Ballin' on a Budget?
Interested in laying out all of your finances to see exactly how your money flows? Having difficulty preparing and maintaining a solid budget for your weekly/monthly/annual finances? Tired of having to pay & pray when you dine out (IYKYK)?
Apart of my journey to becoming financially educated came from my upbringing. I witnessed my grandmother afford my sister & I almost anything that we ever asked for & more (because her love overpowers all material items known to man & woman) while maintaining her household and personal lifestyle. I witnessed my single mother persevere to maintain a safe & sound roof over our heads that included the ambiance of "home" with the essence of family. I witnessed my father constantly hustle for his last name by being a lifelong entrepreneur who steadily found ways to explore new business opportunities and drop endless game. And I witnessed many other family members &friends constantly find themselves in the same pits by way of poor financial habits.
Let's be real ... hardly anybody (if anybody, chile) gets things perfect on the first try. Perfection, or the pursuit of it I should say, is an evolving quest that requires discipline, time, patience, and understanding. I, by no means, am financially perfect. I, too, find myself casually strolling to ASOS and Amazon after midnight as if my pockets are longer than the yellow brick road. However, I have found and implemented habits to check myself before biting off more than I can & wish to chew. One of those habits came to me by way of my current profession: accounting. As an accountant, one of my responsibilities is to ensure that the cash flow of my client is in tact to maintain all of their operational needs. Early in my career I realized that I was doing this so well for others and yet so minimally for myself. It struck me that I was enhancing another person's pockets while watching mine remain stagnant (& straight sad if we're talking Holiday season). Once I realized that I could apply some of my professional tactics to my personal life, I began to consistently build and revise my personal habits - one of those being the way in which I budget my finances by way of monitoring and analyzing my cash flow.
No Netflix, but are you still with me? It's about to get GOODT.
Budgeting & Forecasting are primary key factors to all aspects of financial planning & analysis (almost like what HOV & Nas are to rappers of any lyrical and sonic expertise). In order to invest in virtually anything, save cash for a rainy day, buy those red bottoms you've been eyeballing all week/month/year/decade (no judgement), or even grocery shop for the week, you will need to have knowledge of how much cash you have at your disposal. Most importantly, you will need to have the discipline to use that cash in an advantageous way for the present and future. This knowledge inspired me to build the Level One Budget Template and I'm more than excited to share this with you FOR FREE!
My challenge to you is to reinforce your financial habits by enhancing the way in which you budget (& make it cute because nobody likes a dry template - mine is pink & when printed, it's scented!). The Level One Budget Template can be found on the Tools page. Please feel free to share feedback that you find useful while tweaking the template to your financial needs (what I say about perfection? unreal - there's always a means to improvement). Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Shakel ✨
