figurine that’s only being sold at that convention.  You’ve saved up enough money to buy two: One for yourself and the other to flip on eBay for profit.

Or would you rather have that lifeless Darkness figurine that won’t bring you long-term value?

 

 

Yeah, I thought so. This is why you need to stack your money up and act broke.  Act broke so you can invest in yourself.  When you invest in yourself and things that will bring you long-term value, you better yourself over time. It is wise to save your money and use the money to travel.  Travel so you can grow your blog, vlog, brand, whatever. It’s smart.   Money can help you grow your otaku network you know – but you have to stack and act broke first.

Let me show you how.

The rich stay rich by living like they’re poor.  The poor stay poor by acting like they’re rich.
-Anonymous

 

PART 1
Save to Invest

Multimillionaire CEO and author Grant Cardone said it best: “Save to invest, don’t save to save.” What does this mean? It’s simple: Don’t save for a rainy day or just in case.  Save to invest in yourself; which you want to do.   You need to save your money so you can invest in that trip which will grow your brand (if you’re active in doing so of course). How does one go about to saving to invest?  Well, it’s not hard.  Let’s say you receive $1000 on each paycheck.  70% of that $1000 ($700) should go towards your trip.  The rest you will need for bills (because you need your electricity on and your CrunchyRoll active so you can watch your bottom tier action anime series like My Hero Academia).

Once you put that $700  a check aside in savings do not touch the money. If need be, put the money in a scared account (an bank account, separate from your main account, where you do not have easy access to and aren’t allow to take money out until a certain date – only in). Repeat this process until you hit your target savings/investment goal.    Investing in yourself is important because as stated earlier, it helps you grow. You can make moves you wouldn’t normally do if you just save money just to save.  Saving is cool and I recommend everyone save their money.

It’s what you do with the saved money is up to you.

PART 2
Discipline and Acting Broke

When you’re making more money than usual (or have a lot of money put aside), you’re tempted to take the money out.  You see that you stacked up over your goal and might be tempted to take a few 100s out. You may be thinking “Oh, it’s only $300 out of the $10,000 I saved.  I can recover the money.”   But what if you need that $300 for something when you’re out of town at this convention or you need supplies for your recording gear (for YouTube or Podcasting)?  Then you’re fucked.  Let’s create a scenario. Your friend invites you to party at a club or a bar.  You have extra money stacked up.  You want to go; you have all that money you can spend freely.

Or do you?  Let’s break it down.

Cover charge: $5
Food (cuz you don’t wanna drink on an empty stomach): $10
Drinks: $30
Bribe the bouncer cuz your I.D. is expired: $20
Food (after drinking): $10
Tips: $10
Total: $85
You just wasted $85 that could have gone towards your investments because you wanted to have fun at a bar for a night.  If you really need to drink and chill with your friends, just kick it at his place, buy some cheap liquor and food and call it a day.  Don’t waste your money trying to have fun all the damn time. You’re saving money for a convention in which will have multiple free parties after the convention with gracious party hosts that will give their liquor away for 2-3 days.

Which would you rather want?

When taking money out of your savings or blowing extra money, you need to think critically.  Ask yourself things such as ‘Do I really need to spend $35 on a bottle of Hennessy tonight?’ or ‘Is it worth to spend $20 to go to the movies when I can watch movies at home or get the movie from the  bootleg man or on Firestick?*’

*(Disclaimer: This blog does not support piracy.)

This is where you have to act broke.  How does one act broke?  By having your money on your mind and your mind on your money.   You need to train yourself to actively think about your money everytime you go out and spend money.  When your friend asks you to go out somewhere that will cost you money, you need to be like “No, I can’t go out tonight”.   Be a cheapass for a while.  Instead of dining in or ordering fast food, you should learn how to cook.  Cooking your own food saves you money.   You can use the money you saved towards your investments.  You have a lot of money in your account, but that doesn’t means that you spend it all.

You have to suppress the urge to spend and take money from your savings account.  You need to think towards the future – not the present.  Forgo temporary pleasures that won’t bring you long-term value in favor of long-term pleasures.  Think about your money at all times and ask yourself if you need to spend it.

CONCLUSION

 

 

With money, you must be smart with it.  This means that you must not spend it on anime figurines, body pillows, and manga all the time.  Stack your money up, save it, and invest in yourself.  Convention season is coming near and you need to expand your network and otaku empire.  Stop blowing your money on partying and figurines all the time.  You have goals that need to be met for your growth.  Even when you make extra money or go over your limit, you shouldn’t dip into your savings and waste your money.  That extra money can help you out in the long run.

2018 is the year for us otaku to be smarter with our money – especially for us content creators.

 

RESOURCES:
Nino Brown Stack Money but Act Broke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa3HUMQ3vYY&t=179s

Nino Brown: Find the Balance Between Having Fun and Having Funds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i58h9gj8Gc&t=96s

Grant Cardone How to Get Your Money Right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DWSrntWKB8&t=155s

Grant Cardone: How to Save Your Money:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXEiJBdeTZI

 

Spoilers: No Darkness cosplayer will ever like you.