My personal goal is to make every reader of this website financially secure.  I want us all not to lay in bed at night and wonder how (or even if) we will pay our electric bill.  Money is not the most important thing in our lives, but when we don’t have it…our worlds crumble.

“Financially secure? Sure, if I made six-figures!”  The truth is that it does not matter how much we make, it is our margin that matters.  Basically, I am talking about living within our means.  Take fish for example.  For the most part, a fish will not grow larger than the aquarium in which it lives.  Instinctively, they live within their means, or they have a comfortable margin.

We are the opposite.  We see the shark next to us in a huge tank with castles and envy  her “crib.”  Next, we pretend we are that shark and try to live like our budgets are that expansive.  All of a sudden, we have overstretched our means and are fighting to stay afloat.

You know that two-thirds of America’s millionaires are self-employed.  Not that interesting until you factor in the average salary of a small business owner is $233,000.  Compare that to the average Doctor’s of $250,000 per year.  Why are more small business owner’s actually richer?

Margin.  Small business owners are used to being frugal to ensure the doors stay open and employees get paid.  The ones who spend lavishly, go under.  Doctors have a status they must maintain.  They need to look and act the part of the shark.  Therefore, many overstretch their means.  Both make the same, but one is wiser.

If you make $30,000 a year, you can be rich.  You just can’t act like you make $60,000 yearly.  My grandparents lived by this philosophy.  My grandma was a school teacher, and grandpa ran a small manufacturing business.  Neither teachers or middle managers are notorious for being rich, but they respected the margin.

Naturally, they weren’t rock star rich with private planes.  However, they were able to travel all over the world and were still financially secure.

Respect the margin!

In the spirit of the holiday season, Wasabi Media Group is launching the Doubly Good December Contest.  This contest will reward one reader and one writer with a cash prize of 25 dollars each.

In order to qualify for the reader’s prize, all you need to do is have a comment published* for any article posted during the month of December.  Comments will be accepted for this contest through January 7th.  One comment will be chosen randomly, and the author of that comment will receive $25!

So, start reading, and submitting comments.  The more comments you submit, the more likely you are to win.

*In order for a comment to be published, an editor will determine if the comment is relevant to the article and meets WMG’s standards for appropriate language.

**Employees of Wasabi Ventures are not eligible to submit comments for this contest.

Christmas has always been associated with good food, gifts, and spending. But having a wonderful Christmas season doesn’t necessarily entail dipping into your savings. The holidays will not be as enjoyable as they should be if you’re thinking about the bills to be paid come January.

•    Look into your financial obligations – while giving gifts is one of the most exciting parts of the season, it is important to remember that you will have other expenses for the holiday. These include family dinners, travel expenses, and giving to charity. Knowing about these financial expenses beforehand will help you avoid unplanned spending.
•    Consider your resources – how much can you spend for the holidays? Do some number crunching to come up with a realistic amount. Maxing out your credit card limit is not the answer. Spend only what you can afford to pay.
•    Come up with a budget – after you have looked into your resources, come up with a budget. You need to apportion a set amount to your financial commitments to prevent unnecessary spending. In certain cases, you might find that you need to pay more than you anticipated. Try to reallocate your resources and stick to the original budget.
•    Think creatively to cut down on spending – instead of buying new tree decorations, why not use old decorations and just add a couple of new ones instead? Or if you are having a reunion with extended family members, why not ask them to bring the dessert and beverages? They might be happy to share their favorite dish.
•    Be smart in using your credit card – it is challenging not to give in to temptation at Christmastime. For this reason, a lot of people accumulate debt. Avoid this hazard by not applying to multiple credit card “offers” because it can get you deeper into debt. In addition, this can worsen your credit rating, and you might end up paying more than you bargained.

For the past decade people have been leveraging the equity in their homes for more credit.  Housing prices, and the market in general, crashed, moving the fulcrum to a point impossible to lift like a fat kid on a teeter-totter.

Currently, we are weighed down emotionally in these tough times.  Our money situation will take a huge portion of our time and thoughts, especially when the numbers are beginning to dwindle.  The mutual funds we have been nesting are plummeting, and our homes are losing value.  Is there anything safe left?

Yes, there is.  It is time to get back to the basics.  I recently wrote about getting a budget in order, and now it is time to get some leverage back into our finances.  The budget is our fulcrum, and everything is based off of that.

If you don’t have a savings account, first build a balance there.  My dad always told me to have at least enough to cover six months bills.  Even $50 dollars a month will get you there in time, just be patient.  Having this safety net will relieve loads of stress immediately.  This is a great strategy for businesses also.  I am slowly building up my business savings to reach this point as we speak.

Once I get enough there, I am going to save another three months of bills and place that money into one year CDs.  They have higher interest than normal savings, and by forgetting this money is even there will yield big interest rewards way down the road.

Now that we have built a very safe foundation to our finances we can sleep easily.  In fact, we can afford to have some fun.  My next financial move will be to invest in some stocks or aggressive mutual funds.  This is the same strategy I have employed in my own finances, and it is working wonders.  I am anxious for my business account to get there, too, one day.

Remember to reward yourself.  Once you hit a goal, treat yourself.  Six months saved, buy something from your want list.

What a crazy time in our history!  Our economy is in turmoil.  We have soldiers at war.  For the first time since 1776 a non-white man has been elected as president.  Gas is affordable.  Tiger Woods and GM end their endorsement partnership to pinch pennies.

Many corporations are scrambling to find ways to keep the doors open.  One of the first reactions is to cut personnel.  Save on costs.  What is your gut reaction to weather this storm?

Mine is to cut costs and not get involved in new ventures.  I scrubbed my household budget to examine where I can save some extra change.  Just four years ago, I did the exact same thing as my wife and I were saving for our first home.  At that time we found over $700 a month.  There I said this wouldn’t happen again…

Never say never.  My latest scrubbing uncovered $200 each month.  Sure this was not as bad, but the point is that I was making a conscious effort and still got up to this point again.  Even those of you who think you have no room to grow…look again with an open mind and B.E. H.O.N.E.S.T.

Bills; Essentials-Housing, Outfits, Num-Nums; and Extras-Savings, Throwaway.  Quick translation.  Break down budget into needs and wants.  Needs are bills, housing, clothing and food.  Wants are savings accounts and luxuries like travel and entertainment.  I cover making a budget a little more in another post.

My goal here is to get you into penny-pinching mode.  Really dig to see where you can save a couple of bucks each day/week/month/year.  One blogger commented, “Buy the paper towels that come in smaller sheets (the 1-2-3 sheet).  Most often you only need a small one but take a whole sheet.”  What a simple cost-cutting idea!

Over the past five years I found a collective $900 each month by pinching pennies.  How much can you find?  Instead of getting into debt over your head, get free from it.  I used my extra money to buy a home and save for my future wants and needs.

Give me some money saving ideas.  What will you do with the extra $$$$?