In my book Forever Cash, I stress the importance of getting a hold on your finances. In fact, I gave Chapter 8 a somewhat controversial title: “Your job income has nothing to do with your financial success.” In that chapter, I tried to help my readers to understand that simply making more money is one way to help your situation but learning how to manage your money is even more important.
You probably know some of the methods that I teach. One of them playing a good offense by reducing your monthly spending (without adversely affecting the quality of your life). But before you can make any sort of changes you need to have a good idea of what your budget is – and of what it could be.
That’s why I wanted to share a new tool with you – The Living Wage Calculator designed by MIT
This tool allows you to input your location and then get info on the average costs for different services and costs of living in your area. It allows you to make an extremely accurate budget and to see where most of your money is going.
A tool like this one is the first step to getting control of your finances and stepping of the Hamster Wheel of Hell. After you have a better idea of how much money you need to survive, you can begin to find ways of saving money and putting all you can towards investments.
Talking about money doesn’t have to be a scary thing. With the new technology and tools that are available, it is easier than ever to get to where you want to be financially.