May 31 2008

Start Your Own Payroll and Pay Yourself First

Posted by bpaul in Money Management, Moolah Ramblings
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If you want to start building wealth, one of the best and effective strategies is to start paying yourself first. The crazy thing is most people have read or heard this before from financial books, magazines, radio, and talk shows. However, every month you find yourself back in the same place paying the bills, and realizing that you are broke. I know people in general do not like to see themselves as self-fish, but this is one of the few times you must think of yourself and start paying yourself first. Now, when I say pay yourself first, I don’t mean going to your favorite shopping mall and buying whatever you want. I mean start putting money away into a mutual fund, money market account, or your retirement portfolio. If this is new to you, I would start by committing to a specific amount for at least six months.

I just can’t swing it!

Think it sounds too hard? Before you start to place all these negative financial thoughts in your head, let me ask you this? If you don’t put away for yourself and family who else is going to do it for you? If you’re a college graduate with a new job, you can’t wait till 35 or 40 to start thinking about putting money aside for retirement. If you’re a young married couple you should not believe that you need a new house, car, sofa, entertainment center, and any material goods you desire are more important than securing your financial future.

Debt will not help you

Ok, so you’re putting money aside in your mutual funds or 401k, but have accumulated a great deal of debt along the way. When it comes to finance, a positive plus a negative does not equal something postive. Look at it this way… we were not born into the world for the purpose of supporting Visa, Mastercard, and all the mortgage companies that gave us all these loans. One measure of our existence is to work towards creating a pleasant life and creating a prosperous future for ourselves and family.

Taking control of your personal finances creates a sense of empowerment that will reach and improve other areas of your life. The freedom that comes from knowing that you and your family are no longer a servant to the mighty dollar and that you can withstand any financial circumstances that may arise in future cannot be expressed in words. Honestly, I’m am not there yet but I know by paying myself first it will eventually push me towards that greater goal of being financially independent. Start today!!