If you found extra money that you didn’t know you had, how would you spend it? Budget might feel like a swear word to you – something that will constrain you from living the way you want. After all you work hard, shouldn’t you be able to spend it? Yes, but you also want to create wealth and financial freedom, too? No matter where you are in your wealth journey, revisiting you cashflow (nicer way of saying budget) is key to understanding your overall financial picture. The first step is writing down what you own vs. what you owe aka your net worth. Then your cashflow, understanding what goes in and what goes out of your checking, savings, and credit accounts. Once you have all that together, you can more easily keep track of your expenses and can hold yourself accountable. Utilizing tools like we have at Forethought Planning or other online resources.
I often say that you need to “date your money,” what does this mean? It means spending time together with it, categorizing your expenses, and factoring in what is important to you.
If you spend time with it maybe, you could be discover you can:
– Save more than you thought
– Reward yourself with a fun vacation
– Make that career change
– Retire early
– Buy that cabin
– Leave a legacy you always dreamed of
This all starts with cashflow. We often think of it as someone who is just learning about their money but it’s not – it’s ALL of us. Trust me you’re not alone, so many clients no matter their age or point in their wealth journey – cashflow is important. Tracking and analyzing the spending and then implementing strategy to help them get to the goals they’ve always wanted.
SIDE NOTE: Cashflow is REALLY important to understand especially as the costs of our regular lifestyle expenses continues to go up – aka inflation.
Disclaimer: We will not be delivering direct advice to your financial situations. These segments will be made available as educational resources for you to take back to your personal board of directors – financial planner/advisor, accountant/tax preparer, and/or attorney.
