Yesterday, we shared the first step towards investing in 2023.

2023 is expected to be choppy waters. Better make sure you have no holes in your boat.

We continue from Matt King’s interview today with step 2:

2. Get Disciplined About Your Money

Cash flow covers up leaks in the ship in good times.

When things are going well, people tend to throw money at problems to plug the holes.

Now is a good time to say, "Oh my gosh, I've got a hole in the boat. Let me figure out why I have a hole in the boat. Let me figure out how to properly fix the hole and prepare for the shift” because that hole could take you down.

You must have discipline in an economic shift.

During good times, you didn't care about the $50 painting from your property manager. Now, you need to focus on every single dollar that is coming into and going out of your universe.

Maximize your dollars.

• You: "Hey, why was that painted?"

• PM: "We needed a touch-up."

• You: "Okay, that's Ted’s responsibility in the lease, so please collect the $50 from him."

The $50 is not going to change your month, but it could change your destiny.

Because you’re going to stop your ship from sinking if you fix the leaky holes in the ship.

Have extreme discipline around your money.

• Negotiate with the landlord

• Negotiate with your property managers

• Negotiate with the guy repairing your stove

Make sure that you are maximizing your dollars.

An extra few hundred dollars across ten doors is thousands per month. If the economy gets rocky, those dollars could be one extra month’s debt payment you need.

Financial discipline could be the difference between you surviving the economic shift or not.

For most of us, this is boring. It's not sexy.

It's not something you're excited to talk about during happy hour.

But get super disciplined around your numbers.

Know what's coming in and what's going out so you can correct it.

If you think the economic shift is going to be down 20% or 30%—try to cut your expenses by 20-30%

This isn't just investments. It’s personal too.

It’s so easy to pay for a $9.99/mo subscription you haven’t used in years.

But you can use technology to your advantage.

We’re fortunate to have tech that goes through your credit card statements to tell you of auto charges you have.

Use technology to figure out where you have those holes in your ship and clog those holes.

Dig into your finances regularly.

Can the cleaning lady come every other week rather than weekly?

Can you carpool to work to spend less on gas?

Even if you're not ready or willing to pull the levers yet, know where the levers are. So you’re ready when the time comes and you have to pull them.

You’re too late if you're looking for the levers to pull at the time you when need to pull the levers.

The ship is going down.

Your action to take:

Review all of your finances—business and personal.

For FI Investor members, make sure to be filling out the financial spreadsheets we provide (PFS, Portfolio Tracker, Net Worth Tracker, etc.)

Also, regularly check Mint, Personal Capital, or any other app you use.

We’ve found it helpful to make tracking finances a habit.

Matt Aitchison spoke with us a few months ago. His habit to be financially discipline is to check all of his finances on Fridays.

He calls it, Financial Fridays.

Whether you want to check your statements every day, or every Friday—make it a habit.

Block time in your calendar so that time is dedicated to your finances.

Look out tomorrow for step 3.

P.S. Here is the recording of Matt King’s interview

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