Budgeting 101 -

Posted on January 15, 2010 by The Engineer

I was sloppy with my money when I first started out.  I didn’t keep good books, I didn’t keep separate accounts, I didn’t keep good track of what was happening.  This can be devastating to a new venture.  The best businessmen have sharp accountants who produce in depth financial reports, which they read consistently.  There’s a reason for this.

Once I started keeping track of my money, I started having more and more.  If you’ve read some of Robert Kiyosaki’s books, you’ll know he talks about people’s financial IQs.  He says the reason people aren’t good with money is because they’re scared.  They don’t want to look at their bank accounts, they don’t want to budget, they don’t want to take control of their money.  It’s a big process, and like anything, takes time.

If you don’t have control of every dollar you have, I suggest rectifying that immediately.   I need to know where every one of my dollars is, I need to know how much it’s earning me, or how much it’s costing me.

It is as simple as sitting down right now and thinking about how much money you have, your income, and your expenses.  Here are two useful excel budgeting sheets.  Feel free to download them and use them to help you get control and raise your financial IQ.

Personal Budget

Personal Monthly Budget

They are similar – download both of them and then use the one you like best.