The Secret to Achieving Your Dreams Without Making a Budget

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If you’ve been thinking about your financial goals and whether you should establish a budget, here’s some advice: Don’t.

In fact, never use the word “budget” again. Like “diet,” it’s a word that screams deprivation. It implies that by forgoing spending on things you want, you’ll position yourself to somehow be better off. But how can you be better off when you’re missing out on what’s most important to you in life?

Diets and budgets smack of deprivation — “white-knuckling” yourself to a new and better you. Sound like fun? No wonder most of us can’t stick to either one for very long.

Here’s a better idea: When it comes to money, instead of a budget, create a spending plan — something reflecting how you’ll voluntarily choose to use your resources so you can achieve your dreams as soon as possible.

Starting at the end

A spending plan involves the same steps as a budget. You’ll establish goals for each spending category. You’ll track expenses — either on your own, or by using a service like that offered by Money Talks News’ partner YouNeedABudget. You’ll compare what you spend with your goal for each category, fine-tuning and trying to improve next week’s or next month’s results.

The only difference between a spending plan and a budget is where you start the process. With a budget, you start with numbers. Spending plans start in your head.

To start a spending plan, imagine you’re on your deathbed, reliving the happiest moments of your life. Maybe they include laughing with your spouse, watching your kids grow up, winning an award, a trip you’ve taken, adventures you’ve had or the people you reached out to and made a difference for.

Then, imagine the regrets you might have on your deathbed — things you wanted to do but never got around to.

The purpose of this mental exercise is to reconnect with what’s important to you. The purpose of your spending plan is to lengthen your list of happy moments and shorten your list of regrets.

If your dream is to take a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti or swim with dolphins, your spending plan is how you’ll get there. If your dream is to spend more time laughing with those you love or helping those in need, your spending plan will deliver.

By starting at the end, your spending plan is not about deprivation or pinching pennies. It’s about achieving dreams. You’re not depriving yourself, but choosing to spend less money on things like groceries, insurance and cellphones so you can spend more time doing what makes you happy.

Having a happier life isn’t a chore

Most people spend their lives running like a hamster on a wheel to keep up with their bills and the Joneses. They do what commercials tell them to do — fill their homes to the rafters with meaningless crap — then end up wondering where their lives went. Along the way, they do things like go on diets and make budgets they don’t stick with.

You’ve got enough sources of guilt in your life without adding another.

Instead, do something that will make tracking your expenses, spending less and saving more compelling. All you have to do is refocus on your dreams. Determine what you want from life, then build a plan — a spending plan — to achieve it as soon as possible.

If this sounds like new-age babble, consider this: About 25 years ago, I realized it made me happy to teach people how to manage money and avoid getting ripped off. So while my stockbroker peers bought the biggest houses and newest cars they could afford, I kept my old house and car and put away money.

You’re now reading the results. In 1991, I started a TV news segment called “Money Talks News.” Since then, I’ve been living my dream, both on air and, more recently, online with this website.

I didn’t get here with a budget. I got here by realizing what I wanted my life to be about, then tracking my expenses and saving where I could to make it happen. Not because I “should” or because it was the “sensible thing to do,” but because I was compelled by my dream to achieve it at the earliest possible moment.

What’s your dream? Make this the year you start achieving it by thinking it through and developing your own personal spending plan to get there. The hard part is remembering what’s important to you. The easy part is using budgeting sites and apps like our partner YouNeedABudget to set aside the money to make it happen.

Do you have a spending plan to accomplish your dream? Share with us in comments below or on our Facebook page.

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