I learned many things during middle and high school. However, one thing that I don’t remember learning is budgeting.
Budgeting is perhaps the most essential element of building wealth, so why don’t “they” want us to learn how to do it?
It’s simply that they want us to spend our money frivolously and without regard for our futures. More importantly, they want us to spend money we don’t even have yet, which is when we go into debt.
Financial Freedom Road Trip #2: Options Trading
The best thing we can do for ourselves and future generations is find solace in our budgets. Budgeting and building wealth can be the best way to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression, so let’s learn how to turn “budgeting” into a positive word.
Why we avoid budgets. No one wants a spreadsheet to determine their happiness. It’s much more fun to go to the mall and spend recklessly.
Don’t worry; I’m not judging you. I underwent that phase for my marriage’s first 7-10 years. However, when it all caught up to me, I paid the price in full.
We had accumulated over $70,000 in consumer debt and car notes. Even scarier, we didn’t have a solid plan to pay it off.
This is when I learned the magic of having budgeted fun. As I read more and more books on personal finance and the psychology of money, I realized how casual I was with my spending.
Financial Freedom Road Trip #1: Dividend Investing
Budgeting is the key to building wealth because it forces you to track every dollar that flows into your home. Each dollar must serve a purpose, with the ultimate goal of multiplying itself.
Find happiness in your utilities budget. The first step to budgeting is understanding you will always have some expenses to pay; that is just the cost of being alive.
You will always have housing expenses, electricity, solar, gas, water, streaming or entertainment, and cell phones.
However, you can reduce as much as possible. You can switch cell phone providers, install solar panels, and drive a hybrid car.
You must optimize your utility bills to find happiness. Also, document every bill you pay on a scrolling spreadsheet. When you see a jump higher than $5, investigate its origins. Keep an eye on these utilities and cell phone companies because they will always try to slide a fast one under your eye.
The Road to Homeownership #2: Reducing Emotions
Find happiness in your food budget. The fastest way to learn if someone keeps a tight budget is to ask if they know their monthly food allowance.
Food prices have skyrocketed over the last two years, but your budget could remain the same. Finding a good deal through couponing or searching new stores requires more time.
My family of four keeps a food budget of $800 per month. We do not include eating out at restaurants in this budget. If we decide to eat out, we use money from our personal allowance.
How much should you allocate toward food to find a happy balance? That depends on your eating preferences. Some people like to eat vegan foods, expensive snacks, or bake from scratch.
Stock Market vs. Bond Market vs. Options Market
The less processed or pre-prepared foods you buy, the lower the bill. It may be an excellent time to learn how to cook simple dishes if you don’t know how.
Find happiness in your personal allowance. My wife and I each receive a monthly personal allowance of $750. I divide mine into a daily allowance of $25.
My wife budgets hers differently. A personal allowance is money you can spend solely on yourself without judgment from your partner.
I use mine for fast food, coffee, gasoline, video games, and Walmart trips. Staying inside my daily budget brings me the most happiness (outside of receiving dividends).
Whenever I feel overwhelmed by financial decisions, I just re-focus on my daily budget. As long as I keep this budget tight, all my other budgets and bills go in my favor.
The Road to Homeownership #1: Crunching the Numbers
You can split your personal allowance into monthly, weekly, or daily budgets; it’s a matter of preference. Decide what works best for you.
Some people like to allocate the entire amount to a separate account that they can monitor on their phone. For example, you may transfer the entire amount to your Cash App balance so you can see it every time you spend.
Find happiness inside your passive income budget. The most important reason to use your budget religiously is to build a portfolio of income-generating assets called dividend stocks.
Let’s say you have $500 per month to invest in dividend stocks. At first, your dividend payments will perhaps be $10 per month. However, as you keep investing, these totals will increase exponentially, thanks to what we call the power of compounding.
I started investing in dividend stocks in 2019. In my second month, I earned $5. Less than five years later, we earn $2,000 per month in dividends.
Love, Passion, & Freedom: Welcome to Passive Income
I can use the money for whatever I like, but it’s best to reinvest at least 25% to ensure the portfolio exceeds inflation.
The more money you save by budgeting, the faster your dividend portfolio grows. The more money you invest, the more money the portfolio pays you.
This is truly how to find happiness in your budget. As you stay inside your budget, your cash flow grows around you. Before you know it, you’ll have excess income to purchase the finer things in life.
My wife and I recently purchased a massive RV that we can use to house guests as they come to Florida. Our dividend cash flow pays for the entire RV payment—it’s lovely!
Don’t Gamble with Retirement 11
Conclusion. Staying within your budget will not only provide you with stability but also increase your level of creativity.
You can adjust your budgets to suit your family’s needs and wants. For example, if you all love to go on vacation, you can create a budget just for trips.
If you love concerts, you can create a budget to save and go to concerts. The primary objective is not to be reckless with your money.
The world wants you to be in debt; that’s how they control you. Your local government will continue to keep increasing property taxes.
Five Different Ways to Make Rental Income
They want you to miss a payment so they can quickly take over your home and sell it to the highest bidder. No one is coming to save you.
I love my multiple budgets. I document everything I spend via my daily allowance. I like to have fun with my money, but only after I have saved and invested for the month.
Don’t let TikTok and YouTube fool you. Most people are broke or, even worse, in massive debt. My wife and I have no credit card debt. After paying the $14,000 we owe on my Ford, we will own three cars outright.
When I wake up, I don’t feel the pressure of debt weighing on my shoulders. After living with debt for over 12 years, I have found true happiness—happiness inside of my budget. Good Luck!
- PDF of the Month: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 12 (Free 460-Page PDF)
- Free PDF Downloads: Download FREE PDF LIST here
- Financial Mindset: Become CEO of Yourself 2 (Free 196-Page PDF)
- Retirement Planning: Your Retirement Planning Guide 2 (Free 255-Page PDF)
- Investing: How We Plan to Retire on Dividends 4 (Free 139-Page PDF)
- Cryptocurrencies: Counting on Crypto 2 (Free 159-Page PDF)
- Real Estate: Financial Independence through Real Estate 4 (Free 112-Page PDF)
- Business: Retire Rich, Retire Comfortable with a Business 4 (Free 149-Page PDF)
- Latest DGWR: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 11 (Free 410-Page PDF)
- Everything!: The Biggest Book on Passive Income Ever 4! (book)(Web Edition)(Art Edition)
- Writer’s Comparison: M1 Macbook Air vs. GalaxyBook3 Pro 360
- Read My Books for Free: Free Kindle Books Schedule
- Book Design: Design Tips on YouTube
- Kindle Unlimited: Why I Finally Subscribed Kindle Unlimited (learn more)
- Book Reviews: 505 Takeaways from 101 Books (pdf)
- Writing: The Publishing Chronicles (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)
- Best REIT- Fundrise: Fundrise vs. US Treasuries (Join Fundrise)
- Follow us: On our Facebook Page and Join our Facebook Group
- Support the Channel on Cash App: $Kingmarine1981
- For more detailed analysis, join my Youtube: MFI YouTube Channel
PDF of the Month: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 12 (Free 460-Page PDF)
Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
Leave a Reply