The 10% Pledge was an easy sell for me. I took it pretty soon after learning about it, because it just intuitively made sense. I had been looking for a way to help combat the dramatic wealth and resource inequality in the world, and my primary blocker was not knowing a) how much to donate and b) if donating would even help. Finding out that there was a body of research on effective giving was gamechanging. I now felt confident my donations were concretely making a difference – which in turn made me want to give more. And while 10% was somewhat arbitrary, I was compelled by the reasoning behind it, and figured it was a no-brainer place to start my giving. After all, I was working in the private sector at that time, and wouldn’t have had any qualms about taking a more impactful job that paid 10% less – in fact, I would have jumped at the chance – so I wasn’t at all worried about the personal implications of sending 10% of my income to projects doing impactful work.
All that said, I come from a somewhat different financial place than many of the people I know. While I’ve never made a lot of money, I’ve also never had to worry about student debt or lack of financial security. There’s some generational wealth in my family which means my schooling was covered, much of the money my husband and I used for our down payment was inherited, and familial financial support would likely be available should I end up in dire straits.
So I was confident we could afford 10% – I didn’t have to do any in-depth budgeting or projections to figure that out.
But even though most salary-earning people in high-income countries are comparatively well-off– usually in at least the top 5% of income earners worldwide (and with access to common goods like clean water, medical care, a social safety net, etc.) – many may not be confident they can meet their expenses on 10% less without actually sitting down and calculating what’s coming in and what’s going out. And I’ve heard that the “admin burden” of doing this can be a big blocker when it comes to pledging, even if you’re motivated to take the plunge and you understand your relative privilege in relation to others in the world.
I can also relate to this. The downside of being confident that I can afford 10% without having to do any calculations is that I’m not sure how much more than 10% I can realistically afford to give. And if I can afford to give more, I’d like to. What’s holding me back is purely the ugh factor of having to get on top of my finances and figure out how much extra $ I actually have at my disposal on a monthly basis.
I’ve tried Mint (big fail), I’ve tried spreadsheets (also primarily unsuccessful) and I’ve tried tracking how much I spend on eating out/takeout (likely my biggest vice) to at least start getting a sense of how much frivolous spending I do on a monthly basis and how much I could try cutting that back. But I’m still left with the overall feeling that it would be useful – even though I know I can afford 10% – to have a better sense of what I’m spending, how much cushion I should realistically leave, etc.
So since it's Pledge Highlight Week on the forum, I’d love to open up a discussion about tools & tips for getting over the hump. Are there apps that you find particularly helpful? Are there time-budgeting strategies that help you prioritise financial planning? Do you resonate with the admin burden of figuring out what you can afford and if so – how has it affected your decision to take (or not yet take) a Pledge? (I’ll also leave my only budget app success story in the "answers" section.)
I have found rocket money to be quite helpful!