If I Could Be Wealthy

If I could be wealthy I wonder what I would be like. Does money change who you are? Would it make me happy - being able to do the things I really want to do? Would the power that comes with money go to my head and make me into someone I do not want to be? Would it help my family?

I know that money doesn't solve certain issues but it does make things a lot more comfortable. Imagine not having to worry about where the money for that next bill or rent payment. If you had a load of cash, vacation budgets would be out of the question. You could just pick up and go, or can you?

There are responsibilities that go along having a lot of money. You have to invest it wisely for it to stay with you. Even if you never hit the big one, do you budget responsibly?

When a large or small amount of money is in your hands, what do you do with it? A wise individual will budget responsibly. Take time to determine if you really need to spend that cash. Ponder the idea of saving it for an emergency or larger purchase. I have heard Suze Orman advise people to save their pennies. She recommends allowing a 10% spending allowance of that savings account. If you want something that is $300, then save $3,000 as an investment in yourself. Work towards that purchase, earn it, save for it.

Budgeting is a vital key to successful living and planning. It is not an easy process to abide by, but once the funds are allocated and the ritual of budgeting is set in our lives, this system gets easier to abide by in time.

Suze Orman's name has been associated with money and proper planning for quite sometime. This lady knows exactly how to rework a financial mess into a livable life. She has been featured on shows like Oprah. Her expert opinions allows her to speak on big news programs like CNN. The world is a place we can make our own, if we handle money correctly and wisely.

Overnight success rarely happens to people, but when it does it can be gratifying. Money can help in fulfilling a lifelong dream and make it a reality. In the case of many who have won large lotteries it can become a disaster as you can see in some of the stories below. Large amounts of cash can be an illusion when the spending begins. Often winners set themselves further in debt than they can ever imagine when the money runs out.

(Thoughtful answers will be featured in quotes)

What would you do if you suddenly became very wealthy?

The draw of my hometown of Las Vegas often sets dreams of striking it rich into the heads of our visitors. Though money can solve financial issues, often a large sum sends people further into debt than before the windfall. Money cannot fix internal issues like low self image or harbored resentments. Budgeting funds and spending wisely will aid financial crisis. Counselling and group therapy can assist in fixing our insides.

And Learn To Spend Wisely

Budgeting takes work. Starting a small budget practice helps teach us to spend wisely. It is difficult to have everything on paper down to the last penny when planning a true budget, but it needs to be done if one were to be responsible with money. A ledger will help track spending. Write one by hand or use one of the handy checkbook programs like Quicken. Either way, track your spending habits over the course of a month's time. Use these receipts and entries to calculate your necessities: rent, utilities, car payment, credit card bill. Then add in a decent grocery fund and calculate how much fuel you need per week. Don't forget to add a small figure to set into a savings account. If you only save $20 a month, it would add up to $480 at the end of a year. Saving $20 a week, the resulting figure is over a thousand dollars.

Simple Monthly Budget

Rent - $900

Utilities - $275

Cell - $65

Internet - $70

Credit Card - $30

Groceries - $400

Fuel - $120

Misc - $160

Savings - $80

Tracking expenses in this manner helps keep the earnings allocated to the right department in the budget. All of the financial planners teach that budgeting is the way to financial freedom, not jackpots or huge windfalls. My experience with Las Vegas has not won me a sizable jackpot, but by storing funds way, I can be a winner by saving for the things I want, a little bit at a time.

Quicken is one of my favorite programs for keeping track of spending habits and setting up a budget. I have used this software personally for a few years. I love how simple it is to see at a glance what my budget is doing. Am I over my limit? Do I have room to wiggle? How will my savings add up over the course of a few years?

Setting one of these up is the tough part, but that only takes a few minutes of typing in figures and naming accounts. Once this is established in the software file, just enter income or spending a few days a month.

Tax Tip:

Saving all of those receipts for tax time? Divide them into months in envelopes so you may find only the ones you need for your tax person. Quicken allows for all tax related items to be marked ahead of time. Just print the report you need and bring that to the tax office instead of that shoe box full of jumbled paper. Don't wait until income tax season to start planning. Keep up to date all year long and stay organized.

Money can be the root of all evil, certainly, but it is a way to house, feed, and to add comfort to our lives. the evil it creates is in the stress it causes when there is not enough to go around. I have to set a tight budget every month to live by, because my income drops drastically at the end of the year. I am forced to live off of savings if I have any. Many years have left me with a stressful holiday season because, I confess, I have not planned well. The older I get, the more I appreciate simple advice and practices like financial budgeting. Things like this take time to cement into our lives, but once the practice is set, the results are amazing.