I don't care if you're so broke that you can barely pay attention, or if you have money flowing out of your ears, if you don't TAKE control of your money, then your money will end up controlling you like a puppet on a string. Being in control of your money provides a feeling of security, and it's that feeling of security that enables you to actually enjoy the money that you have.
The key to everything in this blog post is that YOU must be the one to do this. Not the government, not your job, certainly not your friends and family, and not even your circumstances. As you read this, you need to know point blank that you are the sole author of your own financial future. If you want to know where your money went, always ask the person in the mirror. In other words, It's all on YOU. You can't fix anything that you don't take responsibility for. Money is no exception.
Embrace the responsibility, hold yourself accountable, and thank God you have the ability to seize control of your money, because owning your behavior with money is the ONLY way you will have the power to make changes and properly manage your financial future. This is the key to having the peace of mind that it takes to truly enjoy your finances.
Here are 9 ways to control your money and enjoy your financial future:
1. Give a portion of your money to those less fortunate. If you want to really control your money and enjoy it, start giving a portion of it away. Tithing, giving money to those who need it the most, or however you plan to give, is your choice. Just give. Give when you have little and continue to give when you have alot. I'm a firm believer that the principle of giving is one of the most important things you can do with money, which is why it's at the top of this list. Don't wait till you get alot to give. Start now and watch the difference it makes. Don't spend wasted energy worrying about what someone is going to do with what you give, and just honor the Godly principle of giving.
2. Spend less than you make. Make a new unique budget every month, or every two weeks when you get paid. Follow it to the tee. Zero based budgeting where you tell every one of your dollars what to do, is always best, but if you don't want to do that, then at least do something to record exactly where you plan to spend your money, and be sure you don't over spend. If you have to cut something out to get your expenses under your income, do it. And by the way, your budget doesn't have to be fancy or sophisticated, with some incredible budgeting software. Pencil and paper will do!
3. Avoid debt - Make a vow to yourself to not take on any new debt and then make a written plan to payoff the current debt you have. As long as you have debt, then each of those creditors control you and they expect payment, regardless of your situation or circumstance. Their job is not to care if you eat, if you have heat in your home, or whether or not you have money saved for a rainy day. There job is to get you to pay them. Debt is not your friend. There are alot of people nowadays irresponsibly telling people that in order to be wealthy you must borrow using "good debt", or to use "other peoples money". My take is simply this: the more debt you have, the less real control you have.
4. Invest in appreciating assets - Appreciating assets do not consist of cars, concert tickets, clothes, hair, or vacations. Appreciating assests are things like real estate, ownership in businesses, and mutual funds and index funds. Money grows, but money takes time to grow. Have patience and start investing.
5. Start and build a business - Building a business, outside of your "job" does two things for you.
1. It gives you the opportunity to BUILD, CONTROL, and be the BOSS of something.
That's empowering.
2. It gives you a better opportunity to create wealth because YOU control the destiny of your business. That's also empowering.
There is a psychological boost that comes with the "resposnsibility" (there goes that word again) that comes with a business. When you run your own business, what they do, or don't do, on the job, matters a whole lot less.
6. Change your thinking. Your mindset controls your money. Get out of the mindset that says it's ok to rely on others to give you stuff. The government handing you handouts is not your friend. The line of thinking where you rely on the government is a position of powerlessness. Think positive, think realistically, think power and control, and think differently than others. As you make changes you will ultimately shape your own personal philosopy around money. Your thinking will guide your future responses to money, your future approaches to money, and your future uses of your money. Your thinking about money dictates your behavior with money. Think like everyone else and you will behave like everyone else with money.
7. Read non-fiction books about wealth. You need to make concerted efforts to learn and take in new knowledge. You don't have to wait on the news shows or popular Facebook posts to tell you what to read, when to read, or what to think. Take it upon yourself to read so that you can learn as much as you can about money. You want to learn how to use it, how to earn more of it, how to give it away, how to save and invest it, and how to grow it. Keep your reading away from the gurus who write books about how to "Become a Millionair In One Year", and the "How to Quit Your Job Tomorrow". Leave that bologna in the meat aisle. We are building a reading list on this blog. Click here for a start to your reading list: https://www.smartmoneybro.com/books
8. Focus on your net worth and grow it. Check out a previous blog post on this topic:
Remember, whatever you decide to focus on, it will grow and manifest itself. So start by calculating your net worth. You can do this right now. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and on the left side write down the value of what you own and on the right side write down the amounts you owe. Do the math and subtract the amount you owe from the amount you own. If you get a positive number, that's your net worth. If you get a negative number, then you have a net loss and it means you have no net worth (on paper only, of course). Don't take it personal. Just go to work on it. Your financial future will be much better if you know this number and concentrate on it.
9. Spend an incredible amount of energy on #'s 1-8 and never complain. Complaining is a sign of weakness and powerlessness!
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