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
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. A money-making machine: why a Roth IRA is your retirement best friend (USA Today). If you have kids and they have earned income, get them started on a Roth. Long after you’re gone, they’ll continue to think very nice thoughts about you! […]
A divorce attorney once told me that when money is the issue that comes between couples, as it often is, the most common problem is that the spouses were living separate financial lives. Often, unbeknownst to the other, one was taking their relationship to the edge of a financial cliff, usually by racking up a […]
Weekly roundup of interesting and helpful personal finance articles from around the web. What’s a better investment? Bitcoin or a Roth IRA? (Paul Merriman). One of the most reasonable articles I’ve read about cryptocurrency investing. Dollar cost averaging vs. lump sum: the definitive guide (Of Dollars and Data). The lump sum wins, if you can […]
With all the stuff two people bring into a marriage, it’s no wonder that money is a very frequent topic of dispute. They were raised by different sets of parents who did the whole money thing in their unique way. They had different personal financial experiences. They have different temperaments, and they bring into marriage […]
Sheila has long been an expert at living beneath her means. Even when she was making a relatively low salary and living in an expensive city, she never worried about not having enough. She always had money in the bank. Because she grew up as one of five kids with a stay-at-home mom and schoolteacher […]
How in-synch are you and your spouse when it comes to money? On a scale of 1-10, with 1 meaning you’re living on separate financial planets and 10 meaning you complete each other’s financial sentences, where on the scale would you put your marriage? Now do quick reality-check by asking your spouse the same question. […]
Using money well is one of those things we never get fully right. We’re constantly trying to make changes, improvements. And the bigger the change, the greater the challenge. That’s why I’ve been taking an in-depth look at the findings from Switch, Chip and Dan Heath’s excellent book on “How to Change Things When Change […]
Are you trying to make a positive change in your finances or some other area of your life? How clear are you about the change you’re trying to make? As Chip and Dan Heath researched Switch, their helpful book about what it takes to truly change something about our lives, they discovered several surprises. This […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. How to spend your money for maximum happiness (Popular Science). The latest on what science tells us about the money/happiness connection. Here are creative ways to teach your kids about charity (CNBC). Good ideas for cultivating hearts of generosity in our […]
It’s easy to make managing money more complicated than it needs to be. That’s because money isn’t just an objective “means of exchange” as the dictionary defines it. Money is wrapped up in our emotions – our hopes, dreams, and fears. And our use of it is strongly influenced by the many messages of our […]
