FIRST RULE.

PAY YOURSELF FIRST. This is the first rule in personal finance. In preparing your spending plan, make savings an expense category, with a set amount that you pay to yourself monthly when you pay your bills. Don’t plan your savings around what’s left over when you paid everything else. Chances are, there won’t be anything there.

If you are in your twenties or thirties, give yourself the biggest gift you can by paying yourself first with every salary. Treat yourself to secure a retirement – one where you’ll be able to afford to buy yourself someday. 


This is the one thing you can do right now. The most painless way to do that is to make it automatic: deposit an amount directly to your account right after you received your salary then get busy with your other bills and you wont even see the money you're putting away. Out of sight, out of mind, IT WORKS!

THE SPENDING PLAN

In other words – BUDGET. Some thinks that they can reach their financial goals without a spending plan. These are the ones who are most likely disappointed. Creating a spending plan is the most basic step anyone can take towards making their money work, regardless of how high or low is their income a month.

Many of us don’t really realize that we are spending more than what we earn until we are deeply in debt. Spending without knowing how much money we have would cause a major problem.We should decide earlier on how we put our money into use instead of wasting it unconsciously. Without a spending plan, we are letting our money to control us instead of us controlling our money.                                                      

Budgeting and tracking our expense shows us where our money goes and make us see how our expenditures go up over time. We must track our expenditures so we can make conscious decisions about how to spend or invest our money. This is the difference between never having enough money and being able to afford the things that are really important to you like paying off a credit card, saving for a house or buying a brand new car. 

Another side benefit of budgeting is that it can improve your relationship with your spouse or partner. Money matters are the single largest cause of marital breakdown so budgeting, financial goals and working together toward those goals can have positive effect on your relationship.