Creating a proper budget

As I talked about before, tracking your spending is the first step to getting rid of that "oh shit" feeling when it comes to your finances.

Today I am going to talk about the next step: creating a proper budget. 

Most people don’t have a budget and would rather not know what’s going on with their finances.  Yet most middle-income people are living paycheck to paycheck with no future plan in mind despite making “a good amount” of money.

You don’t want to be like most people.

As you regularly track your income and spending, you will get a grasp of what your money can do for you.  This will help you get started with setting a realistic budget.

Your budget will keep your spending under control.  Your budget will help you avoid financial stress.  Your budget will make sure you meet your financial goals.  And if you ever want to stop working someday, you will want to properly create a budget to make sure you have enough income to retire.

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Card from American Express sign-up bonus increased! (expired now)

Edit: this deal is now expired!  The current promotion is 25,000 Starpoints (10,000 points after first purchase and another 15,000 after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of Cardmembership).  This is still an excellent promotion that I would not hesitate to recommend!

It’s that time again; the Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG) Card from American Express sign up bonus has been increased!  This is one of my favorite credit cards and is undoubtedly one of the best travel credit cards available.  This offer only comes once a year from American Express.

From now until September 3^rd, 2013, the sign up bonus for each AMEX SPG card has been increased from 25,000 to 30,000.  This is the highest sign-up bonus that comes with the SPG card.  There is a $0 introductory annual fee for the card, then $65.  The standard APR is 15.24% - 19.24% variable.  I don't hesitate to pay the annual fee for this card because it is so valuable.  

Get rid of that “oh shit” feeling when it comes to your finances

Consider the following situations:

You think your finances are going great… and then BAM, you get slapped with a $600 car insurance bill due in 4 weeks. 

You take a weekend trip to Las Vegas with your friends and swipe your credit card carefree for all your purchases: hotel stay, entertainment, dining out and your bar tab.  “I’ll look at my receipts and worry about paying for this later.”  30 days later you get your credit card bill.  You compare the posted charges to all of your saved receipts to make sure they are all legit.  And they are.

Your car engine breaks down and you suddenly need to come up with $1,500 to repair the transmission.  You don’t have an emergency fund. 

Consider your response to these situations: “oh shit.”