Let's say that you are getting regular monthly salary from work and you are happy with it. Now, at the end of the month (and most of the time, two days after you get your paychecks), you wonder where all your money is gone.
You begin reasoning.
30% of it goes to house mortgage.
20% of it goes to car payment.
10% of it goes to credit card payment.
5% of it goes to utility bills.
etc, etc, etc...
"That should be fine. I've got all taken care of. Next month, I'll get another paycheck and the same cycle goes on and on... enough for me to survive the whole life."
Well, you gotta be careful now.
What happens if your car broke down?
What happens if your kitchen needed renovation after a heavy storm last night?
What happens if you suddenly forgot that you've overspent your credit card?
What happens if you fell sick?
Things could be worse, and now is the time that the cliche "Fix your roof on a sunny day" is very much true to you.
You don't want this to happen to you, right?
There could be thousands of things that could go wrong in our lives but unless we realize that we need to prepare for the worse, we'll never get ahead of ourselves.
Sometimes, fixed salary could be a good thing for you because you can plan with what you want to do with your money on a predicatble basis. Though I strongly believe that you still need a secondary income - preferably a recurring secondary income - to improve your financial situation at any level.
And, the best plan to improving your financial situation is...
PAY YOURSELF FIRST.
That's right!
Regardless if you have $300,000 of house mortgage or a $100,000 savings in the bank, make it a habit to pay yourself right after you get your monthly paychecks. This habit will definitely help.
Let's see...
You've been paying everybody you owe every month. You pay the bills, the banks, the mechanics, the who knows who and you actually get nothing, except settling the scores.
There's just another person that you forget to pay - that is YOU.
Imagine yourself as a bill collector on yourself. No matter what, you have to pay yourself at the beginning of every month (I suggest 10% of your salary. The more is better) - or else you cease to function as yourself.
Never fail to pay your SELF and only after you pay yourself, then you pay the others.
Yes, at first, but once you put the action of "Paying Yourself First" into habit, you'll actually enjoy doing it, knowing that you do good deeds to yourself.
Try it once. Then do it the second month. And then, another... and another.
PAY YOURSELF FIRST because you deserve much more than the other bill collectors.
