Take This Financial Planning Gift Horse with Grateful Hands

Financial planning software is free. Do not fret if the business model does not make sense. Just use it to keep track of your expenses.

Money can be like water. You keep spending drops without ever toting them up. Suddenly, lake levels have dropped alarmingly. Personal and family consumption can be shocking.

Tracking cash should be not less frequent than daily. There are plenty of one dollar bills that slip through fingers with nary a thought. That was fine until summer 2007. The days of gay abandon will return. Tighten belts until then.

That is the great thing with all electronic systems. They can track every outgoing dime. You can study the rows and columns over and again. Like Scripture, you will get better with numbers with daily practice. Soon, a picture will emerge of where and when you splurge. Credit cards and bank transactions are great for staying in touch with your spending habits. It is just a matter of extending the discipline to all the cash you withdraw and blow.

It helps if you have dependant children. Mutual love helps to stick to painful budgets. It makes every dollar you save worth so much more. Keep the future in focus. Like Caesar, keep muttering “this too shall pass”.