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 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 […]
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, […]
I just signed up to do something I really don’t want to do, and I’d like to encourage you to do the same. Not the exact same thing I signed up for, just something you may not necessarily want to do. Let me explain. You see, there are plenty of things I want, and I’m […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Is your brain wired for wealth? (Jason Zweig). A long read, but worth the effort for anyone who wants to invest better. 6 ways to lower the cost of college (The White Coat Investor). That ACT/SAT test prep course may be well […]
Would you like to achieve uncommon financial success? As I read the business classic, “Good to Great,” I couldn’t help but think that the principles used by the unusually successful businesses profiled in the book are directly applicable to how we manage money. In the book, author Jim Collins takes a close look at a […]
A weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. 1 million kids suffer ID theft, so parents beware (CBS Money Watch). Checking to see if your children even have credit reports isn’t easy, but it’s important. Peer-to-peer payments carry risks (Chicago Tribune). With P2P apps, the rules are different, and so […]
