Make Personal Budgeting A Habit
For many people, their idea of a budget is looking at their checking account to see if they still have money left. If they do, then they feel they are within their budget! That may keep them from overspending, but such a lack of money awareness will not get them on the road to the goals of financial freedom and creating wealth.
A single guy or gal can sometimes get away with winging their monthly expenses on a short-term basis. But once you become a couple or a family, there is no hiding from the necessity for financial budgeting planning. When you have to pay a mortgage/rent, car payments, braces, sports fees and equipment, ballet lessons, band instruments, cheerleader camp AND you want to invest for college education and eventually retirement, just looking at your checking account won’t cut it. Both spouses have to understand the importance of budgeting, and agree on a budgeting program for the family. No matter how much planning and budgeting is done, unless both spouses support the idea of financial budgeting, the plan cannot work. Military Budgeting 101 - What is Budgeting?Many military families and younger military members just starting out, both officer and enlisted, often find it hard to make ends meet. We don't do a very good job of teaching money matters in our school systems. So unless you learned the concept of budgeting from your parents, you may be asking, "What is budgeting?" The definition of budgeting may vary, depending on your purposes, and whether you are engaging in personal budgeting or business budgeting. The word "budget" comes from the French word "bougette" or "purse," and generally refers to a list of all expected income and expenses. Basically, it is a plan for saving and spending. One of the best ways to begin the process of creating a budget is to keep detailed records of your spending for an entire month. Military Budgeting 101 - |
Personal budgeting for military families or single service members is a crucial part of your military readiness and peace of mind. Budgeting planning with your spouse prior to your deployment will help ease the stress on both of you. Making personal budgeting a habit will be vital in helping you make the most of your military pay and will start you on the road to your goal of financial freedom. | Budget Tips: Credit Cards can be a double-edged sword. If you have problems using credit cards responsibly, stick to cash and debit cards. Buy things on a credit card ONLY if you know you will pay it off when the bill comes. I highly recommend you have only one credit card, which you should make sure you pay off every month. |
The bottom line is that personal budgeting, regardless of your income level, is crucial if you want to ensure that you are keeping more and more of what you make. In turn, the more you keep the more wealth you can build.
Military families can get free budgeting help at a variety of on-base and online services, including Air Force Aid Society, Army Emergency Relief, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.
We'd like to thank our guest author, former Air Force Space and Missile Operations officer Luis Amato, webmaster at Wealth-Steps.com, for the inspiration for this article, as well as the majority of its content. If you're one of the fortunate few who has already gotten your family out of debt, and you're ready to begin building wealth for your future, be sure to check out Wealth-Steps.com.
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