Many people cite money as the major source of stress in their lives. According to a recent CBS News article, 64% of adults say that not only are their finances a cause of stress in their lives, they’re the number one cause of stress in their lives, more than even work, family, or health. That said, having money woes exacerbates problems in all those other areas. That being the case, it’s logical to conclude that being able to manage money reaps some major benefits, including adding to a person’s overall happiness quotient. Perhaps you are among those who are worried about how your finances are affecting your happiness. If so, read on to learn how to better take care of your money.
Why You Should Manage Your Money
An article on the The Balance website points out that many people hate to budget. Even the word “budget” feels restrictive to them. However, not budgeting can actually cause you to have less money in the end. Here’s why: Often you wind up overspending because you don’t keep track of where your money goes. When that happens, you end up with less money to not only spend on fun activities like movies or coffee with friends, but you also wind up having less money for necessities like food, bills, and rent.
While some may argue that an evening out with friends is frivolous, it turns out that it’s good for your health and your happiness (and therefore, a worthy pursuit to spend your money on.) According to The Huffington Post, spending time with your friends makes you both happier and healthier. Going out is sometimes a part of that. Managing your money allows you to do that.
The Issue
Many people don’t budget because they never learned how. It’s an acquired skill and a discipline like many other skills. However, even if you didn’t learn to care for your money when you were growing up doesn’t mean you can’t learn now. LifeHacker has a few tips for those who’d like to learn more about taking care of their money.
First, it’s important that people learn to spend less than they earn. For example, if you take home $2,000 a month, but spend even $50 over your monthly budget each month, you’re going to be $600 in the hole by the end of the year. That money needs to come from somewhere. If you fall into this
My mother once said, “Spend your money wisely.” Ever since then I have. Now I want to spend my money on something special, like seeing my sister in Hawaii. In order to have these special things I have to earn money.
* Create a budget- creating a budget will help you not spend more money than you have. Creating a budget will also help you stay out of debt.
A budget is something I take as seriously as education: without it, you’d be nowhere but miserable. My mother racked up a lot of debt before leaving my dad and I. She was and is legally supposed to send child support, but she never has. My dad spent until 2008 trying to repay the debt she left us with while she was living in Hawaii buying multiple cars and living in luxury. When I was old enough to understand this, I promised myself that I would never go into debt if I could help it. At my school, Personal Finance is a graduation requirement; while some students were complaining that we were only watching Dave Ramsey “ramble on”, I took it with all seriousness. I would rather listen to Dave Ramsey talk about budgeting on the radio in exchange of not going $60,000 in debt and losing my house because the payments are too steep. As Calvin Coolidge once said, “The only way I know of escape from that constant tragedy is to keep running expenses low enough so that something may be saved to meet the day when earnings may be small.” Knowing that President Coolidge not only shared this value, but practiced it in everyday life as well, made me respect him even more than I already
My personal finances are solid and on track with my attitudes towards money and savings. This budget exercise is common practice for me as I keep track of every dollar I spend. I am a saver and I keep track of my savings using a spreadsheet and updating my information almost every day. Budgeting is a necessary step in order to figure out where exactly money is going and how much of it is being allocated to different items.
On April 1st, 2014 in Washington D.C., General Motors (GM) Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra testified in front of a panel of senators regarding the company’s late delay in addressing a defect in ignition switches, causing cars to lose power and injuring or killing the drivers. While GM has issued a recall on cars that are known to have this defective product, the problem lies in the delay of action on the part of GM, who are accused of knowing about the defect as early as 2001.
Although a budget is one part of this process, we must learn to save money first. Specifically, in this book it says to set aside one-tenth of what we earn and save it (ch.5). Setting aside one-tenth of what we earn allows us to make more suitable decisions on what we do with the other nine-tenths to live our daily lives. After a certain point, the one-tenth that we save every time we earn grows more and more to be able to buy the things we want or even really need.
A budget refers to a financial plan that represents the allocation of the income to various expenditure channels such as expenses, savings, and debt repayment. A personal budget is important because avoiding financial surprises and keeping financial stress down helps avoid a crisis and allows you to focus on your overall goals. You cannot avoid all risks in life but if you plan your finances to live within your means, you can avoid being kicked out of your home, losing your car and other terrible things that a solid budget would help you avoid. Knowing what you can afford is a central life skill. Unfortunately, many do not budget even though they know they should (Wagoner, 2012).
Money is a main worry for some people. It is a necessity for anyone who is trying to succeed in life. Many believe that the only way to success is to have a
How to properly manage money is something that should be taught to young people because it is a very important asset in everyday life. “Total consumer debt in the United States stands at nearly $2.6 trillion dollars. That works out to be nearly $8,500 in debt for every man” (Anderson). Many times teenagers are known for “throwing away” their money by spending it on unnecessary things. This is something that could easily be avoided if students were taught the proper techniques on saving and spending money. There are many different skills that students could learn if personal finance was taught in the school system. Managing money is one of those very important skills and would help to lessen the number of young people spending irresponsibly instead of
MP Dunleavey, is the author of Money Can Buy Happiness. She is an award-winning personal finance author, editor, consultant, specializing in women and money. She is also a former columnist for The New York Times, and MSN Money. Dunleavey points out some good ideas about financial key terms to validate how spending money when makes you happy, makes a lot of sense. It’s a usual advice about retirement and paying down debt but that’s always a given. The best parts of this book are the parts that focus on happiness and evaluating if you are using money for its intended purpose.
We all have heard the phrase “money can’t buy you happiness.” That phrase is a lie because mostly everything in today’s society revolves around money. The things people like revolve around money too. What a coincidence? Let’s say a person is upset so they go buy their favorite ice cream because they know it will make them happy. That person had the money to invest in something that made them happy. Or on an even bigger let’s say someone has been fantasizing about a car and they finally get enough money to purchase their dream car. This person is likely to be very happy. If it was not for the money, they would not have gotten that dream car, so basically the money made them happy. The truth is money makes people happy.
Maurie Backman, finance writer for the Motley Fool argues that money can buy happiness - if the money is spent right. To be more specific, money and savings can be used to purchase free time to enjoy some leisure activities, such as buying a new TV to watch better pixelation and broadcasting, watching a movie with close friends, etc. These leisure activities did make people happier, according to a survey of 6,000 adults, which was conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Backman emphasizes, “....part of the reason [Americans] are so behind on savings is because [Americans] are paying for
Try to make a budget, it will be your blueprint for your finances. The first step for anyone wanting to take control of their finances is to make a budget. A budget will allow you to understand where your money is going and enable you to adjust your spending by designating how much you can afford. Creating a budget is a good idea for everyone, but especially for individuals with limited income. Write down your budget, with specific categories of spending, and stick to it. Start slowly by using a percentage on how much you will save versus spend. A plan doesn’t work unless you work the plan.
To accomplish my second goal I plan on putting a cap on my level of living expenses that increases at a smaller multiple then my income each year. I want to give another half percent of my income each year. I will budget out my salary for discretionary and non-discretionary spending and stick to the budget by limiting use of credit cards and attempting to pay cash for most items I purchase. This will help me control my cash outflow.
Money is a precious thing and it can become challenging to not spend it immediately after getting it. It is crucial that this does not happen. There is no denying that money is an important part of society. The world revolves around money and without it, one? would not be able to function. In everyday life the average household will spend one hundred and sixty dollars daily. It is safe to say that money is an resource used daily. It is a tool that can be used to connect with other people or buy anything a person could want or need. Yet it is easy to spend money without realizing how much is really being spent. With only a few simple tips it will become much easier to save money instead of spending it on frivolous things. One’s hard-earned dollar should be saved, and simple tips such as using cash instead of cards, saving small change and only purchasing what one really needs are a few of many ways of doing this. The power of money can easily be abused and it is very important to make sure that a person is well informed on ways to save and spend money wisely.