Become Cash Positive and Happy
It’s about 5 years since I've made some drastic changes in the way I lived financially and below are some of my lessons:
Get to know your money matters - get to know how much you earn, how much you spend and on what – is there anything left over?
Create your own budget - If you know where you've been, then it's easy to figure out where you are, where you want to go and how you going to get there? I presume that your goal is to become cash positive and happy.
If you are paying off your house, never hurry up your home loan repayments – it’s the cheapest loan you’ll ever have. Pay only what you must and save up any surplus funds you may have.
It’s okay to rent your home and if you do, make sure it’s close to your place of work, school, shop, main road, and public transport. By renting you must make your life easy to gain free time on other activities, like family, further training, creative or money making pursuits.
Any job that pays your rent is a good job. Keep your income rolling in every week and protect it by ensuring you have a job. If you are unemployed make your prime focus - your full time job, to find employment in any capacity.
Save as much as you can on regular bases – develop a habit of regular money saving. The amount of regular savings is incidental to the process you will establish. You can start by putting aside every night the coins you have in your purse or pocket. Put it all in a glass jar and see your savings growing day by day. Create a designated saving account and do not touch its content until it's ready to work in your favour.
Put all your credit cards in a glass jar, close the lid, and only look at them. Allow yourself the freedom of spending only the money you have today, not the money you think you can repay tomorrow.
Cash is the king an you are to be its subject - It’s not important how many credit cards you have, what counts is how many 100-dollar bills you have in your wallet.
Add new cash flow streams to your income, ongoing and multiplying every year.
Make shopping lists you’ll follow and limit the time you spend inside the shops. I call it a “speed shopping”, before you go shopping know what you need or like to buy, then go in to the shops and get out of there as quick as you can. If you forget something you may get it on the next trip. I say that the “shops are not the museums” you go there to get what you need not to look around and waste time, unless that is your initial purpose – then just “window shop” looking for ideas and needs for the future.
Buy what you need, not what you want, and certainly do not buy what other people think you must have.
Look at your money spending habits – are there any areas that you can make a positive change by saving the bit instead of spending it.
Pay your bills on time and in full. Develop the habit of financial reliability in respect those who advance you credit.
Be your own financial master not a follower of the pack which dictates what you must have. Fashion trends are dictated by the other people who want to make money on you and your weakness to have the latest and the best.
Scale down your expenses, so you can enjoy your life. Spend only on what you need, find cost effective alternatives, look for bargains, take time to make the final purchase.
Don’t be a slave of the lender for the rest of your life. Your initial budget will help you get to your financial freedom.
Grow your savings - Save as much as you can, as you develop the savings attitude you will discover how easy it is to save. You will also start ask yourself, why didn't I start saving earlier? What's done is done, you can't rewrite the past, but you can write your own check for the future. If I tell you that you need to have a saving buffer of 6-months your monthly income, you'll tell me I'm crazy. But you can do this dollar by dollar you can make it happen. Do what banks do, their profits are made from few cents here and few cents there added together.
Get paid for physical training - You may want to consider some physical work, like casual night-fill job at the local supermarket, during your free time. There is nothing better then getting paid for your exercise instead paying the membership fees at your local gym. If you choose this option remember that the money you earn need to be saved.
Pay off your debt - starting with the most expensive interest bearing accounts.
Sell off what you don’t need, what you hardly wear or use and give away to charity what you can’t sell. Save the money you earn through this process.
Don’t judge your success by the amount of your possessions as you will never be able to take them with you on your “last” journey. Instead, judge your success by the quality of life you have and the people that matter the most.
Enjoy simple pleasures of life, not every day indulgence. Delight in occasional treats like time out at the movies or a dinner out, or something that will make you happy.
Learn how to make things. It may be your new found hobby that will make you a fortune.
Make your money work for you. Invest wisely. Learn and study. Do your research. Think and ask questions. Choose what you know and like.
Carry adequate insurance - protect your life, your family and what you have.
Make a will - protect your assets and people you love.
Relax, look after your health, take time out, and spend time with people you love or admire. That happiness will be the greatest reward of your cash positive status.
How about you? Are you going to join me in the quest for Become Cash Positive and Happy? Tell me about your commitment and your goals.
It’s about 5 years since I've made some drastic changes in the way I lived financially and below are some of my lessons:
Get to know your money matters - get to know how much you earn, how much you spend and on what – is there anything left over?
Create your own budget - If you know where you've been, then it's easy to figure out where you are, where you want to go and how you going to get there? I presume that your goal is to become cash positive and happy.
If you are paying off your house, never hurry up your home loan repayments – it’s the cheapest loan you’ll ever have. Pay only what you must and save up any surplus funds you may have.
It’s okay to rent your home and if you do, make sure it’s close to your place of work, school, shop, main road, and public transport. By renting you must make your life easy to gain free time on other activities, like family, further training, creative or money making pursuits.
Any job that pays your rent is a good job. Keep your income rolling in every week and protect it by ensuring you have a job. If you are unemployed make your prime focus - your full time job, to find employment in any capacity.
Save as much as you can on regular bases – develop a habit of regular money saving. The amount of regular savings is incidental to the process you will establish. You can start by putting aside every night the coins you have in your purse or pocket. Put it all in a glass jar and see your savings growing day by day. Create a designated saving account and do not touch its content until it's ready to work in your favour.
Put all your credit cards in a glass jar, close the lid, and only look at them. Allow yourself the freedom of spending only the money you have today, not the money you think you can repay tomorrow.
Cash is the king an you are to be its subject - It’s not important how many credit cards you have, what counts is how many 100-dollar bills you have in your wallet.
Add new cash flow streams to your income, ongoing and multiplying every year.
Make shopping lists you’ll follow and limit the time you spend inside the shops. I call it a “speed shopping”, before you go shopping know what you need or like to buy, then go in to the shops and get out of there as quick as you can. If you forget something you may get it on the next trip. I say that the “shops are not the museums” you go there to get what you need not to look around and waste time, unless that is your initial purpose – then just “window shop” looking for ideas and needs for the future.
Buy what you need, not what you want, and certainly do not buy what other people think you must have.
Look at your money spending habits – are there any areas that you can make a positive change by saving the bit instead of spending it.
Pay your bills on time and in full. Develop the habit of financial reliability in respect those who advance you credit.
Be your own financial master not a follower of the pack which dictates what you must have. Fashion trends are dictated by the other people who want to make money on you and your weakness to have the latest and the best.
Scale down your expenses, so you can enjoy your life. Spend only on what you need, find cost effective alternatives, look for bargains, take time to make the final purchase.
Don’t be a slave of the lender for the rest of your life. Your initial budget will help you get to your financial freedom.
Grow your savings - Save as much as you can, as you develop the savings attitude you will discover how easy it is to save. You will also start ask yourself, why didn't I start saving earlier? What's done is done, you can't rewrite the past, but you can write your own check for the future. If I tell you that you need to have a saving buffer of 6-months your monthly income, you'll tell me I'm crazy. But you can do this dollar by dollar you can make it happen. Do what banks do, their profits are made from few cents here and few cents there added together.
Get paid for physical training - You may want to consider some physical work, like casual night-fill job at the local supermarket, during your free time. There is nothing better then getting paid for your exercise instead paying the membership fees at your local gym. If you choose this option remember that the money you earn need to be saved.
Pay off your debt - starting with the most expensive interest bearing accounts.
Sell off what you don’t need, what you hardly wear or use and give away to charity what you can’t sell. Save the money you earn through this process.
Don’t judge your success by the amount of your possessions as you will never be able to take them with you on your “last” journey. Instead, judge your success by the quality of life you have and the people that matter the most.
Enjoy simple pleasures of life, not every day indulgence. Delight in occasional treats like time out at the movies or a dinner out, or something that will make you happy.
Learn how to make things. It may be your new found hobby that will make you a fortune.
Make your money work for you. Invest wisely. Learn and study. Do your research. Think and ask questions. Choose what you know and like.
Carry adequate insurance - protect your life, your family and what you have.
Make a will - protect your assets and people you love.
Relax, look after your health, take time out, and spend time with people you love or admire. That happiness will be the greatest reward of your cash positive status.
How about you? Are you going to join me in the quest for Become Cash Positive and Happy? Tell me about your commitment and your goals.