Do You Have a Money Action Plan?
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This week on My Financial Reviews, I was giving my take on a new book released last month, Your 33 Day Money Action Plan from Nathan W. Morris.
Basically I recommended it as a book to grab if you're looking at meaningfully changing your finances relatively quickly. I wanted to share how a money action plan can help you build your net worth.
What's a Money Action Plan?
You may be curious about what I mean when I mention Money Action Plan.
Basically it's a strategy that you have on improving your finances piece by piece.
For some using a book like Morris' Money Action Plan (here's a link to buy it) or Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover can be incredible boost – a specific plan that has worked well before.
Others may prefer to create their own plan, taking advice from others and adjusting it to their family's money needs.
Creating a Money Action Plan
For us we've created a plan chunk by chunk – starting with a goal and adjusting it as we reach milestones.
When we first got married we had to two goals – create a working budget and have some savings for emergency.
At the time my husband had spent a year out of college working as a software developer and I was juggling being a full-time student while working part-time as an intern.
Not knowing whether my internship would last longer than a semester and trying to give ourselves a bit of breathing room, we decided that our necessary expenses would be covered by one income.
We found an apartment that was within our budget and we economized for our first year. Happily my internship was extended and we managed to have some money in savings.
As our circumstances changed we added goals and adjusted our financial system.
When I made the leap to self-employment, my husband directed his paychecks towards the joint checking and my income was directed towards building up savings and paying down debts.
Along the way we've been investing for retirement, having debt free vacations, and bought cars with cash.
It hasn't always been a smooth ride, but having a plan for our money has made it much easier.
Thoughts on Creating a Money Action Plan
I'd love to hear from you about how the two of you handle your finances, both in the past and now.
What was your first year like together when it came to money? What money action plan do you have now for the rest of the year and beyond?
Photo Credit: Nathan W. Morris
I hate to say it but my wife and I really had no money action plan. Then we had kids and responsibilities started piling up. That action plan was a necessity and we are lucky that we pulled it all together quickly before it was out of control
I’m glad you guys did get together with your finances. I think sheer necessity has spawned many money plans. Congrats on working together on it!