Budgeting? Go a little deeper!

All of us are probably rethinking our personal “micro economies” given the changes in the “macro economy” of our country. It isn’t always a bad thing.

Currently, my husband and I have sworn off the expense of eating out frequently and have begun to prepare meals and eat at home on an almost regular basis. For the past weeks we have tried out new recipes and sat down for relaxing dinners with our family again! It’s been wonderful. We’ve reconnected with our kids and feel like accomplished gourmet chefs! We’ve baked bread, made our own mixes rather than buying them, shopped at the Tacoma and Proctor farmer’s markets for fresh produce, made meals in advance or cooked in the crock pot if we foresee a delay in our ability to prepare a meal for that day. Our kids are looking forward to meals again and we never have to call them twice! What could be greater than that?!

My simple advice to everyone seeking to remedy their personal economies is to get back to basics. It hasn’t been very long ago since I was a heartbeat away from homelessness. I remember as a single woman making a pittance of a wage and barely making enough to make my rent, much less anything else. Thankfully I found something I loved doing and did it. I began working at a bank and discovered I loved it! I loved the work, I loved the people, and the environment that came with it. I took advantage of tuition reimbursement, grants and other benefits, and worked my fanny off to finish my bachelor’s degree in business—and I DID! It took 5 years to finish off 2 years of junior and senior level classes, but I DID IT! The satisfaction from that remains today, although I’m never complacent. There is still a lot to learn! There are also many things I wish I could do (like a LOT more volunteering), but I simply don’t have the time right now. I am a new business owner. I am personally responsible for my life with no boss to run to for time off or a raise. If I want it, I have to do it prudently on my own. I also have two children (15 and 19 years old) that my husband and I are trying to guide through their life discovery phase!

All this to say: Jobs are not just a paycheck or a means to an end but the beginning of an exciting journey! While you are figuring out your “micro economy” and putting the budget numbers to paper, do some serious thinking about what it is you do to meet your budget numbers! Have you reached a point in your life where you might need to reinvent yourself or try something off the grid? Think about it. Seriously.

Next time: Real budget crunching

Taking Control of Your Finances

If there is one single thing that will most assuredly guarantee success with your money, it is keeping track of what you spend to make sure you don’t exceed your “manageable threshold.”

Many Americans far exceeded their manageable thresholds over the last few years and now they are experiencing financial crisis. They had no idea that spending beyond their means would eventually result in disaster. If they had determined their threshold and then had the intestinal fortitude to stick to it with all their might, they would have been insulated from the current economic crisis. Ponder perhaps that there would be no crisis if Americans (and American businesses) had controlled their use of credit.

How do you determine your threshold? It’s not rocket science! Simply take what you earn after taxes, deduct your necessary expenditures (mortgage, utilities, giving, saving, food, etc.) and that number is what is left. If there is nothing left, then you are at your threshold! If you are not giving or saving, then you have surpassed your threshold. To stay centered, you must give and save.

Society bombards us with ads to buy this and that and make us feel inferior if we don’t. We have to insulate ourselves from that because there will always be something to buy, always be someone to judge us if we don’t buy, but never enough money to buy it all—no matter how wealthy.

Economic theory teaches that the level of satisfaction derived from purchasing begins to decline after awhile.(1) What’s the old R&B song? “The Thrill is Gone.” There are also economic studies now that reveal that levels of happiness or contentment in some third world countries are higher than in the USA!(2) Why is that? Because in America we have reached the spending saturation point! Spending no longer brings us the thrill it once did. We make our purchases without a lot of contemplation, put the purchase on a credit card using eventual dollars we can’t afford to spend, and derive no lasting joy from the purchase. Even our daily latte’ has become a routine transaction. We have become spending zombies!

Making more money doesn’t necessarily make us happier either and, in fact, perhaps the price paid to bring in those extra dollars far outweighs the benefits.

All that to say that we need to take the time to carefully evaluate our income and expenses and make some tough choices. We need to stop spending money on things that bring us no lasting joy.

Let’s get motivated now to change the way we think about money!

Next issue: Starting the process.

(1) Law of diminishing marginal utility
(2) http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/24392; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index

What does Alpha Business Services do?

System. We organize your records and set up a unique management method tailored to your needs that guarantees every bill gets paid accurately and on time. We want your financial life to work smoothly and efficiently--just as if it were our own.

Identify. We identify any problematic areas that arise and work with you to find solutions. It is a dynamic process.

Monitor and maintain. We make sure your accounts are balanced each month and that there is sufficient cash flow to meet your obligations.

Prepare. We create a system that considers your unique tax situation. Tax reports are run at year end, then provided to your tax professional for easy business or personal tax preparation.

Liaison. We can act as your representative with the professionals in your business and personal life so you can focus on the important things.

Information. We can provide full disclosure at a moment’s notice about what is going on with your finances. We also provide referrals if you need an excellent attorney, accountant, investment, or insurance professional in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Facilitate. For everyday situations or if you have a special project or assignment, we provide the support to get it done.

You. With our help, you can rest assured your financial matters will be taken care of in an efficient, honest, and accurate way.

Call us today for a free consultation ~ (253) 380-1973

What is crucial for financial success?

Many people do not want to deal with their business or personal finances. Businesses are at an all-time failure rate and individual bankruptcies are on the rise because of lack of cost controls, planning and organization. Identity theft is also increasing exponentially with the economic downturn. More than ever it is important to carefully manage your finances. We saw that business owners and individuals needed our help in this area, so we formed Alpha Business Services to fill this void. We work with you to manage every aspect of your small business or personal finances—account monitoring, bill paying, bank reconciliation, cost control, budgeting, tax reporting, and any other financial matter you don’t want to deal with.

Getting started is easy!

• Contact us (253-380-1973) for a free consultation to determine why your present system isn’t working and discuss what you would like to see happen.
• We will prepare a sensible strategy designed exclusively for your needs and goals.
• We will implement the strategy and work with you to perfect it to your specifications.
• We can do it all for you or work with you to make sure your system is working effectively and you are comfortable with it.

We will help you put all the pieces together. Please give us a call today!