‘Your Money doesn’t know where to Go!’
One thing that I have learned in life is that money doesn’t have a clue where to go and so if someone doesn’t tell it where to go it will simply go wherever it wants to. A wise person once observed that essentially many lives are like that also. He said, ‘If you don’t know where you are going then any path will take you there. Can we say if you don’t have a plan for your money then any purpose for it is OK?
Wise money managers don’t live like that. They are committed to a lifestyle of planning how their hard earned money is going to be used and where it is going to go. Perhaps the best way to describe this is to say that there is a need to:
‘Give every dollar a name, to give every dollar an assignment’.
I wish I had been smart enough so I could say that quote was my own but alas I have had to borrow it. So glad that I can though because it is great. It is a key to becoming empowered with regard to the use of money and resources.
I am sure that a lot of people resist making a budget as a part of their money management. The thought is that doing this is restricting, it is ‘tying them down. I would contend that in fact the opposite is actually true. That it is in sitting down and planning where our money is going to go, to actually allocate every dollar to a purpose before we receive it is enormously empowering. We are in charge…we are the head and not the tail to use a Bible term.
The great teacher on Christian Leadership, John Maxwell says it well. ‘Setting a budget is telling your money where to go and not wondering where it went’. That is what I want for you. To be in charge of your money and resources so that there is a plan in place that is building a great financial future for you. One that includes home ownership and living debt free, even leaving an inheritance for your children.
For many this may seem an impossible dream but that is not true…give every dollar you earn a name. Before your receive your salary or wages create a budget and give EVERY Dollar an assignment. You have begun the journey toward financial freedom.
A previous blog on this site discusses one of my favourite financial topics. It is entitled, ‘The Four Purposes for Money’. Understanding these and deciding that with all of the resources that you receive you will do all four purposes is a guaranteed way to ensure your net worth increases and your financial future is better than your past or present. Now that is exciting.
While you are on the ‘LIFT Ministries’ website take a moment and open 2 very powerful documents…a ‘Budgeting form’ and a ‘Debt Reduction’ sheet. The use of these will help you toward a great financial future.
Enjoy the journey,
Bruce