YNAB (You Need A Budget)

[AZCB34]

Agree to disagree. I still believe you should be paying yourself first. Also, you never lose the money you invested unless you sold the investment.

Or it was Enron.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Agree to disagree. I still believe you should be paying yourself first. Also, you never lose the money you invested unless you sold the investment.

Or the investment goes bust. It happens. I’ve experienced it first hand. But we can agree to disagree.

 

[iLLmatiC]

That's why investing in speculative stocks is a bad idea especially if it's money designated for retirement.

 

[Superbone]

That's why investing in speculative stocks is a bad idea especially if it's money designated for retirement.

Yep, invest in index funds. I've played with individual stocks. Some winners; some losers. I can't beat the total stock market or even the S&P 500.

 

[Bada0Bing]

you don't need any fancy software to create a budget. A budget is one of the easiest things one can create with Excel, Google docs, or any other spreadsheet type app/prog.

Common sense and simple math can make you a budget.

Sticking to the budget and prioritizing expenses is where people dig their hole.

Agreed. I started a budget in 1998 in excel when my wife and I were poor college students with a young child trying to scrape by. Since then I've tracked every dollar earned and spent in the excel model, which now includes net worth statements, amort schedules, etc. I've got my budget projected out to 2074. I figure if I live to 100 I won't care anymore.

I think having this budget/forecast in place has been the primary reason my wife and I have never fought about money in 23 years of marriage. We each get our monthly stipend to waste how we'd like, but every expense is budgeted for in advance.

Just takes a bit of discipline. If it's not in the forecast we don't buy it. If we want to buy it, we make it work in the forecast.