Donell Edwards, Blogger
About Donell Edwards: Donell Edwards is President of CWR Media and is also founder and publisher of The College World Reporter (CWR) magazine and CWR World News & Information Service. He is also a professional speaker, freelance writer, and entrepreneur.
Know Your Money
Monday – April 7, 2014
Knowing Your Personal Finances
Monday Check-up
By Donell Edwards
Happy Monday!
Did you know that April is Financial Literacy Month? We will be talking more about that later.
I hope that you had a fantastic and money wise weekend. It’s Monday Check-up time again, and hopefully we are making progress.
We repeatedly refer to the process, but just what is this process that we suggest that will help you improve your personal money management skills?
It is a very simple yet comprehensive approach to personal money management that involves seven simple steps shown below:
- Personal financial assessment
- Behavior modification
- Spending and budgeting
- Increasing cash flow
- Building an emergency fund
- Debt elimination
- Investing and building wealth
It takes time to complete all of the steps, and depending on where you are in the process, it may take a number of years to complete the process, or it may only take a few months. We have taken the position that everyone is starting at step 1, Personal financial assessment, and we are moving on from that point. If you determine after making your personal financial assessment that you are at another point in the process, please be patient as we go through all of the steps.
At this point we have discussed the Personal financial assessment, Behavior modification, and Spending and budgeting. We got a little ahead with our special on tax refunds last week, which is part of the Increasing cash flow step, but we have really worked on only the first three steps.
In order to make progress it is essential to complete and master these first three steps. That is why we continue to focus on these areas and keep returning to them. This is the foundation for your financial success. So, how are you doing? Have you made your personal financial assessment and taken the actions required based on your findings? Have you been working on your attitude toward spending, overcoming any denial that you may have about wasteful spending and poor spending habits? Have you worked to have more willpower to resist temptation to splurge or engage in other detrimental spending? Have you changed your philosophy on spending and personal money management? Have you found tools, or used some of the tools we have recommended, in order to regularly monitor your spending and bring things under control? Have you been able to use all of the information acquired from your personal assessment and monitoring your spending to develop a practical and realistic budget, and have you made the commitment to live within that budget? If you have done these things, or have made the effort to do them, you are making progress and we commend you. Keep up the good work.
As we mentioned earlier, this is Financial Literacy Month. Today’s suggested reading features a thirty step plan to financial wellness from Money Management International as part of their contribution to Financial Literacy Month. This is a very good plan and we strongly recommend that readers take a look at it.
If you have questions or need help in achieving your personal money management goals we are just an email away. Send your questions to Info@KnowYourMoneyGlobal.com
Have a great Monday!
We Would Like To Hear From You:
If you would like to share with our readers how “bad” spending habits have affected you, anonymously or otherwise, for our upcoming special, “Confessions Of Spendaholics,” please send your experience to comments@knowyourmoneyglobal.com.
Recommended Reading:
Thirty Steps to Financial Wellness
http://www.financialliteracymonth.com/
Follow us on Twitter for more information about personal money management
https://twitter.com/Kn0wY0urM0ney
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