Following

The Goods
Financial Management
for the Young and Ambitious

Adam Goodman, MBA

Illustrated by Allyson Stone

Blue Pig Publishing, Toronto

Copyright © 2009 by Adam Robert Goodman

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Care has been taken to trace ownership of copyright material contained in this book.
The Publishers will gladly receive any information that will enable them to rectify any reference
or credit line in subsequent editions.
Although the author has exhaustively researched all sources to ensure the accuracy
and completeness of the information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for
errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people, places, or
organizations are unintentional.
This publication contains opinions and ideas of the author. They are not presented to
provide a basis of action for any particular circumstances without consideration by a competent
professional. The author and publisher expressly disclaim any liability or loss, or risk, personal or
otherwise which is incurred as a consequence, direct or indirect of the use or application of the
contents of this book.

Published in 2009 by
Blue Pig Publishing
1210 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 203
Toronto, Canada
M2K 1E3

First printing December 2008

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Goodman, Adam Robert, 1979-

 
   

  
ambitious / Adam Robert Goodman ; editor, Hailey Eisen ; illustrator,
Allyson Stone.

Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-9811260-0-5

1. Finance, Personal. I. Eisen, Hailey, 1981- II. Title.

HG179.G66 2008 332.024 C2008-907996-5

ATTENTION CORPORATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Quantity

discounts are available on bulk purchases of this book for educational or gift purposes. Special


 

 



Blue Pig Publishing; sales@bluepigpublishing.com

Production Credits:
Editor: Hailey Eisen
Cover Design: Joe Donnelly Design.com

Printed in Canada
 Chapter 2:
How Much Money
Do You Really Make?



 



!
knew why it was important to save money until it was too late. Let’s look at a
few examples to see how I could have done things differently.

" 
 #  

    $%  
swimming instructor and I earned $15 an
hour. On average, I earned $200 per week,
making my monthly salary $800. I worked
at this job for two years, earning about
$15,000 in total, but when I graduated
from high school and went to university
I didn’t have any money left. So what
happened?

I was living at home; my mom bought all of my

clothes and food. So where was my money going?
Well, when you’re a teenager making $200 a
week and you have no responsibilities, you tend
to spend that money! Every week I bought comic
books, lottery tickets, candy and whatever else
I could afford. I also spent a good portion of my
money on going out with friends. Luckily I still
hadn’t broken out of my social awkwardness
around girls; otherwise I would have spent even
more money trying to impress them. By the way,
( 


(! 


don’t impress girls with money. So, by the time the

Page 7
 Chapter 2: How Much Money Do You Really Make?

next pay period would come around my pockets would always be empty. How
could I have done things differently while still enjoying my life?

I spent every dollar I made; I gave in to my every desire; I thought money

would always make its way back to me; I had no plan. Understanding money
(
   !
         
 (
  
can’t buy what you want. What it does mean is that you have to pace yourself
and be smart. You have to understand the big picture of where you want to
 
 



  



lifestyle you want to lead. Then you need to do your homework and make a
plan of how you are going to get there.

Let’s be honest, I never realized that the $200 a week I was making would turn
into $15,000 over the course of my swim instructor career. If I did, I probably
would have done things differently. Maybe instead of spending $200 per week
on things that I would get bored with in a few months, I could have spent half
of it on my comic books and candy and put the other half in the bank. Had I
done that, I would have had $7,500 in the bank when I graduated high school
(we’ll keep things simple for now and assume that there is no such thing as
investing your money wisely, a dollar saved equals a dollar earned).

It would have been pretty easy for me

to spend only $100 a week instead of
$200. All I would have had to do was be
a little more selective in what I bought
(Did I really need to lose more money on
lottery tickets? Did I really need all that
junk food? Was I having a little too much
fun?). It’s easy to look back and say, “Yes, I
should have saved more”, but what if you
don’t have the luxury of hindsight?

The reality is, I didn’t pay attention to where my money was going and I didn’t
fully understand why I would need money in the future. I didn’t set myself up
for success by asking people with experience for advice.

Page 8
 Chapter 2: How Much Money Do You Really Make?

I have a small exercise for you, which will help you understand where your
money goes.

First, let’s determine how much money you’re making. If you don’t have a
job — don’t worry — the rest of the exercise will still be helpful! If you aren’t
currently employed, let’s just assume that you work 10 hours a week making
$8 per hour — use this information for the exercise.

Write down how much money you make per paycheque (if you aren’t paid
every two weeks, determine how much you are paid for every two weeks of
work):

$ _________________

Ok, now let’s take that number and multiply it by two, to get your monthly
earnings:

$ __________________ x 2 = $ __________________

+

!
 
( 
 
by taking your monthly earnings and multiplying it by 13 (even though there
are only 12 months in each year, there are 26 pay periods, so we need to
multiply our monthly earnings by 13):

$ __________________ x 13 = $ __________________

You should have three numbers by now: your bi-weekly earnings, your monthly
earnings, and your yearly salary (if you’d like to see an example, check out
Appendix A).

Now think back to when you started reading this chapter — were you aware
of how much money you were making every two weeks or how much money
you were making per month? Did you know how much your yearly earnings
were? If you did then great, you’re ahead of the game. If not, take this new
information and memorize it. Knowing how much money you make in each of



 
   
future!

Page 9