It is a fact that when you are in control of your finances and know where your money is coming from and where it is going, you feel more relaxed and less stressed. The common mentality that I see too often is to avoid all things finance until you are forced to face it. Don’t wait until anxiety strikes to take a realistic look at where you are and where you want to go.
We don’t have to be stressed over our finances. We can take back the control and monitor our income and expenses. It seems so simple to keep your receipts in order, track them in an Excel spreadsheet or in a software program, keep your bank statements balanced, and review your month end reports but it works every time!
When you have control of your finances and your paper trail, you have control of your circumstances. This control will tell you a lot about where you are currently and where you are headed in the future. If you are self-employed, this information will help you set your income level and the hours you have to work to keep it all flowing. If you are an employee, this information will help you with your planning and forecasting so that you will know if you can afford a sick day or a leave of absence for a family emergency.
We all have to keep our eyes open and watch out for ourselves because nobody else is going to do it. We can get help when and where we need it but we are ultimately in charge of our financial destiny. If you don’t have time to track every little receipt, get help! You do have to read your monthly reports at the very
least. This is your roadmap! A good bookkeeper can help you read and understand what is happening in your financial world and help in making a plan to improve it if it isn’t working out like you want. Don’t chase money, make it work for you!
If you are a spender, focus on becoming a saver! Do you really need to eat out every day? Pack a lunch and put the savings into a separate account. If you are spending $5-$10 per day, you could save $25-
$50 per week, or $100-$200 per month, or $1,200 to $2,400 per year. This would be an easy jumpstart to getting your emergency fund built quickly with one small change. Almost effortless!
If you use this one tip and share it with your kids, you will raise a generation of savers and people who are in control of their financial future. This will be the generation that doesn’t fight over money because they will be aware of what is going on around them and be smart enough to surround themselves with like-minded people. I wish I would have learned more as a child about being in charge of my money by learning how to track it. It’s never too late to get started!
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