No Romance without Finance! By Jewel Carter

How to get your finances in order for 2010
If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times… “Money doesn’t buy you happiness… However, it sure does make being miserable a lot more fun!” How is it that some people do and some people don’t? Some can and some can’t. Some will and others won’t? Save money that is. For some it’s an endless cycle. They get caught up in the “if I only made more money”. Then when they get more money… it still isn’t enough.

The problem doesn’t seem to be a lack of money, but a lack of money management. You ever wondered how our grand parents made a lot less money and provided for a lot more children. They all ate three meals a day, had clean clothes, shoes and for the most part, everyone turned out all right. Except maybe your uncle Pookie?!

Of course our ancestors had it a lot easier than us right? There was no QVC or Black Card on the market. If you wanted to hear music in the car everyone would sing a song, if you got lost, you’d pull out the map. Now, we’ve got to have a 12-disc CD changer that goes in the trunk or better yet XM satellite. A GPS system is a must. With every new technology is a bigger price tag and we’ve managed to make more millionaires and billionaires in the history of our world all the while we’re still trying to pay off our student loans from 1982.

Well, I am no financial expert, however, like you; I have access to a wealth of information on the Internet. This is what I have found: There are 113,000,000 sites on Financial Planning, 9,920,000 on Credit Repair, 31,400,000 on Saving Money, 17,900,000 on Investing and 14,300,000 on Creating a Budget.

Check them out and then go back to the article on Setting your Goals. You’ve got to have a plan in order to achieve anything…let’s call it a physical, spiritual or financial road map to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. You can use all the help in the world getting there, but how and if you stay there is determined by your attitudes about money and your ability to make the best choices for you and your family in the short and long term.

As you probably know by now, there are many happy poor people and there are unhappily wealthy folks. You must make the money and not let the money make you. The best part of being financially fit is a lot like being physically fit, it allows you the opportunity to live a healthier and happier lifestyle, filled with unlimited possibilities. It gives you the chance to ask, “What do I want to do?” Instead of “what can I afford to do”?

I hope that I’m not the first to tell you this…there is no one in the world that is more deserving of happiness and financial freedom than you!