Success and Failure Blog

Reasons to Start a Personal Budget

We explore how a personal budget plan makes setting financial goals obtainable.  First, write down a paragraph or list of where you would like to see yourself five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty years from now.   Make this list financial, spiritual, career wise, etc.  Pour your heart out and write your true desires and passions.

Next, clearly see where are you are right now; time for some honest introspection.  Do your finances support your goals?  Look at what your earnings are in comparison to your spending.  Similar to starting a business, you need to consider all of the variables.

These variables include things such as what you spend the most money on, what expenses you can easily cut back, and what expenses are unavoidable.  Take a look at your checkbook.  There you will be able to see what you have spent your money on over the last several months.  Go back as far as a year if you can.  Some of the things you are writing checks for might surprise you.  How many of them were actual necessities, and how many could you have easily done without?  Without realizing it, you have now begun making a budget.

A key to success is in the Proverbs 21:5 admonition that, The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.

Next, think over your cash expenditures.  We usually spend a lot of cash on the “little” things.  Write down the items you can clearly recall spending cash on recently.  Are these repetitive items?  Do you purchase them every day?  Every week?  Add them together over the course of a month.  How much of this money could you save, or use to pay down credit card debt, or apply against the principal of your mortgage?  Can you now start to see your personal budget plan coming together?

Saving money alone does not equal happiness.  How does a life free of worry about paying bills and making ends meet sound?  Peace of mind is priceless.  What about being able to be financially free to go where God has given you passion for?  If you are encumbered by debt, you will not be free to serve at full capacity.

Your personal budget plan will help you to spend less than you earn, creating positive cash flow for you to save and to apply to meeting financial obligations such as paying off a car or house faster than you thought possible.

The best part is that it will not take long.  As soon as you begin the initial phase of your personal budget plan, you will be spending less, saving more, and setting financial goals almost immediately.  The achievement process takes time, but you will experience it step by step.  You will have a clear idea as to how you are getting ahead, even before you fully reach your goals.

Get started creating a personal budget now as you are setting financial goals that will lead surely to advantage.

What do you think?  Leave me a reply.

Having money or making a lot of money by itself without having  joy, peace, good health, a great marriage is a very disappointing success.  There are many examples of great success stories like Elvis, Michael Jackson and many others who have lots of money, and they will tell you that they would all trade it in for having good relationships, good health, a great partner, etc.

Focusing On Money:
Focusing on money will lead to eventual failure.  I’ve done both.  There were times when I focused on just making the big bucks…wanting to make it in the worst way.  I learned that lesson in my twenties.  Coming to America, I wanted desperately to make it in this country.  I was in advertising sales then.  I rose to the top very fast, however, my focus was on how much money I could make…and I did make good money.  However, pretty soon I was consumed with having success.  It was a pretty big disappointment, because I was working 60 to 70 hours per week.  I did not have balance in my life.  I’m not saying that you should not have money goals in your life…you should…just don’t make ”Making Money“ your main focus.  What’s amazing is, that the most money I made when I put God first and having fun doing what I was doing.  The money was just an end result of that.

Even focusing on the lack of money works the same way. It’s hard not to focus on money when the rent is due and you’re short.  I understand…I have been there too.  Regardless, you have to change your thinking…your self talk and your focus.  I challenge you to give away money to your church or to a charity when you don’t have enough money…it’s one way to get the focus off yourself…and it works.