Pay Yourself First…. How??

Well, there is actually a simple way to overcome the problem of not being able to save money. The simplest, most effective, and in fact, the best way to overcome this problem is to adopt the “pay yourself first” strategy. But how?

What you must do is treat yourself as a bill that must be paid, just like any of the other bills such as housing loans, car loans, phone bills, electricity bills, credit card bills, etc. If you take the time and trouble to set aside money every month to pay those bills, then you should also set aside money to pay yourself as well. And before you come running and throwing all the brickbats, saying it’s not possible, think about it: Which one is more important? Are the banks more important than yourself? Is the phone company, electricity board, or credit card company more important than yourself? The answer is an obvious NO. You are more important than any of those corporations even if they are huge corporations worth billions of dollars.

I don't know about you but I pick my family over any corporation any day of the week. Even if they are worth billions of dollars and bigger than General Motors, Microsoft, and Apple.

Furthermore, to whom do you think the money that you work so hard for belongs? Does it belong to the government, the banks, the credit card company or does it belong to you? Again, the answer is YOU. It is your money. You’ve worked so hard for it and you deserve every single cent.

Here is a sure way to help you to achieve financial freedom.

If this is the case, then it is only natural and obvious that the first person to be paid is you. And what I mean is pay as in save. In other words, the moment you get your salary set aside some money as your savings. Then and only then, do you start thinking about paying others. Incidentally, the minimum recommended figure is 10 percent of your take-home salary. If for example, your salary is $4000 per month, pay yourself $400, as your saving. And by the way, 10 percent is the minimum figure. Of course, if you can save more, the better. But as a start, 10 percent is a pretty good figure. As your income increase and you get better at managing your finance, you should be able to increase it to a higher figure without too much of a problem. Perhaps to twenty, thirty percent, or even higher.

And by the way, this saving must be done on a consistent basis and must not be meddled around. It should not be tapped to finance a new car, a house renovation, a new TV set, or for your vacation.

My friends, this pay yourself first step is very critical, so critical to personal finance that if you cannot do this, then everything else will remain theories. Just like the unreachable stars in the sky.

The funny thing about money is, that once you see it growing, you get pretty excited and want to do more. And if your pay yourself strategy is working well, you will start to increase the amount. This will make the growth more spectacular and in turn, get you charged up even more. You will begin to set aside 15,20 percent or more every month.

Of course, from time to time, you can use part of the money to buy something useful or something that will make your life more comfortable but generally, you need to save and invest the bulk of the money.

Before I forget, if you need to make some changes to your way of living to make this pay-yourself strategy work, please go ahead. It may cause some inconveniences initially, but will be a piece of cake as time goes by and you get used to it. In, short, you must pay yourself first. You must do this if you want to have any chance of achieving financial independence.

Eventually, you will realize that the money that you have saved and then invested, worked hard for you and make you wealthier. It works hard for you 24/7, it does not require breaks, does not get sick, and does not take a vacation. The money now becomes your slave and you are the master.

Friends, it’s true when they say that money is not a good master but an excellent servant. But for it to become your servant, you have to prove yourself worthy to be the master. And the best way to do this is to pay yourself first. It’s like telling the money, “Look here boy, I am your master and you are the servant. When I said jump, you ask how high?” And now I say, “pay me first”. For some strange reason, the money will obey.

If you put everybody else first, you have now become the slave and the money is your master. And money is a mean and ferocious master. Soon, the money will decide what you can do, where you can go, what you can eat and where your children will study, and maybe even how long you will live.

So, pay yourself first and start learning to be a master.

Here is a sure way to help you to achieve financial freedom.