Key Takeaways
- Feeling like you’ve lost control of your finances can derail many aspects of life.
- Planning ahead for large expenditures, staggering your payment schedules and diligently maintaining a minimum balance in your bank account can give you a tremendous leg up.
- When it comes to your money, always try to stay calm, collected and in control. I have five rules to help.
You know, there is nothing worse than feeling poor. It’s that feeling of dread when you have a big bill coming due and your bank account is close to zero. It can be very stressful.
Life is a game, and I try to make up my own rules to manage it. For instance, always try to stay calm, collected and in control when it comes to money. Never let money control how you feel, think and act. That’s very important.
Here are five financial rules that have really helped me in my life:
- Plan out your large expenditures for the year ahead. Consider vacations, holidays, lots of weddings at your age, and maybe some large outlays for furniture or other big-ticket household items. It’s important to know when big-ticket bills are coming in so you don’t get caught off guard and low on cash.
- Keep a minimum balance in your bank account. Never let your balance get below $1,000—ever—which means you might have to save up for a while to get there. If you can follow this rule, you’ll be prepared when large unexpected bills come out of the blue. In most cases, you’ll be prepared and won’t feel poor.
- Spread out your bills. Try to stagger your payment schedules so you don’t face a cash crunch at the same time every month, thereby avoiding that sinking feeling in your stomach when your bank balance drops.
- Time your big bills to arrive a few days after you get paid. You always want to feel like you’re in control of your cash flow and that the income is consistently staying ahead of the expenses, which keeps your bank balance always above the minimum I suggested earlier in this post.
- Set aside funds for large expenses. As I mentioned in Rule 1, if you know you will have some big expenditures in the year ahead, set aside a separate fund just for those big bills and try to build up that fund over time. This way, you’re in control and not trying to rob Peter to pay Paul, or scrambling to find money from who knows where and running up your credit card debt.
Conclusion
These five money rules should really help you keep your psyche in the right place when you’re dealing with your money—and never leave you feeling poor.
Until next time, enjoy.
Gary