One of the most common problems in relationships, and the most common cause of divorce , is arguing about money. I believe the best way to stop arguing is to get on the same page. That starts by having a monthly finance meeting.
Pam and I recently sat down to do our December monthly finance meeting. We went over our budgets, our investments, our cash, our assets and our liabilities during the meeting. It is a meeting we are committed to having every month.
Hope Isn’t Good for Finance
In the middle of our meeting, I remembered back to when I just hoped
the financial future would get better. There was a point in my life where all I did was hope. Then one day I committed
to making it better.
There is a huge distinction between hope and commitment. Once I committed to financial success, it changed everything. It changed the books I read. It changed the way I look at money. It changed what I spent my money on. Perhaps most importantly, it changed the way I think about money.
Since Pam and I started having our monthly meetings, things have gotten better and better every month. The best part is, we are on the same team working together to build our financial future. We have the same financial goals.
Planning Finance MeetingsIf you are not yet having monthly finance meetings with your significant other, I encourage you to start.
The first thing you need to do is gather your expenses for the month and enter them into Microsoft Excel (or another database program). This will allow you to compare your finances month-to-month and year-to-year.
In your document, you need to have categories like groceries, gas, utilities, car payments, etc. If you have children in college, you will need to allow for expenses there.
After you enter in the expenses, you need to look at the numbers together. You both need to see where you stayed in budget, and where if applicable, you may not have stayed in budget.
After your first monthly finance meeting, you need to make a daily and weekly commitment to reviewing your expenses. The monthly meeting is more to review where you are spending your money at. If you only review your expenses monthly, you can easily overshoot your budget every month.
After tracking your expenses at your monthly meeting, you need to look at your income. Income should be divided into passive and active categories. Active income is income you earn exchanging labor for money (i.e. jobs where you punch a clock). Passive income is income you make from sources that you do not trade labor for (i.e. real estate income, business income, investing income, and royalty income).
After looking at your assets and liabilities, you should calculate your net worth from month-to-month. Remember that assets are things that put money in your pocket on a monthly basis and liabilities are things that take money from you on a monthly basis.
Paying the Bills
After comparing our reports each month, we decide what else needs to be done. We are committed to paying ourselves first. This means that no matter what, the first check we write each month is to us for saving or investing
.
Our next contribution is to charity .
We then put money away in what we call our slush fund (some call this the “rainy day” fund). We also have a Christmas fund, a tax fund, and a toy fund. We don't borrow to purchase “toys", so this is where we save money to get things we want.
Finally we take our spending money. The spending money is money neither of us have to account for. We can just spend it. It is budgeted for that reason.
When we are done, we end the meeting practicing gratitude . Remember half the world lives on less than two dollars a day. We are blessed. So are you.
[ Ed. Note:If you would like to learn more about planning your financial future, Dr. Tim's new program, Living Every Minute: Design the Life You Deserve , will teach you how. Share your thoughts on this week's article with other readers below.]
Dr. Tim Reynolds founded Living Every Minute in 2009 to allow him to share his passion for finding success in every minute with others. He dedicates countless hours each week to helping other people change their lives through mentoring, life building, giving inspirational talks and writing for his free weekly newsletter.
Life wasn't always the picture of perfection it is now for Dr. Tim. In fact, he was the first member of his family to graduate high school. He joined the military shortly after graduation, where he graduated from the Special Forces Q-course in July of 1982. He served as a Green Beret medic on an A-Team, as the Battalion medic and eventually as a Special Forces Battalion Surgeon for the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He served both enlisted and as an officer for 17 years.
After getting out of the military, Dr. Tim decided he wanted to go to college to be a doctor. His guidance counselor told him he was too old. He would be 32 before he finished his degree. He told her, "I'm going to be 32 either way." He went on to graduate college with honors.
It was his passion for helping people that inspired him to become a medical doctor, and in 1993 he graduated Summa Cum Laude with an MD degree from the University of Utah. He completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Texas A&M Scott and White in 1996 and is board certified in emergency medicine. He is the managing partner for HealthCARE Express, a group of urgent care clinics rapidly expanding across the United States.
Prior to starting HealthCARE Express in 2006, Dr. Tim held numerous positions across the medical field, including: medical director of the Wadley Regional Medical Center Emergency Department and level II trauma center; president of E-Med Services, LLP and of E-Med Billing Solutions, LLP; associate clinical professor for the Area Health Education Center at the University of Arkansas; and founding member of the Greater People’s Clinic of Texarkana Board of Directors.
In addition to his medical experience, Dr. Tim is also an entrepreneur and successful businessman. He is currently the chief executive officer of TL Reynolds Properties, LLP, a real estate investment company; and he is a managing partner of JJET Developments Ltd., a real estate development company.
Dr. Tim has served on numerous other committees and boards throughout both the medical and business communities and is published in various journals and publications. He is sought after as a presenter at many national conferences.
In his leisure time, Dr. Tim enjoys spending time on his Ranch in Atlanta, Texas, where he lives with his beautiful wife, Pam, and their five amazing children. He holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, is a SCUBA rescue diver, and a pilot. He also enjoys body building, golf, and hiking.
Dr. Tim is a world traveler, having visited over 40 countries on six of the seven continents. He is a firm believer in Living Every Minute of life and teaching others to do the same.
Learn more at www.LivingEveryMinute.com