One of the better trends to come out of Tiktok recently has been the loud budgeting movement. While financial misinformation is unfortunately rampant on the internet, the concept of loud budgeting is simple: declaring in some public capacity what you are choosing to spend your money on, not apologizing for choosing not to spend money on certain things, and resisting the ever present pressure to consume.
I could not be more impressed with loud budgeting. In fact, I hope it becomes the accepted norm! Of course, that’s a hard thing to make happen living in an economy that is driven by consumer expenditure. Ironically, American consumption and spending is the thing that drives growth in the economy, and what underpins the stock market returns I plan to rely on when I approach retirement.
But for the folks out there uncomfortable with the culture of mindless spending driven by insidious marketing campaigns, loud budgeting is for you. There is a way out of the rat race, many on the Financial Independence journey have found it. You don’t necessarily need to scream your intentions with your budget from the rooftop, but the psychology of publicly expressing a goal is likely to result in you sticking to that goal. So if you tell your friends that you aren’t going to be going out for drinks this month (you can make up a reason, like a new years resolution, if you don’t want to say because it costs too darn much) but offer to host potlucks or a BYOB hangout at your place, it’s far more likely that you will make that happen than if you went at alone and didn’t tell your friends your plan.
Of course, loud budgeting goes beyond just limiting the $ costs of going out for expensive drinks at the bar….
