As states lift mask mandates, Dear Readers, now is the time to identify the budget myths keeping you in the poor house. If the coronavirus has taken away any semblance of financial stability, today’s article will examine the biggest budget pitfalls to avoid on your wealth journey as a new month begins.
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As a reminder, this website answers all your branding questions. If it is your first time visiting, this blog is the brainchild of JMStrategy LLC (JMS), a boutique consulting firm that offers strategic solutions to strengthen your professional or personal brands. To that end, the JMS team is in the business of designing recovery plans as robust as possible that avoid behavioral or productivity inertia. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into everything you need to know about budget myths to crush your financial goals like a boss in 2022!
Budget myth number one: Budgets are too stressful!
Does that sound familiar, Dear Readers? This exact comment is what we saw so many times after publishing the first article in the JMS Budgeting 101 series. OK, let’s take a deep breath and unpack this first budget myth.
The JMS blog believes that not having a budget is what keeps you up at night! Think about it, Dear Readers. Isn’t it taxing to wonder whether you have enough money in the bank to pay your bills each week? Wouldn’t you rather be in control of your finances and know without a doubt what you need to live every month? So, with a bit of discipline, budgets will bring you peace of mind!
Budget myth number two: Budgets need to be highly detailed.
So many of you, Dear Readers, told us that they do not have a budget because it takes too much time to create a highly detailed one. Wait a minute, Dear Readers, you can’t find a half-hour each week to dedicate to your wealth journey? What kind of budgets do you have, Dear Readers?!!!
The JMS blog wants to reassure you that this myth cannot be further from the truth. Tracking expenses is what’s time-consuming. Probably because we tend to spend money willy-nilly haphazardly every time we want something. But, Dear Readers, if you put together a strategy for each of your paychecks, you’ll see that budgets do not need to be highly detailed. In other words, the budget is the plan you create ahead of time to avoid costly mistakes. Let us know in the comment section below if you agree!
Pro tip: find out how a budget helps you anticipate impulses with a grand design to manage “wants” efficiently.
Budget myth number three: Budgets mean cutting back on fun.
Dear Readers, the time has come, to be honest. The JMS team believes that the ultimate purpose of your budget is to take control of your finances and create personal wealth. Therefore, if you commit to a long-run financial goal to build wealth 30 or 55 years from now, you will have to make certain sacrifices in the short term. Isn’t it how you achieve any goals, Dear Readers? Only by making smaller strategic choices can we crush our goals and make our dreams a reality. So why would it be different with your wealth creation journey?
Instead, Dear Readers, this blog invites you to reframe your approach to budgeting as creating fiscal discipline for the long run. You can enjoy many indulgences along the way. However, you may not be able to revel in all the things all the time. For instance, you may not be able to get your favorite Starbucks cup of morning joe every day, enjoy Friday night takeout and Saturday afternoon retail therapy, and expect to have enough money for a Sunday afternoon movie trip every weekend for 52 straight weeks! Who lives like this, Dear Readers? So, it’s not that you cannot have fun. Instead, consider making choices and creating a budget that reflects said choices. Honestly, a robust budget gives you the freedom to spend your hard-earned money without any regret or panic attack!
Budget myth number four: Budgets are for other people.
Now, wait a minute, Dear Readers! If you have a job, you need a plan to pay all your bills before you spend a single dollar. A budget is your plan to live and achieve all financial goals on your wealth journey. Therefore, budgets are for anyone who receives any income from a job or investment account, including pension funds!
Pro tip: Learn How To Set A Budget On A Fixed Income to live more peacefully without feeling weighted down by financial uncertainly.
When working with clients, the JMS team realized that this budget myth comes from a feeling of helplessness. Indeed, we all have dreams and goals. But what keeps us up at night is the uncertainty around whether we can reach said objectives. The best way to ease any anxiety around money is to bust this fourth budget myth once and for all.
Pro tip: the first step to achieve peace of mind is to have an emergency fund.
Also, a few of you, Dear Readers, told us that you don’t need a budget if you have a good job. Does that mean that we should link budgeting to tax brackets? So, who should be budgeting then? Everyone else but you? Hopefully, as the world has been battling the global pandemic for the last two years, we’ve all learned that one can lose a good job in an instant at the whims of elected officials in the name of public health. In a country that does not guarantee benefits, don’t you think you should get in the habits of budgeting? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
Final thoughts on budget myths.
There you have it! The JMS team thanks you, Dear Readers, for taking the time to read today’s publication. The JMS blog is here to inspire and encourage as you, Dear Readers, are embarking on the exhilarating journey to design the life of your dreams. This blog wants you to have the confidence to chase your dreams with reckless abandon!
As always, you can submit requests via the contact form. We will continue to publish weekly articles that answer your questions. As a small consulting firm, the JMS team feels lucky to have the ability to support clients across industries through any given crisis that rocks their daily operations. We want to do the same for you, Dearest Readers. We love creating articles that make you think, question everything you thought you knew, and change your life! Please share today’s article on social media with friends or colleagues who might need an extra pep talk!
Dear Readers, we want to hear what you think of budget myths!
Dear Readers, we strive to create better content for you. So, please don’t be shy and share your thoughts. Do you agree with our analysis, or do you think we are missing the point? What is your strategy around budgeting? Are there budget myths that stop you from managing your money and achieving your financial goals? Come back next month as we explore more budget tips and debt management strategies to help you start your wealth journey at last!
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