Just in time for holiday shopping, I want to discuss a new term I’ve learned: Exceptional Accounting. Thanks to an interesting podcast by Dr. Katy Milkman titled Expect the Unexpected, I now have a name for when people tell me they only spend $5,000/month except in months where they have to buy their ski pass…
Budget Method #3 – Write-It-and-Track-It This last system for managing your expenses is the one people mostly associate with making a budget. And probably the reason so few of us do it. But, there is a reason it’s still around: it works! Just like keeping a food journal helps people lose weight by making…
Budget Method #2: Save First System I’ll let you in on a shameful I-should-know-better-because-I’m-a- financial-planner secret of mine. I HATE making a budget and tracking my expenses. So, I don’t. “WHAT?!?! Don’t they make you turn in your meticulous monthly budget with corresponding receipts in CFP Class?” you say. NO! What’s my secret? Well,…
Budget Method #1: Envelope System Maybe you’ve heard your grandparents talk about how they managed money in their younger years. They got paid, cashed their paychecks, and divided cash into envelopes labeled for each monthly bill: Rent, utilities, groceries, gas, clothes, and entertainment. When the cash in each envelope ran out, you were done spending…
Budgeting: Why we hate it and how to make it our friend. Do you know why so few people have a budget? Because budgeting stinks! Budgets are just like diets. They call to mind what you can’t do and how you can’t enjoy life. A general feeling of deprivation surrounds the word “budget.” And, as…
