Getting Started With a Budget
Using a budget is one of the smartest money management moves you could make. For guidance on using a paper & pencil system, read the Budget Quick Start Guide and make use of the Cash Flow Plan, Cash Flow Tracker, and Recommended Spending Guidelines, all found in the Resources section. For help using the online tool Mint.com, watch my tutorials here, here, and here. And for help with the Envelope system, read this article.
Remember, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” – Proverbs 21:5
I’ve reviewed lots of people’s budgets (or, as I prefer, “cash flow plans”) over the years. No two are exactly the same because people have different incomes, fixed expenses, priorities, and more. That’s to be expected. When it comes to budgeting, there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all. However, there are certain overarching approaches to budgeting […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. 10 secrets of the millionaires next door (Kiplinger). The great thing is how accessible/doable each “secret” is. How much is your education worth? Depends how much you make (Bloomberg). Ten years from now, how people pay for college may look very […]
Throughout their marriage, John and Jessica had maintained separate credit cards and apparently didn’t talk about how they were each using their cards. After 12 years of marriage, Jessica was shocked to discover that John had racked up $68,000 of credit card debt. Instead of asking for forgiveness, John asked Jessica to co-sign for a […]
Waiting can be tough. We seem to be hardwired to resist it. And our culture does us no favors here. Whatever we’re interested in buying, there are ways — and we’re strongly encouraged — to have it now. Paying for it? That can wait until later. But there are great rewards for those who learn […]
The start of a new year means it’s time to look back on your cash flow plan (aka budget) from 2018 and create a new plan for 2019. A good place to start a review of last year’s cash flow is to see which, if any, categories came in over budget. Of course, I hope […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. The 10 most valuable financial lessons I learned in 2018 (The Simple Dollar). There are some good lessons for all of us on this list. The 10 best financial resolutions for 2019 (Forbes). I like these resolutions a lot (although […]
As I look back on 2018, I’m grateful for many things, one of which is that you’ve chosen to subscribe to this blog. In case you missed any of these, here are the 10 most-read posts from the year, along with a few others that I especially enjoyed writing. 1) The absolute best way to […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Seven ideas (Humble Dollar). Personal finance knowledge everyone should have. Dismantling my dreams, one brick at a time (Slate). All those home renovation shows make it look so easy. But one couple found out it’s much tougher than it looks […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Where are sales too good to be true? (Consumer Reports). Those deep discounts may not be all that they appear to be. Don’t get blindsided by home repair costs (MarketWatch). I generally recommend budgeting at least $200 month for maintenance and repairs, […]
There’s a new report out that says very few Americans are financially healthy. Working with researchers at the University of Southern California, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) developed an eight-question survey that was taken by a representative sample of U.S. adults, leading to what it calls the U.S. Financial Health Pulse. Its results […]
