Managing Your Money
by Ralph Jean-Paul
Managing your finances and making your money grow is a matter of knowing how much you bring in, knowing how much you spend; then knowing how much you want to bring in and knowing how much you want to spend. When dealing with financial matters, you have to look at where your money is coming from. These days many people have multiple saving and checking accounts as well as brokerage accounts, 401k, and even your helium account has money in it.
Find your net worth
Before you manage, you have to know what you are worth. Your net worth is how much money you have subtracted by how much money you owe. Everything that you have that can be cashed in for money falls in your asset category. That would be stocks and mutual funds you own, cars and houses that are paid off, money in every account you own, anything that you could cash in for money. How much you owe is your liability. Add up your mortgage principle and all car, college, and credit card loans. The difference is your net worth. Once you know that, you can decide where you want to be financially.
How much comes in, how much goes out
When I started to manage my finances I created an Excel spreadsheet. I set it up so I could input how much I spend on bills, tithes, food, gas, and entertainment. Then I put in how much money I make monthly. Once you see your finances in that way it is easier to see where the bulk of your money is being spent. For me it was on food. I decided to stop eating out so much and buy more groceries and I saved a bundle.
Do things automatically
One of the easiest ways to focus on how much you want to come in is to stop focusing on how much you owe. I set up my bills to be withdrawn from my account on the same day each month. You should have total of how much your bills are each month. On the day they withdrawal the money, check your account to make sure that the amounts are what you expected. That way all of your bills are out of the way for 30 days and now you can focus on bringing in and saving the money you have. I also suggest having an automatic withdrawal into an on-line savings account. Most of them have a high interest rate (4.5% on average) and since it's automatic you never have to worry about how much you are saving each year because you'll already know.
Always have different branches
If you have a helium account or an ebay account you are on your way. Having different branches of income makes it possible to make money while you sleep. The point of having different branches of income coming in is not to get rich from one, but to accumulate from many. You might be surprised at the end of the year when you see how much fruit those different branches bring you.
Managing your money comes from an understanding of how money comes and goes. Financial freedom and abundance is possible but you have to be willing to take the steps.
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