munKNEE.com Your Key to Making Money
Cutting out that extra latte is not going to make you wealthy; placing as many good
money habits as possible on auto-pilot is the key to financial stability. This article outlines some ideas on how to command your own financial drones to success.
The above introductory comments are edited excerpts from an article* by Richard Russo, CFP, (moneymusethoughts.wordpress.com) entitled Command Your Own Drones to Financial Success.
The following article is presented courtesy of Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!), and www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com (A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and has been edited, abridged and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.
Russo goes on to say in further edited excerpts:
Now’s the time to establish your own small army of financial drones – and fly your own path to financial success. Here’s how.
1). Budget on auto-pilot.
When you budget on a daily basis it’s tough to feel the positive. It feels like dieting – or dating or root canal – and it’s inevitable you’ll give up because you’re human. You have a busy life. Even if you are proficient at manual tracking, you won’t be able to effectively interpret your long-term spending habits. Analyzing longer-term spending trends (at a higher altitude) will expose where you need to make real improvement…
Take your analysis to a higher level and place on auto-pilot through www.mint.com.
- Mint allows you to accomplish three things:
- See where your money goes,
- make budgets to stay on track, and
- set financial goals for the future.
- Mint connects to your bank accounts and updates automatically.
- It’s free and safe as Mint utilizes bank-level encrypted security.
- Easy-to-read graphs allow you to track spending, income, net worth and account balances over time.
After a couple of months of activity, sit with an objective financial partner. Together, create a game plan to cut the expenses that will make an impact to your bottom line.
Go ahead. Enjoy your fancy coffee. For now. Mint will track your addiction!
2). Pay yourself first.
You’ve heard this one before, right? Don’t roll your eyes.
The best financial rule (and I’m critical of most financial rules of thumb) is easy to follow and from a higher altitude, or the long-term, will result in a substantial positive impact to your bottom line. Before expenses are paid, before you treat yourself to a movie, it’s important to save money for emergencies and for your future – FIRST.
How?
3). Set savings on auto-flight:
- Pay yourself by initiating instructions to move 3% or more into a company retirement account every pay period. Ask your HR department how to accomplish this simple task…
- Establishing instructions to automatically transfer a specific dollar amount, say $25 bucks a month from your checking account into savings.
4). Go stealth on a savings target:
- Every three months, increase the dollars directed from checking to savings by $10. Select an amount that works for you. Think under-the radar increases. Barely noticeable; yet over years, this tiny habit will result in big change (and dollars). You will look forward to saving money because you’ll realize how painless it is!
Forget buying more stuff you don’t need by drone delivery.
Now’s the time to establish your own small army of financial drones – and fly your own path to financial success.
Editor’s Note: The author’s views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.
*http://moneymusethoughts.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/command-your-own-drones-to-financial-success/
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