MONEY: A USER GUIDE

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A Sound Financial Plan

A fundamental element of financial security is the Sound Financial Plan - otherwise known as a budget.

For those living on a less than adequate income, every cent earned should be earmarked for a specific purpose. Spending should be a deliberate act undertaken to satisfy a specific need.

There is nothing terribly difficult about handling money well. It's basic common sense. The challenge is to do it in as little time as possible, and that's the problem most people have with budgets. It's not that budgets don't work - because they do. It's that a good budget takes a lot of time and effort to produce. And most people are just too impatient. Once you've got one, it takes a lot of time to maintain.

But it doesn't have to. The advantage of adopting a method thirty years in the making is that it could save you thirty years. Not only does the book explain how to manage your money, it explains how to do so efficiently, so you have time to do other things besides tracking expenses, itemizing receipts, and digging through your file cabinet.

I have work-arounds for all the unpleasant aspects of maintaining a budget. That's one thing this book has to offer. Another is how to prioritize expenses. I have taken a page from Maslow; Deficit needs are satisfied first (biological, safety & security). Then Growth needs. I consider need satisfaction to be either essential, non-essential, or required . Example:

If I were to decide I needed some form of transportation, and that, given my unique circumstances - location, income, current financial obligations, etc. - that I needed a car (as opposed to public transportation, a scooter, a bicycle, etc.), the car would be an Essential. Registration, insurance, and maintenance would be Requisites - necessary by virtue of association (with an essential) - all of which would be considered Transportaion Expenses. The pin-striping and 70-inch rims would, of course, be Non-essentials.

Another thing the book has to offer is how to let the bank and credit card companies do the expense tracking, record-keeping, and document storage and retrieval. By utilizing a variety of forms of payment, each specific to the nature of an expense, common banking and credit card features can simulate those services. If the bank and credit card companies are willing to do the grunt work, let 'em. Why not save a few trees in the process. I have no problem with collateral advantage.

The tables are the crux of the issue. But before we get there, I just want to mention the other rule. Yes, there are but two. And this one is every bit as important, if not more-so, than Rule #1. If you remember nothing else of what you read here, if you leave this site to never return, consider this one bit of advice inviolate, and you will not suffer financial difficulties, for so long as thou shalt live.

Rule #2:

SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN

Strict observance of this rule is absolutely necessary. To defy it is to risk financial suicide. Unless you are financially independent - i.e., beholden to no man or institution - you cannot truly be free, despite what the Constitution says. When you are in debt, your life is not your own. Live, or be lived; the choice is yours.

To routinely flout this rule, to make of habit of spending more than you earn, assures your days are doomed, that you will succumb to stress and worry, that your lawn will be choked with weeds, and your kids will be ugly. Don't make me say "I told you so!".

On the other hand, financial security is a great confidence-builder. The self-assurance that results form knowing you have complete control over your finances will transform your outlook on life. I stand by this claim because I have experienced it myself. And with that, I give you.