James P. Christensen - Rich on Any Income: The Easy Budgeting System That Fits in Your Checkbook

You can be rich on any income by using the Financial Freedom Budgeting System, which is a simple way for you to manage your budget in your checkbook in seven seconds per financial transaction.

This simple budgeting tool is shown here, and you will find some actual budget booklets in the back of this book.

How does this tool work? First, you take the total of your monthly income and divide it into twenty-five or fewer budget categories. (Well say more about how to do that later in the book.) Then you list each of the allocated amounts in one of the twenty-five columns in the budget booklet. For example, in a spending category you have labeled groceries, you might list the amount of $315.

Now you are ready to head to the grocery store. You have your checkbook (including your check register and your blank checks), and you have also inserted your budget booklet into your checkbook.

As you select your groceries, you mentally note the portion of the month still remaining and the number of dollars left in your grocery budget as recorded in the budget booklet. This will enable you to not deplete the remaining amount of allocated grocery money before the end of the month. You then proceed with your cart to the checkout stand. The clerk says, That will be $62.37. You proceed in the usual manner to write out a check to the store for $62.37. As you always do, you record the transaction in your check register and subtract the amount of the check from your previous balance.

But now you do something newsomething that will require only seven additional seconds and that will put you in control of your money. You turn to the page of your budget booklet that has the groceries column, and in that column you write down the check number and the amount, $62.37. You subtract that figure from the remaining amount left in thegroceries column for that month, $315. That leaves $252.63 still available for groceries until the end of the month. The next time you purchase groceries, you do the same thing. And, of course, you handle the other spending categories in a similar manner. By doing this, you will know at all times exactly where you have spent your money and how much you have left to spend in any budget category.

This system is powerful, but it is also simple. There are no complicated papers to carry with you, and there is no complicated bookkeeping to do at home. You can now keep track of your budget in seven extra seconds right in the store, at the service station, or wherever you write out a check.

This system is not overwhelming, as other budgeting systems are. Any man, woman, or child can, with little effort, understand, follow, and benefit from it.

As you read on, you will see how couples can harmonize two checkbooks into one system. You will learn how to use this budgeting system to make credit cards a positive tool rather than a nagging problem. You will learn how to handle emergency spending without having a financial disaster. You will learn how to save a years supply of money. You can do it, and when you do, you will be rich on any income.

Weve now given you a brief overview of how the Financial Freedom Budgeting System works and of what it will do for you. Lets back up now and look at the system from front to back. In other words, lets get you started on the road to financial freedom.