I get it. Seriously, I do. The struggle of daily life is real. You work for money. Clock out. Head home after a long day of work. Then you gather the family to attend your child’s recital program or soccer practice. You want to learn about personal finance. But yet you have no free time. Where do you squeeze a few extra minutes out of your busy schedule for personal development?
Being a family person, time is crucial. Consider every single minute as equity in your day. You only have so much to use every day and any minute you don’t use productively gets wasted as “dead equity”. Surely you can find equity to learn something new. You don’t have to change your weekly agenda, it’s a matter of changing your mindset.
The average time spent driving is 18 days per year. That is almost three weeks of potential equity that you’ll never gain back. With the right mindset, those days can be used productively to master your personal finance.
Read more on how you can optimize your commute to absorb material on personal finance.
Table Of Contents
- Prepare Your Mobile University
- Stream From Your Phone
- Going Nowhere Fast
- Soaking It All In
- Conclusion
Prepare Your Mobile University
One of the greatest motivational speakers, Zig Ziglar, coined this term “Automobile University”. He believed that many people who work for a living will commute to and from work without ever utilizing that time whatsoever. That time spent at the red light, sitting in traffic during rush hour, or just plain old parked waiting for your kid to finish soccer practice. This time is precious whether it’s just a minute or more. A proper use of it will benefit your financial journey.
Prime your vehicle to be a Mobile University in two simple ways, either through the car stereo or a pair of headphones. Some will prefer one over the other for personal reasons. Choose whichever fits you.
In today’s vehicles, they usually come equipped with bluetooth capabilities to allow painless connection from a phone. Refer to your stereo manual or browse the web for your specific stereo model for the instructions. It should be a quick one-time setup to pair your phone.
Other stereo systems will use a USB port plug-in. Considered to be a reliable connection, this option serves as a phone charger in the process as well. Just simply plug and play.
Even if your stereo doesn’t come equipped with bluetooth ability or there is no USB port, you can always revert to using headphones. From a safety perspective, you risk not hearing ambulance sirens or honking horns if your headphone volume is too loud so use with caution. Keep your volume to a moderate level to prevent any accidents.
MR SIMPLE FI: There is another option if you don’t have access to a compatible stereo or don’t prefer to use headphones. For the same safety reason stated above, I prefer to not use headphones. Having to fidget with the wires while I’m driving or risk being pulled over for a ticket, it didn’t seem worth the trouble.
I purchased a stand alone bluetooth speaker. Some might call it cheap, I prefer the term “thrifty”. No wires running from my phone and surprisingly this speaker packed a loud enough volume to fill a bus.
This portable speaker is just one of many out there so don’t feel that this is the only “one”. Just know that there are other ways to turn your vehicle into a success learning machine.
Stream From Your Phone
Times are much different than back in the day. Personal finance cassette tapes were bought in sets to store in your car. Imagine lugging around cassette tapes in hopes the sound wouldn’t fade from high to low volume or that it wouldn’t just stop completely. Those are a thing of the past.
With technology today, we have access to thousands upon thousands of resources that help promote personal growth in any category. You think of it and there is an online guide for it guaranteed. Finding the right options should be easy with so much abundance.
One option for learning personal finance is streaming podcasts. With over 600,000 podcasts to choose from, you are sure to find finance podcasts you like. If not, I can recommend a few that have helped me grow on my financial journey.
“Listen to 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest.”
Mr. Simple FI
Another alternative is listening to audiobooks. With a daily average commute of sixty minutes, you could get through an entire book in two to three weeks. Don’t stop there though. Repeatedly listen to the content until you’ve absorbed enough to take action or put into practice.
It may sound weird but I look forward to driving to work knowing I can devour as much valuable content my brain can handle.
MR SIMPLE FI: If you’re really short on time or have a personal goal of listening to x amount of books by a certain time, try listening to your podcast or audiobook on 1.25x speed. This will help tremendously in consuming hours of content in a shorter period of time. Most streaming services will max out at 2x speed. It takes time and practice to train your ears to pick up information that quickly but it is possible.
Remember, speed isn’t everything. Just because you’ve listened to a dozen podcast episodes but comprehended nothing, that defeats the whole purpose of speed. When it comes to speed it’s quality over quantity. Some are able to grasp the topic quicker while others not so much.
On the flip side, if you find yourself not fully understanding what is being said, slow down the speed. You can slow down the audio to 0.5x speed. Obviously it is a longer process but if that works for you, that’s all that matters.
Don’t look to just “check the box” for the sake of it. Make the most and best use of your time driving.
Starting out, I had to ask myself how many hours am I spending in my car every week and could I make better use of it? I can honestly admit that podcasts and audiobooks have molded my way of thinking when it comes to personal finance ten-fold.
If you don’t have access to a car or prefer not to drive, streaming holds no boundaries.
- Carpool with coworkers
- Transit by train
- Catch a bus
- Ride with Uber (or anything equivalent)
- Commute by taxi
- Cruise by ferry
- Ride a motorcycle/moped/bicycle
Any mode of transportation will allow you useful time for streaming.
MR SIMPLE FI TIP: Want to save on your data? While connected to wifi, select a few episodes for listening to later. Try pre-downloading your preferred podcast episodes or audiobook before leaving the house. Keep a few of them as reserves on a “watch later” playlist for future commutes.
Going Nowhere Fast
Maybe listening and driving isn’t your cup of tea, that’s ok because you probably don’t drive 100% of the time anyway. There will be moments of sitting idle or, even better, sitting in a parked vehicle. This is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of.
By all means, use streaming when you see fit. Being idle is a perfect time to really take in what is being taught. Take notes on what you’re hearing to use in your personal finances. Keeping a set of notes on your phone or writing them down in a notebook is a great idea. You can refer to them later at home.
In combination with learning about finance, why not use this time to double check your finances right from your phone? Ensure the knowledge gained is resonating in your personal financial journey. You can opt to make quick changes at this time or plan for your next financial move.
For you “bookworms” out there, have an eBook on stand by for times like this. There are so many eBook apps to choose ranging from free to subscription based, you literally have access to any finance book you can think of.
Take time to view videos or tutorials. You are not alone in the world of personal finance. Many individuals document their financial journey to share so others can learn, grow, and hopefully not repeat the same mistakes. Seek out the users in a similar situation as yours. If you’re raising a family, it’s hard to relate with someone who is single, no kids, and lives in a mansion. They don’t know the struggle.
MR SIMPLE FI: Something that keeps me motivated is purposeful social media. I stay away from mentally damaging media for a reason. It serves me nor my family any benefit and actually deters me from making the best use of what precious time I do have.
With my instagram account, I’ve taken up to two hours to select the exact media that I want to keep me on the path. The awesome “wonder” about social media algorithms is it’ll prioritize showing you posts from accounts that matter to you.
If you don’t feel like deleting friends or family from your personal account, create a totally brand new one that’ll be used for financial inspiration and motivation. Only follow accounts that will benefit your mind and neglect all the rest.
This has been a game changer for me.
Soaking It All In
At the end of all the mobile learning, give your mind time to “breathe”. The vast amounts of knowledge passing through your ears can be overwhelming at times. It can be difficult to jump from one piece of content to the next.
If you’re able to handle all the streaming, keep going. Learning is a beautiful thing. It can be done at your own pace, be the tortoise or be the hare.
After listening to a few sessions, it would be a good idea to take a break. Take time to let the newfound education marinate on the mind. Play your favorite instrumental song as a relaxant and just soak it all in.
It’d be a shame to forget all the gathered info. Aim to remember at least a percentage of it and apply that to your life. Application will help solidify that knowledge and make room in your brain to learn newer material.
MR SIMPLE FI TIP: I might be a part of a minority but I genuinely love listening to instrumental soundtracks. Typically these tracks represent a certain mood. Like one of calmness and peace, I stay away from the villain style of music. Those put me in a different mood unfamiliar with learning.
Some favorite composers I tune into are Hans Zimmer, John Murphy, Ennio Morricone, and Alan Silvestri. I’ve created a playlist of their greatest music for better concentration and memory storage. If not, try searching up Chillhop on YouTube. It’s another avenue of instrumental music for your listening pleasure.
Conclusion
Personal finance can be studied wherever you are. If you’re still working than most likely you’re driving to your job. What better way to optimize your commute than listening to unknown material, absorbing the content, then applying that to real life. Finances, especially your own, won’t be learned in a week but over time, you could gain enough knowledge equivalent to earning a two year degree.
Are you stuck and want to learn about personal finance? How are you optimizing your commute? Have you considered any of the strategies discussed in this post?