I get asked regularly about budgeting.  What’s the best way to budget?  Do you like the “envelope” method?  What about that new website?  Does Dave Ramsey’s way work?  Why do I need to budget?  How do I budget if I don’t have a salary and my income fluctuates?  You get the picture.  Even the Boy Scouts of America reference and teach budgeting in the Personal Finance merit Badge.   Here are 3 reasons why budgeting is important.

Reason number one- You will never have enough!  Odds are, this is a reality.  The odds of winning the lottery are definitely not in our favor.  Terrell Owens and Burt Reynolds, not to mention Riyanna have foreclosed on homes.  Businesses go bankrupt all the time.  It’s a harsh reality of life on this spinning globe.  Most of us will never enjoy complete financial freedom.  The best way to make sure you have some dough when you knead it (ok, so the word play isn’t that funny, but I tried!) is to budget.  Don’t let my dose of reality limit your dreams, but be wise is your relationship so that you can control money, rather than money controlling you.

Reason number two- Budgeting allows you to track your money.  If you account for your money, you’ll automatically make better money choices.  Tracking your cashflow allows you to have a more realistic picture of the true cost of a purchase.  You’ll be able to really know when you have a good deal in front of you, and your advisor will be able to better advise you in all areas of the money game.

Reason number three- You’ll have a fighting chance at retirement.  In today’s mess of a world, retirement isn’t such a sure thing anymore.  With that reason to procrastinate, along with all the others we come up with on our own, retirement can very easily get pushed off or placed on the back burner.   Budgeting allows you to allocate dollars each month to your retirement accounts, giving you a much better chance of being able to realize a comfortable retirement.