Critical Elements of Finance

Bottom line maintaining control of your finances can be hard. I believe there are a few critical elements that will help you win the battle. Hopefully sharing these elements will help you understand why I discuss some of the topics that I do on this site. So here we are; the critical elements of your finances:

1. Vision. You will not accomplish anything in life unless you have a vision for it. What better ways to define your vision and make sure you are working toward it than to set some goals. Set some finance goals for yourself and for your family. Big or small, having some goals in place will give you something to reach for and something to track.
2. Planned, controlled spending. I do my best not to use the B word. To me it is a six-letter swear word because it has come to have a negative meaning in our culture, which de-motivates me to do the very thing it is defines… Budget. What ever you want to call it you do need to make sure every dollar has a name, as Dave Ramsey says. Planning your spending helps build character and self control. It also helps to make sure you are in control of you money and your life.
3. Expand your earnings. 90% of us can live on the income that we have, we just need to learn some self control and how to manage ourselves better. Whether you need the extra cash or not, I am always a fan of increasing income. To me, that is where the fun is. There are many ways to do so through the work you do, but also through putting the money you have worked hard to save to good use. I hope to provide helpful tips for both in the future.
4. Savings. No matter how much you make, if you do not learn to put some aside you will never get ahead. Hence learning to save even just a little bit is a necessity. One of my favorite quotes is, “It is not how much money you make but how much you keep and how hard that money works for you.” ‘Nuff said.
5. Motivation and fun! Unless you are a super nerd like me this stuff can get boring. Find ways to make it fun. Having fun in whatever you do will make life enjoyable and will help you keep committed to that which you are doing. Any area of life that you are trying to improve can get discouraging no matter how good it will be in the end. There must be constant motivation and inspiration. That is why I am here… motivation and inspiration… and some fun.

So there you are. Each of the five elements has their own role. You will notice that most of that above is tied to your behavior more than it is to a dollar bill. Hopefully this will provide some insight for you in what to expect out of this blog and why I post what I post.