This quote from "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley is possibly the best financial advice you will ever receive.
It is easy, however, to spend more than we should on things we don't need, and may not even want all that much.
If you are like most people, it is this thoughtless spending that is keeping you from the financial freedom you desire.
It is amazing how much you buy, yet when you stop spending, never miss!
MyMoneyPicture (MMP) was created as a personal project to help Suzanne rein in her own finances.
Even though she didn't have an expensive lifestyle or lavish tastes, and made a decent wage, she was simply never able to get ahead financially.
If you asked her why she wasn't saving more money, she would honestly say she had no idea.
And she wasn't going to change her behaviour when she didn't even know what she was doing wrong.
She kept saying "I just don't know where the money goes."
Suzanne looked for an on-line financial application, but couldn't find any she liked. They both knew what she needed, they just couldn't find it.
She needed to:
As an IT professional who has worked with several large banks, Suzanne understands the importance of security. With all the data breaches you read about, there was no way she would ever consider giving a third party the userid's and passwords for any of her accounts.
This has the added benefit of making her personally involved in recording her spending, which increases awareness and is a big reason why MyMoneyPicture works so well.
Suzanne has been using MyMoneyPicture for close to 8 years, and it has helped her recognize and correct bad habits while helping her pay off her credit cards, car, home and finally have money in the bank. Getting on top of her spending was a very personal and emotional journey which involved finding self-awareness and developing personal acceptance of why things were what they were.
It also has been a good record keeping tool, which is useful for tracking the travel expenses required for her job. And since she can easily display spending for particular subcategories for an entire year, it makes tax time easier.
Brett is old school when it comes to managing his finances. He hates debt, only buys what he can afford and thinks that anything which encourages spending is bad.
However, even though Brett is very frugal by nature, he also began using MyMoneyPicture daily to record his spending and monitor his account balances.
There is always room for increased understanding.
Of course, due to his financial background, Brett wanted a better app than the one Suzanne was content with, so he insisted entering transactions be even easier, and that meaningful graphs be added to provide instant visual feedback.
Brett noticed as a corporate accountant and financial analyst, that budgets can create a perverse incentive to spend the full budgeted amount. Success is defined as being within budget, and that can limit the incentive for further improvements.
As a CPA he understands the role of budgets and knows they are an important starting point, which is why MyMoneyPicture incorporates budgets.
However, with time and self-awareness you will learn how to only spend on those things you really need and/or can easily afford, and continually improve month after month.
MyMoneyPicture works so well, at this point it seems selfish not to share it with others. If you find yourself wondering where all your money goes, we challenge you to use MyMoneyPicture and see if it is as helpful for you as it has been for us.
And if you have any suggestions, please contact us because we'd love to hear them.
This quote from "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley is possibly the best financial advice you will ever receive.
It is easy, however, to spend more than we should on things we don't need, and may not even want all that much.
If you are like most people, it is this thoughtless spending that is keeping you from the financial freedom you desire.
It is amazing how much you buy, yet when you stop spending, never miss!
MyMoneyPicture (MMP) was created as a personal project to help Suzanne rein in her own finances.
Even though she didn't have an expensive lifestyle or lavish tastes, and made a decent wage, she was simply never able to get ahead financially.
If you asked her why she wasn't saving more money, she would honestly say she had no idea.
And she wasn't going to change her behaviour when she didn't even know what she was doing wrong.
She kept saying "I just don't know where the money goes."
Suzanne looked for an on-line financial application, but couldn't find any she liked. They both knew what she needed, they just couldn't find it.
She needed to:
As an IT professional who has worked with several large banks, Suzanne understands the importance of security. With all the data breaches you read about, there was no way she would ever consider giving a third party the userid's and passwords for any of her accounts.
This has the added benefit of making her personally involved in recording her spending, which increases awareness and is a big reason why MyMoneyPicture works so well.
Suzanne has been using MyMoneyPicture for close to 8 years, and it has helped her recognize and correct bad habits while helping her pay off her credit cards, car, home and finally have money in the bank. Getting on top of her spending was a very personal and emotional journey which involved finding self-awareness and developing personal acceptance of why things were what they were.
It also has been a good record keeping tool, which is useful for tracking the travel expenses required for her job. And since she can easily display spending for particular subcategories for an entire year, it makes tax time easier.
Brett is old school when it comes to managing his finances. He hates debt, only buys what he can afford and thinks that anything which encourages spending is bad.
However, even though Brett is very frugal by nature, he also began using MyMoneyPicture daily to record his spending and monitor his account balances.
There is always room for increased understanding.
Of course, due to his financial background, Brett wanted a better app than the one Suzanne was content with, so he insisted entering transactions be even easier, and that meaningful graphs be added to provide instant visual feedback.
Brett noticed as a corporate accountant and financial analyst, that budgets can create a perverse incentive to spend the full budgeted amount. Success is defined as being within budget, and that can limit the incentive for further improvements.
As a CPA he understands the role of budgets and knows they are an important starting point, which is why MyMoneyPicture incorporates budgets.
However, with time and self-awareness you will learn how to only spend on those things you really need and/or can easily afford, and continually improve month after month.
MyMoneyPicture works so well, at this point it seems selfish not to share it with others. If you find yourself wondering where all your money goes, we challenge you to use MyMoneyPicture and see if it is as helpful for you as it has been for us.
And if you have any suggestions, please contact us because we'd love to hear them.