Relearning the Basics

I thought I was good at handling money. Until one day Paul asked me how much was our surplus last January. It was like I was punched on the face! I could not produce the exact amount.

Yep! I was humiliated with myself. I was disappointed. I thought I had it all planned out. I didn't notice that I was too lax with our money.

But mind you, I never missed a single bill. I was also able to deposit for our savings/investments.

This February I am happy to say that I monitored my expenses on a daily basis and am able to produce the exact amounts.

So at any time of the day Paul can easily see where our money is going and how much we are spending on a particular commodity.

		Target	Actual	Savings	Comments
household	Electric bill	1000			no bill yet
	Water bill	300	183.5	116.5	paid
	Cable and Internet	1190			no bill yet
	Food/Miscellaneous	6000	2849.76	3150.24	on track
	Leisure	2000			on track
	Car Expenditure	5000	1500	3500	on track

That’s it! That’s our budget for the whole month. Believe it or not we are able to simplify our budget and make it work for us.

It has become a rule in the house that we both have our allowances/play money that we could spend even without the knowledge of the partner. The strategy gives us freedom to move around. It’s also empowers each of us that even though we are saving for more important things, we are not forgetting the present.

Till next time. ^_^

Going Back to the Basics

Most people think and act in complicated ways. Last week I was solving a math problem. I searched for formulas which I think can solve it. The formulas were so complicated and I ended up not solving the problem. And then I took a break and refreshed my mind. Then suddenly I realized I complicate things too much and forgot the basic equation.

That scenario can happen in real life especially in our finances. We think in complicated ways and we forget to stick with the basics. We want shortcuts. We want instant.

For example, a person wants to get rich. He wants it so bad that he is willing to do anything for it. Then a certain organization offers him answers to his quest and he agreed to be part of it. He sold things for the organization and earn a lot of money from it. He earned more than enough that he felt he was having so much and began spending the fortune. He spent so much and then one day he found himself back to square one.

What did he forget? Obviously, he forgot to save and invest. He was clouded by the emotion of having too much that he feels it is alright to spend too much also. He forgot the saying, “everything that goes up must come down.”

If you are at the peak of your career or starting to go to the top don’t forget about the basics. Save and invest for the future. And stay invested as long as you can.

~till then