Abbey Graf has a bare-bones budget and a spending aversion. But an expert says she can spend more and still meet her goals

EDITOR’S NOTE: Abbey Graf is among a handful of participants selected to work one-on-one with a financial expert for CNN’s Savings Challenge. This story was originally featured in the Savings Challenge newsletter, which you can sign up for here .

Abbey Graf readily describes herself as frugal. And after speaking with the 28-year-old for the first time and reviewing her financial situation, certified financial planner Stacy Francis couldn’t agree more.

“Her budget is one of the most bare-bones budgets I’ve ever seen,” Stacy said.

CNN Photo Illustration/Photograph by Deborah Donenfeld

Abbey has two main savings goals: Possibly buy a house and retire comfortably – maybe even retire early. To those ends, she tries to keep a tight rein on her spending today and save aggressively.

For example, Abbey cooks a lot at home, not just because she likes to but because it saves her money. She has avoided taking up many hobbies because she worries about the expenses involved.

She also keeps her other living expenses – including her rent – to a minimum. She drives a 21-year-old car that she owns outright and is almost done paying down her remaining $2,000 in student loans, which is her only debt.

Maansi Srivastava/CNN

Abbey’s challenge is not to save more – she’s already socking away a quarter of her $74,000 income. Rather, she needs to get a better sense of what her current savings can do for her.

“I’d like a plan of what I would need for retirement. I’m not sure what the goal post is,” Abbey said.

Her other big challenge is finding ways to alleviate her financial anxieties about whether she has enough to secure her future.

Stacy is creating a financial plan with a few different scenarios to give Abbey a concrete sense of how “on track” she is to meet her goals of buying a house within a few years and retiring comfortably (even if she retires early).

Given Abbey’s anxieties about spending money and fear of not having enough, Stacy plans to use very conservative assumptions for inflation, health costs and average returns when making her projections based on Abbey’s savings today.

“I’d also like a scenario where she spends more money. I’d love for her to do some travel and enjoy her 20s,” Stacy said.

To be clear, encouraging people to spend more is not Stacy’s typical MO. Having worked with more than 270 clients over 25 years, she said, “I’ve had this conversation of ‘You really need to spend more money’ with maybe three people.”

What’s next: We’ll catch up again with Abbey in a few weeks. But next week, you’ll learn more about a surprising turn of events for Mariza and Geffrey Gordon.

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编者按：艾比·格拉夫是少数几位被选中参加CNN“储蓄挑战”活动，并与金融专家进行一对一辅导的参与者之一。本文最初刊登于“储蓄挑战”新闻简报，您可以在这里注册订阅。

艾比·格拉夫毫不掩饰自己节俭的性格。注册理财规划师斯泰西·弗朗西斯在与这位28岁的女星初次交谈并了解了她的财务状况后，对此深表赞同。

“她的预算是我见过的最简陋的预算之一，”斯泰西说。

CNN图片插图/摄影：黛博拉·多南菲尔德

艾比有两个主要的储蓄目标：一是买房，二是安享晚年——甚至可能提前退休。为了实现这些目标，她现在努力严格控制开支，并积极储蓄。

例如，艾比经常在家做饭，不仅因为她喜欢，还因为这样可以省钱。她一直避免培养很多爱好，因为她担心相关的开销。

她还将其他生活开支——包括房租——控制在最低限度。她开着一辆21年的老车，车款是她全款买的，而且她唯一的债务——2000美元的学生贷款——也即将还清。

曼西·斯里瓦斯塔瓦/CNN

艾比面临的挑战不是存更多钱——她已经把7.4万美元收入的四分之一存了起来。相反，她需要更好地了解目前的储蓄能为她带来什么。

“我想要一份退休规划，了解我退休后需要做些什么。我不太清楚最终目标是什么，”艾比说。

她面临的另一个重大挑战是找到方法来缓解她对未来经济状况的焦虑，她担心自己是否有足够的钱来保障未来。

斯泰西正在制定一份财务计划，其中包含几种不同的方案，以便让艾比具体了解她在几年内买房和舒适退休（即使提前退休）的目标“进展如何”。

鉴于艾比对花钱的焦虑和对钱不够用的恐惧，斯泰西计划在根据艾比目前的储蓄进行预测时，对通货膨胀、医疗成本和平均回报采用非常保守的假设。

“我也希望她能多花钱。我希望她能去旅行，好好享受她的二十几岁，”斯泰西说。

需要说明的是，鼓励人们增加消费并不是斯泰西的惯用伎俩。在她25年服务过270多位客户之后，她说：“我可能只跟三个人说过‘你真的需要多花钱’这样的话。”

接下来：几周后我们会再次见到艾比。但下周，你会了解到玛丽莎和杰弗里·戈登夫妇身上发生的令人意想不到的变故。

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