You can’t be a financial journalist, expert, planner, etc., without noticing the distinct change of expression that comes over a person’s face when you say the ‘B’ word — Budget.
The very word ‘budget’ creates fear, thoughts of deprivation, and sacrifice, feelings that human beings are programmed to avoid. Unfortunately for many of us, that also means avoiding the rewards that can come with taking control of our financial lives and creating a blueprint that lays the foundation for achieving our goals.
[Related: Black Women and the Pay Gap]
Whether you call them ‘blueprints’ or ‘budgets,’ getting a clear vision of our goals is where the process begins. Click here to read Part 1 .
In addition, financial blueprints, or budgets, literally allow us to redirect our wealth to places that serve our highest values and ideas.
“Not having a budget is like going on a trip without a road-map or GPS. Budgets allow you to know where you are going financially and give you the best route to get there. Without it you will get lost,†says Ash Cash, financial expert and author of Mind Right, Money Right: 10 Laws of Financial Freedom.
Cash and I went on to discuss how to create a budget and why we have such a difficult time sticking to them.
BlackEnterprise: You say it’s important for everyone to have a financial blueprint, but particularly for Blacks. Can you elaborate?
Cash: Without getting too deep into the history of black economics, we have to realize that most Blacks have only been able to create ‘real’ wealth and financial freedom for the last 50 years – slavery lasted 223 years from 1640-1863, then reconstruction and Jim Crow laws lasted 102 years from 1863-1965. It wasn’t until the post-civil rights that we began to start seeing the tides change. With a buying power of $1.1 Trillion dollars it is important that we begin to budget in order to reclaim and build wealth in our communities. If we continue to freestyle our spending, our buying power will be taken for granted, and we will lose the true power that comes with financial freedom.
Continue reading on the next page…
Why do you think people have a hard time sticking to a budget?
The main reason that people have a hard time sticking to a budget is because they have set unrealistic goals. They try to go from bad money management to good money management all in one shot. It is important to realize that changing a habit takes time so you shouldn’t rush it. Start with a realistic budget that you know you can follow. Maybe it’s cutting back on the amount of money you spend on lunch or maybe it’s cutting out cable but keeping Hulu, Netflix and the Internet. Start with some very small steps and just make sure you are moving in the right direction. As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race.
What are the first things a person should consider when creating a budget?
Besides identifying needs versus wants it is important to identify your ‘spending leaks.’ Many people waste small amounts of money on spontaneous things like eating out, cab fare, and hanging out with friends. Realize that these things are throwing off your budget and create a system that will allow you to
stay focused. I recommend that everyone should start their budget by keeping a spending diary for one month in order to understand where their money is really going. Once they have a month worth of spending tracked, you will be in a better position to effectively create and stick to your budget.What should be in their budget?
A budget should have a section that shows how much money you are bringing in monthly whether it’s wages from a 9-5, business income, tips, gifts, or money from your side hustle. Then you should breakdown your expenses by category: Savings – paying yourself first, housing expenses, transportation, health cost, charity/gifts, subscriptions, daily living, entertainment, and miscellaneous. Once you have all of your expenses down, tally them up and subtract them from your income to make sure that you are not going over. If you have money left over it should be allocated to savings. If you are in the negative then you need to adjust your expenses.
What are some of the things people can do that will help them stick to their budgets?
The best way that people can stick to their budgets is to make it automatic. I suggest that everyone have three bank accounts. A savings account, a bill account, and a spending account. After you create your budget make sure that the money that is allocated for savings gets automatically transferred to your savings account. Your savings account should not be easily accessible and should not have an ATM card attached to it. The goal is to make it inconvenient to access these funds. Second, you should have all of the money allocated for bills go into your bill account and again you should not have an ATM/debit card attached to this account. Simply pay all bills with online banking or via check. Lastly, the money that is allocated for spending goes to your spending account and this should have a debit card attached. Separating your accounts in this way allows you to only focus on the money that is allocated for spending and removes the temptation of robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is ‘out of sight, out of mind” at its finest.