💰Stop using a paper budget

Author

Ryan Page
December 01, 2023

This is Money Myths - the money newsletter where you’ll learn to gain control of your money so you can stop living in chaos!

Financial Clarity Starts Here.

On today’s agenda:

  • I need money advice

  • money myth of the week

  • mini money message

  • dad joke of the week

I need money advice 🤷🏻‍♂️

Ever wish you could ask someone else what they’d do in your financial situation? Now’s your chance! Send in your situation and get a CPA’s perspective.

Scenario: My budget hangs on my fridge. I like the control I feel from writing down my budget monthly. I like being able to see it all the time, but it’s not helping me manage my spending. Do you have any tips on how to best use a paper budget?

What I’d do:

I understand your desire for control, but to be honest paper budgets don’t work as you’re able to see. They don’t let you quickly adapt to changes in your plan and they’re stale immediately.

The best thing you could do would be to switch to an automated tool like YNAB to help with your budget. You’ll find that you have more control because you’ve given a job to your cash and you can quickly move cash around when you don’t follow the plan.

This is true freedom and a different form of control!

PS. you’ll never be perfect with your budget so give yourself grace when you don’t follow the plan!

PPS. This link will get you 2 free extra months of YNAB!

PPPS. Reply to this email and I’ll help you set up your YNAB for free!

Have a financial situation you want help with? Reply to this email 😊😊

Money myth of the week

Paper budgets are more effective because you put pen to paper and remember more.

While this has proven to be correct for journaling, it doesn’t have the same effect when it comes to managing your money.

You may remember your numbers more, but you’re not able to quickly compare your budget to your actuals. You’re also not able to see what your actuals were historically. You waste A LOT of time preparing the budget and waste a lot of time if you try to prepare and compare to your actual spending.

The truth is: A budget is created to drive behavior.

Paper budget can’t drive behavior.

Mini money message 📲

@backpocketcpa

Stop using paper budget Using a paper budget makes you feel in control of your money, but the truth is you’re not. The true benefit of a b... See more

Tell me your best dad joke 🤣

Singing in the shower is fun until you get soap in your mouth. Then it's a soap opera.

Got any dad jokes to share? Let ‘em rip by responding to this email. 😜

That’s it for today.

We’ll see you next week!

And if you enjoyed Money Myths, send it to a friend who would benefit from this content 🤓