How can I create a budget and stick to it?

Creating a budget and sticking to it is a great way to manage your finances effectively. Here are some steps to help you create a budget and stay on track: 

1. Set financial goals: Determine your short-term and long-term financial goals. Whether it's saving for a vacation, paying off debt, or building an emergency fund, having clear goals will motivate you to stick to your budget. 

2. Calculate your income: Determine your total monthly income, including salary, wages, and any other sources of income. 

3. Track your expenses: Record your expenses for a month to get a clear understanding of where your money is going. Categorize your expenses into different groups like housing, transportation, groceries, entertainment, etc. 

4. Identify areas to cut back: Analyze your expenses and identify areas where you can reduce spending. Look for non-essential expenses that you can minimize or eliminate without affecting your quality of life. 

5. Allocate your income: Assign specific amounts to each expense category based on your priorities and financial goals. Be realistic and ensure that your total expenses are less than or equal to your income. 

6. Create a budgeting system: Choose a method to track your budget, whether it's using a spreadsheet, budgeting apps, or pen and paper. Regularly update your budget and track your spending throughout the month. 

7. Plan for savings and emergencies: Make saving a priority in your budget. Set aside a portion of your income for savings, including both short-term and long-term goals. Also, allocate funds for unexpected expenses or emergencies. 

8. Review and adjust regularly: Revisit your budget monthly or quarterly to evaluate your progress. Make adjustments as needed to accommodate changes in income, expenses, or financial goals. 

9. Stay disciplined and motivated: Stick to your budget by practicing self-discipline. Remind yourself of your financial goals and the benefits of staying on track. Seek support from friends or family members who can help you stay motivated. 

10. Be flexible and adaptable: Recognize that unexpected expenses or financial situations may arise. Be flexible and adjust your budget accordingly without feeling discouraged. Adaptability is key to long-term budgeting success. 

Remember, creating a budget is a personal process, and it may take some time to find a system that works best for you. Be patient and persistent, and with time, you'll develop good financial habits and achieve your financial goals.

How debt could help you generate money

Yesterday we got an interesting email from a guy named Tom. He challenges our articles and ideas about saving money and investing savings. Tom is sharing the idea that rich people never save money – they make money out of the money of the others. Borrowing money with low interest and investing them into profitable assets.

Tom really has a good point so in this article we will cover how and why debt could be considered something good and could earn you a fortune.

1. Not everyone has enough capital to start their own business
If you have a brilliant idea or discovered a profitable niche waiting for your savings to grow until you invest in it might be not so clever. In the best-case scenario, somebody might get into the niche or simply steal your idea and make it true, benefiting from it. Timing and execution are the primary reasons behind each success story.

Also, if you have a working business model and you want to expand on it, then basically debt could be a better option to go and get capital instead of waiting for your savings to grow up. This is true, especially if you don’t want to give away equity. A lot of business owners prefer to keep most of the ownership to themselves and build the business from the ground up. After all, it’s their idea, their dream, and their sweat and tears.

2. Borrowing money to invest in real estate
Real estate is thriving most of the time, and although it might be slow and dependent on the country or region, as a rule of thumb a property nowadays cost much more than 20-30 years ago. In some countries and regions, it could be more than 300% increase in the value.

If you want to invest in property, make sure to do some analysis to make you can use it as an investment. So, when you borrow money the tenant or if it is a commercial property then the business owner who is renting it is going to pay you a monthly rent. Using this income, every month you would be able to cover the payments on your debt and probably even have a little bit of cash leftover.

3. Borrow money only if you will be generating wealth out of it
If you know how to use and invest money correctly, by any means debt is your friend. It is important to remember - every time you borrow money you need to understand that you have to have the money to pay for it. Therefore, it's important not to borrow money if you just want to go and buy presents for your family, but only if you are going to invest and make more money out of it. The only time that you should borrow money is if you know that you can create enough cash flow from that debt to pay off the debt.

4. Borrow money when your business has a minimum 30% return out of it
If you own an Amazon business or Shopify, or even a regular convenience store and you know that whatever money you put into the business - you can make a minimum of a 30% return on your capital, so you should be able to pay back your debt with that money and be able to grow faster your investment, than debt is the best way to go.

5. When you borrow money you leave most of your cash for emergencies
You are not depleting your actual cash flow and actual cash so in any case of unforeseen events, you would be able to stabilize faster and not lose your business to an unfortunate event.

If you ever have a down month, or you need to get more supplies or if you need some equipment it's best to have a little bit of money saved for your business. Most markets and environments are unpredictable, and there are always good months and bad months

A good example is the retail business. Usually, the Christmas season is strong, so November and December are usually profitable. At the same time in January the sale drop and then throughout the year they're more or less consistent, depending on the type of business. Some businesses have a strong summer, while others are growing over the winter season.

6. You can use debt when it comes to leasing
There are a lot of business owners who need better machinery or equipment for their business. They are usually expensive, and it is much better for some business types to consider leasing, instead of permanent purchase. Your business will save thousands of dollars if you just lease and will only be paying for the time that you're using the equipment and the machines and when you don't need them anymore, depending on your lease contract, you can return it or you can exchange it.

Very often that's a 100% tax write-off and when it comes to the debt you borrow to pay for the lease it's 100% percent tax write-off so you're getting a tax advantage and you're able to grow your business a lot faster. That’s why many business owners, as Tom mentioned, prefer  debt when it comes to growing wealth than anything else

7. You can borrow against the business
That's cool. It is a good idea to keep your personal and your business separate. This is a very strong foundation for your business so your business can borrow on its own merit. When you're borrowing against your business idea then it is possible to have the business as a warranty.

If you try to borrow money on a personal side, the bank will ask you about your credit score (we covered in the previous article). Your credit score needs to be good; you need to have low utilization rates, and you need to have enough income to support the monthly fees and taxes.

The other way to borrow money from the bank is through a balance sheet, from your business.
A balance sheet shows the bank your financial education and if you are borrowing from the bank, they want to check how much cash flow is coming in; what's your business model like; how much debt are you going to be taking on; who's going be paying for that debt.

Therefore, you need a financial statement and balance sheet and if you can show the bank that you did your homework and your financial IQ is good then they can lend you even more money.

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As a conclusion, it is true that the richest people in the world use debt to generate more money than anything else. After the gold standard removal, and the inflation rate skyrocket – many see money as plain pieces of paper already, without any value. So, having such a mindset helped the rich borrow huge amounts of debt, invest smartly in something more tangible, and generate huge amounts of profit. We would also like to warn you to be careful though. Make sure you have a good plan and profitable place to invest the debt, otherwise it will just be a liability to you and not bring you any benefit.

How to make money during COVID-19 crisis

COVID-19 crisis hit hard the economies of both the developed and developing countries. If you are one of the many staying home, either employed or not it is time to consider the new opportunities to make money. In the previous article “Sectors and companies benefiting from the COVID-19 crisis and national quarantine” we discussed the sectors and companies benefiting from the crisis. Now it’s your time to learn from the winners’ experience and start benefiting yourself.

1. Use your current skills
Any of your skills not involving face-to-face contact would work. Maybe you can sing, write articles, create videos, do graphic designs, teach or just create value by streaming activities. Now is the time to do it. Post over social media or create a simple free page and gather groups and clients.

Streamers earn millions of dollars streaming gaming or any other recreational and educational activities. Try Twitch today and start gathering followers, clients, donors, or patrons for your business or services.

2. Acquire new skills
Now is the perfect time to educate yourself into more profitable skills to serve you over the next decade. Always wanted to be a better investor? Read those books and take those courses you never had the time before. Maybe you wanted to learn how to marketeer your products and services better – there are plenty of free resources online. Never had the time to gather and create clients' e-mail-list – you should be able to now. Or, you are up to a completely new career path as a techie, start learn programming, designing, or engineering – there is no better time.

3. Adjust your mindset and change the way you serve your clients
Be creative.
Fitness gurus use YouTube and Facebook to keep their clients in shape. Makeup artists, singers, and photographers do tutorials and give lessons and offer services online. Master Chefs use Instagram, blogging, and video streaming to show recipes of their latest masterpieces in the kitchen. Have a look at your competitors and partners. What do they do to mitigate the income impact of the COVID-19 crisis and even earn more?

What your clients need the most? How could you serve them without face-to-face contact? Don’t be afraid to experiment, don’t be afraid to create a survey and ask your clients how you could serve them better online.

4. Become a freelancer
Try some freelance work at Freelancer.com or Upwork. They list creative, mostly technical, jobs to be done remotely. If you already have the technical skills, those are your best bet for additional income.

5. Spend some time on planning (no more than 10% daily)
Learn how to create business and action plans. Try planning the rest of the year. Outline everything important to you and your business in the plan – your clients, your main sources of income, your timeline for executing and delivering your services, the budget needed, and the income expected. Put everything in a timeline, and don’t forget that the plan would probably change… and that’s ok. But still, your vision and your goals to achieve the vision should remain as close to the original. There are many templates, tutorials, and guides online – how to create a financial plan and how to adjust it when needed.

Keep in mind – the COVID-19 crisis will sooner or later end, elaborate vision, and plan actions and goals to achieve after the crisis.

6. Train, mentor, and coach
If you are already an expert – do not hesitate to promote yourself as a trainer or mentor for those who would like to learn in your field. Offer discounts to attract trainees or just train for free to gain more popularity and clients later. You can use Skype, MS Teams, Zoom, or any other platform for your teachings.

7. Promote your business with vouchers
People love vouchers and now is the best time your business could benefit from giving away vouchers for your products or services. It works not only online but for businesses like hotels, bars and events. Maybe some clients would like to cancel their reservation? Instead - offer them a discounted voucher to use your service or do the reservation later, up until the end of 2020 or even 2021. This way you are not going to lose business.

At the same time provide gift-cards and vouchers to every client currently using your services. This way their loyalty will increase, and they will keep coming back to your business.

8. Work online as a QA or feedback provider
There are plenty of sites offering opportunities to test products or take surveys and provide feedback. They will pay you for your time. In the meantime, you could use the opportunity to check what the other companies are doing and what products and services they require feedback on. In the long run – this will help you improve your own services and products to earn more money.

9. Sell unused items online
You could eBay your unneeded items at home, not only generating some cash but getting rid of those unnecessary items. Maybe you have an expensive car? Now is the time to get rid of it. Or you have another laptop you barely ever touch – it’s time for it to go for good.

10. Offer services to people in need
There are a lot of people in need and you could either volunteer or work part-time for them. Elderly or vulnerable people, staying at home could need somebody to do some shopping or simply walk their dogs. Although these would not earn a fortune – they are a nice extra additional income for some little time and effort on your side.