Money: The Rules of Engagement

Do you want to be a millionaire? Well, then it’s recommend that you learn the rules of engagement early on. These rules are also known as the Rockefeller rules. Some of them may seem hard at first, others may seem pointless, but the fact of the matter is - each one has its own purpose and helps you to create the wealth you desire. Reading them and acknowleding them is one thing, but implementing them is another - to reap the full benefits, try it out. If you don’t like it or don’t find your finances improving, you can always stop.

1 - First and forement, repsect your money always. This may sound like an odd concept, but I assure you, it is not. Money is money, whether or not it is one penny, one dollar bill, or a one million dollar check. Money is not the root of all evil so there is no reason to fear it. Money cannot buy you happiness - it can only buy you things. Once you understand that money has its own energy - neither good or evil - and it takes on the energy you bring to it, then you can begin to accumulate more of it in your life.

2 - Tithe the first 10%. Notice that only one thing comes before tithing - respect. You may not be religious or spiritual (and frankly, you don’t have to be), but tithing (or sharing) your income with an open and willing heart can pay for itself tenfold. Remember when you share with others, you are bringing light into their world and if everyone shared a little light, there wouldn’t be any darkness. Be careful where you tithe to as well, share with a place that is known for sharing with others - your church, your community center, your favorite research foundation - the idea is to share as much as possible.

3 - Pay yourself the next 10%. This doesn’t actually mean give yourself a paycheck per se, it means put the money in a savings account. Once you start saving your money, you begin to accumulate wealth, but save wisely - make sure you are getting a great interest rate. If you’re daring, I would suggest joining the Motley Fool Investment Community and investing in long term stocks - Sharebuilder offers an awesome value for the novice invester.

4 - Live on the rest. This should actually be, live below your means on the rest. Once you’ve tithed 10%, paid yourself the next 10%, now it is time to start living. This is hard for a lot of people in this day and age because far too many people live above their means and find themselves in debt up to their eyeballs (to include myself at one point). The good news is, simply adjusting a few simple things in your life can get you on the right path, such as setting up a monthly budget and sticking with it, getting your home to be more energy efficient (I still have that same halogen lightbulb I bought 6 months ago and it’s going strong), or forgoing the evenings “out on the town” for an evening “painting your living room red". If things are really tight, it’s a good idea to start paying yourself 2-3%, but make sure the amount steadily goes up to at least 10% as you actually begin living below your means.

5 - Account for every penny. You might be sureprised to see exactly where your pennies are going, I know I was. When we spend anything less than $5, we rarely pay attention to it and think of it as trivial - that is until you realize you’ve spend $5 (or less) in 10 different places over the course of a week - that’s $50/week give or take, $200/month - that’s almost an entire car payment. One of the best investments you can make is in some accounting software such as Microsoft Money (which I use personally) or Quicken. If you’re really tight on finances, get a ledger notebook and keep it meticulously ordered and balanced. Keeping track of your money isn’t nearly as difficult as it may seem. Setting up your software usually takes less than an hour - then at the end of each day - it takes about 15 minutes or less to update your transactions (depending on the amount of spending and deposits).
Some helpful hints:
- Use software whenever possible - less work and less room for errors in balancing, also, you can quickly see where most of your money goes with charts and graphs.
- Update your transactions daily. If you let it go too long, you run the risk of overlooking some transactions and that’s definitely not accounting for every penny.
- Save your receipts. This will come in handy when you’re updating your transactions at the end of the day. Save all your important receipts as well - i.e. high end electronics, furniture, appliances, etc.
- If you go on vacation take a small notebook with you so you can jot down how much you spend and where at the end of the day. When you return home, spend some time updating it in your software program (or ledger).
- Back up your records on a CD-R or floppy and save it in a fireproof safe. Try to back up your information at least once every other day. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

These rules of engagement may take a bit of getting used to, but you may find yourself pleasantly surprised at the results.