How Are You Managing Your B-Word?

I have posted multiple blog posts and Youtube videos on the B-Word.  That word that people often think about as a curse word, but one that used properly will help you succeed.  Yes, I’m talking about budgets.

Using the B-word sounds like it is taboo and most people don’t talk about it much.  The issue is because people don’t like talking about how much money they have.  They don’t want to risk others looking poorly on them because they make more or less than the others around them.

People do however like to talk about their cars, extravagant vacations, large homes / kitchen renovations, and other stuff.  They like posting to social media about all their stuff and experiences, but not how they are paying for it.  Budgets have become a taboo word just like talking about paying with cash.  People talk about cars and reference their monthly payment instead of the total cost.

I used to do this too to impress all the people that I didn’t like just to show my status.  What I found out though is that the really wealthy people actually use fundamental financial terms when they talk about doing things.  What is the budget for doing thing?

The really wealthy don’t even reference the financial part of budgets.  They refer to the time investment for this new venture.  The really wealthy actually talk about time as a part of their investment criteria.  Time is one of those things that no matter how much money we have, we can not add, or multiply time.  We can not add more time.  We can minimize the time required for a venture, but not buy more time.

We should be using budget into our vocabulary if we want to get to a better quality of life.  Whether it is a time commitment, financial investment, or energy commitment, we need to make sure we are budgeting for all aspects.  This will help us understand if the cost is worth the investment. 

I recently detailed my wife’s and son’s vehicles.  Total investment on a nice warm Saturday was about four hours.  Their vehicles are smaller than my truck and are easier for me to do.  I decided that I would work on their vehicles because combined it would cost me about $250 for five hours of my time to do both.  The cheapest detailer I could find would cost that much for one vehicle.  

The investment of my time was good and my son actually helped so it was a teaching moment.  For my truck that would take me at least four hours to do, I am going to pay to have that done.  The reason being is it will be able to be done while I work and the trusted individual doing the work will do an amazing job for me.  

I grew up with not a great deal of money so I value being able to do things with my own hands, but as I have gotten older and make more money I am realizing that by outsourcing some things it will free me up to do more meaningful tasks that will provide me a better return on investment. 

I will be allowed more quality time with my wife and kids by having someone else do some of the work as well as possibly skipping the potential for a harmful accident.  Another example is cutting down a large evergreen tree in my back yard.  I have the tools to do this, but paying someone to drop the tree that is in a tight spot will likely cost me a great deal less than dropping the tree on the neighbor’s fence, sending me to the emergency room, etc.  I would gladly pay someone the few hundred dollars to avoid a ride in an ambulance and potential to damage property.

Just because we can do something, does not mean we are less of a man or woman because we chose to let others perform the work.  By using budgets to figure out the payoff and decisions we will be able to make the most impact with our resources.  

We need to use budgets in our vocabulary in order to get to a better place.  

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers.  How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits?  I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

www.kevinsidebottom.com

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https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

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Do What Wealthy People Do

What do Wealthy individuals do?  That is a question the majority of our population have.

I have sat with quite a few millionaires and learned this some interesting things.  First thing I learned is that 99% of wealthy individuals did not inherit their wealth.  Yep, that is right, they built it from the ground up.  Almost all of them did not win the lottery either.  So how did they do it?

The main reason these wealthy individuals did it is by using a Budget.  Yep, I used the B-word! They use budgets financially, with their time, and when they decide to take on a new venture. 

Hardworking individuals believe the B-word as a taboo discussion topic.  I get it!  I fought against using budgets until I took a class that helped me understand that if I tell my money what to do, it actually does what I want it to do. 

When I learned how freeing budgets can be, I was left wondering why I did not do this sooner.  I would have had so much more money at the end of the pay period and would have been able to invest more of my hard, earned money.  Yes, budgeting can be freeing for you and your loved ones.  My wife can use her money to buy whatever she wants with it. 

My wife and I started out our marriage with the monthly budget meeting.  We go through all of the line items including clothing, vacations, gifts, food, electric, etc.  If she decides to buy a whole bunch of coffee, she is free to do so without me condemning her because it is her money to budget for whatever she wants!  Have you ever had a fight over your significant other buying something that you haven’t agreed on? 

The monthly budget has helped our communication greatly as a by-product.  If you are in a relationship then you already know communication is huge in a relationship. 

Budgeting has been one of the single most effective ways for my wife and I to prepare for emergencies, taking vacations, date nights, etc.  We have had times where we had emergencies and by having a budget, we were able to overcome those emergencies quickly.  We also need to buy a new roof for our house that we have been planning for.  Roofs are pretty expensive and we will be able to afford it because we put it in the budget. 

You know what else has been great?  We actually give our kids a budget for clothing and after school activities that they can manage how they choose.  They just need make sure they can afford it.  If they don’t have enough money, then they don’t do the activity.  Now the emotion is taken out of the discussion and the focus is on saving up so they can do that activity in the future.  My hope is that they will keep budgeting for the rest of their life so they can retire with even more money that my wife and I.

Had we started earlier on investing into retirement we would have millions more when we retire.  Not a million…Millions! 

If you want to be successful and have a great retirement, you need to start with a budget.  I do not make any money off of this, but I also highly recommend you take financial peace university from Ramsey Solutions!  It is the class that started me on my financial journey over a decade ago and has helped our family with getting on track for a better future.

What is keeping you from sitting down and doing a budget? 

Do you not have the time? 

Does it seem like you don’t know where to start? 

What if I told you that if you emailed me, I would send you a FREE excel file that you could use for your own budget?   It does all of the calculations for you.  

Would that be helpful? 

If you want to become wealthy and have HOPE for your future, email me today and I will send you a copy of the budget file we use so that you can get on the road for a better future.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business.  I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”

www.kevinsidebottom.com