Account For Your Spending: Start Now
Account For Your Spending: Start Now
Pay yourself first!
I have to come clean. I give advice all day long (mostly to women) about overspending and last year I slipped into this problem myself. Ironically it happened as a result of becoming more successful and I stopped budgeting rigorously and my spending outpaced my additional income.
Now that I think about it, that's exactly what happened to my weight when I stopped journaling and planning my meals. It got out of control.
This is an important phenomenon to observe because it suggests we have to double our budgeting efforts as our careers advance. We must institute daily accountability in our spending or we won't increase our net worth.
Most women with whom I work have a very hard time saving and building wealth. Many come to me with a new inheritance or lump sum from the sale of a house but those who come to me with a large salary and a lifestyle to maintain have a hard time saving money.
I recommend a "pay yourself first" strategy whereby we take an amount out of their checking account every pay period and add it their investment account. This works well and most clients don't take it back or have a problem maintaining this savings system. However, over the last few years many clients took out home equity lines and ran up spending against their homes against my approval. We have a lot of debt to pay down and their spending habits are getting worse.
Implement an annual budget and break it down by month and then by week and then by each day. Take a hard look at it and cut out some expenditures and just say "no" to spending more. Implement a "pay yourself first" strategy and save this amount every month NO MATTER WHAT!
If you qualify...put the money in a ROTH IRA. You can take the money out if you need to, but it's one of the best long term retirement savings plans available.
Get started today on building a financial safety net and long term saving plan. Little by little it will add up.
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