What Is Primo Pobre's "Year of the Dog"? How to Do Your Own (With Calculator)
The Year of the Dog (ano do cão), an idea from Primo Pobre, is 3 to 12 months of cutting every non-essential expense and working extra to clear debt and save.
It is an intense effort with a clear start date and end date. You accept living on the bare minimum for a short time to get out of the hole and stop relying on credit cards, overdrafts and loans.
The ano do cão concept comes from Eduardo Feldberg, known as Primo Pobre, who runs one of the largest personal finance channels in Brazil. This post sums up the idea and shows how to put it into practice, but the original video (in Portuguese) is well worth watching, and so is the rest of his work.
What is Primo Pobre's Year of the Dog?
As Primo Pobre defines it, the Year of the Dog is the year you cut every non-essential expense and work more than usual. The money freed up by that combination has only one destination: first paying off debt, then building an emergency fund.
The name is on purpose. In Brazilian Portuguese, a "dog's year" is a brutal, grinding one, and it has nothing to do with the Chinese zodiac. It is not meant to be comfortable. You trade instant gratification now for peace of mind later. The idea spread even further after he talked about it on Flow Podcast, and today plenty of Brazilians announce on social media that "this is going to be my Year of the Dog."
Behind it is an idea Primo Pobre repeats often: getting rich has three best friends, work, simplicity and investing. The Year of the Dog pushes the first two to the max so there is room for the third.
Does the Year of the Dog have to last a full year?
No. "Year" is a figure of speech. What matters is the intensity and a defined end. For many people, 3 or 6 well-executed months are enough to change the game.
A small debt, or a first cushion of 1 month of living costs.
Built-up credit card or overdraft debt, plus a starter emergency fund.
Several debts, bad credit, or a full emergency fund goal.
How much can you save in a Year of the Dog?
Enter your numbers. The calculator shows how much you keep each month by cutting expenses and adding extra income, and compares it with what you would save if nothing changed.
That covers 3.1 months of your new cost of living.
A simple simulation that ignores interest on debt and investment returns.
How do you do a Year of the Dog in practice?
Primo Pobre boils it down to cutting back and working more. In practice, you can organize it into six steps:
What should you cut during the Year of the Dog?
Quick test: tap each item to see whether it gets cut or stays.
Food delivery and takeout
Cut. Packed lunches and batch cooking are among the cuts that save the most.
Three or four streaming services
Cut. Keep one at most, and rotate month to month if you like.
A new installment purchase
Cut. A new installment plan is new debt. During the Year of the Dog, the rule is to open none.
Upgrading your phone
Cut. If your current one works, it stays until the end.
Health care and medicine
Keep. Skimping on health costs more later.
A course that raises your income
Keep. If it leads to a raise or freelance work, it is an investment, not an expense.
Gym membership
Swap. If you do not go, cancel it. If you do, compare it with working out at home or outdoors.
One cheap outing a week
Keep. A park, a game night with friends, a discount movie day. It is what keeps you going until the end.
Are you ready to start your Year of the Dog?
Check off what you already have. Once the list is complete, it is time to start.
What are the most common Year of the Dog mistakes?
- Not setting an end date. Endless sacrifice turns into giving up. The Year of the Dog works because it is temporary.
- Cutting without knowing where the money goes. If you cannot see your spending, you cut the coffee and miss the R$50 subscriptions.
- Saving while paying credit card interest. As long as there is expensive debt, paying it off usually beats any investment.
- Going solo in a shared household. If the family is not on board, one person's cut becomes another person's spending.
- Going back to old habits the next day. The goal is to come out of it with a habit, not an urge to make up for everything.
Which app can you use to track your Year of the Dog?
The first step of the Year of the Dog is seeing your money clearly, and doing that by hand, with statements from several banks, is where a lot of people give up. Snabber was built for exactly that part:
Connect banks and cards through Open Finance, and transactions come in on their own, already categorized.
Set how much can go to delivery or entertainment and get an alert before you go over.
See mid-month where your spending is heading and course-correct in time.
A shared space so everyone in the house sees the same numbers.
Start your Year of the Dog by seeing everything
Connect your accounts and find out in minutes where your money goes.
Create my Snabber accountYear of the Dog: frequently asked questions
Who came up with the term Year of the Dog?
The term was popularized by Eduardo Feldberg, known as Primo Pobre, in his YouTube videos and in interviews such as his appearance on Flow Podcast.
Is the Year of the Dog related to the Chinese zodiac?
No. In Brazilian Portuguese, "ano do cão" is slang for a brutal, grinding year. Primo Pobre uses it to describe a stretch of intense sacrifice to fix your finances.
Can you do a Year of the Dog on a low income?
Yes, and low earners are exactly who the idea makes the most sense for. When there is little left to cut, the weight shifts to extra income: overtime, side gigs, selling things you do not use.
Should you invest during the Year of the Dog?
As long as you carry high-interest debt, such as a revolving credit card balance or an overdraft, paying it off usually beats investing. After the debt, the focus is the emergency fund. Long-term investing comes next.
Can couples do the Year of the Dog together?
Yes, and it usually works better that way. Agree together on what gets cut, the goal and the end date, and track the numbers in one shared place so nobody feels policed.
What should you do when the Year of the Dog ends?
Bring back a few treats, but keep the habit of saving a fixed share of your income every month. The Year of the Dog clears the way to start investing regularly.
Original Year of the Dog idea: Eduardo Feldberg, Primo Pobre. This is an independent take by Snabber, with no affiliation to the author. Follow the Primo Pobre channel for more personal finance content (in Portuguese).