Plan Today, For Tomorrow’s Future

If you’re into R&B Hip Hop music you perhaps may have heard the once popular song turned pop culture slogan and social media hashtag #I’mlivingmybestlife! The song suggests that we should live life unapologetically, with no worries or regrets. Live life to the fullest; spend each day as if it’s your last. Time is one of those invaluable commodities that no matter how much wealth you have, you will never be able to buy enough of it or buy it back if it has been lost. As the song quotes, “I ain’t going back and forth with you….,” meaning why should you waste time on things that are meaningless and have no value? We more often than not find ourselves only dreaming about tomorrow’s future, yet we’re allowing distractions to force us to waste today’s time. As it’s been said over and over again…. Tomorrow Is Not Promised! Small sacrifices today are simply minute compared to the life it can bring for tomorrow. I’d like to share a few tips to help get you there.

Cut the cord! – Are you truly watching all of the channels that are offered on your current cable tv plan? According to USA Today, Paid subscribers spend on average, anywhere from $85-$100 each month on cable or satellite tv. What purpose are all of the sports and movie stations serving you? After all, you can only watch one station at a time, right? Think about it if you saved that $100/month for 60 months and placed it in a savings account with an APY of .08% that would amount to over $7k! That’s just by cutting the cord and opting to invest in a one-time investment of a streaming device. Imagine where that $7k could go? For starters, it could be used to purchase a pre-need instead of opting to finance your funeral costs via Go Fund Me. Because the average funeral costs are about $7k, purchasing a pre-need plan today would not only take the burden off your loved ones when you take your final rest, but purchasing certain items under this contract affords you the luxury of locking the cost of said items at today’s prices. We all know that inflation is not such a good thing. If you’re wondering how to go about getting a pre-need, I know some wonderful people over at Washington’s and Smith’s Paradise Funeral Home who would love to assist you in any way that they can with those.

Purchase your own devices – When subscribing to certain service contracts, most companies insist that you purchase their equipment. They offer convenient leasing packages that allow you to pay as you go, and in some cases you never truly end up owning the product anyways, or they come up with a newer model that forces you to “purchase” an upgrade. If you have internet through a cable carrier, consider purchasing your own modem, instead of paying an additional $10/month for something that you’ll never own. If you’re unsure of which device works best for you, the carrier’s website typically will tell you what devices are compatible, and you can buy them from a number of places like Amazon, Best Buy or Wal-Mart. Unless your cellular device is completely outdated, it’s not necessary to keep upgrading to a new phone each time a newer model is released. For most of us, we only use our phones for calls, texts, and scrolling through social media. True, pictures and videos are nice too, but not enough to keep upgrading for newer device that is most cases we will never own!

Budget Effectively – Budgeting is one of the most full-proof ways to not only save money, but getting you one step closer to living the life you plan for tomorrow, today! Many people are intimidated by budgeting, and assume that it requires a

lot of resources when in all actuality, it doesn’t. All it takes is time, patience and persistence. Not good with spreadsheets? No problem, there are several free apps that are available in both the Apple and Android markets. All you have to do is drop in the data, and you’re all set. Budgeting will offer you a clearer understanding of where you stand financially, but it will also highlight key areas of where you may be over spending and will signal to you where you may need to scale back on. Or you may not be overspending, but perhaps you may find that there’s simply some items that you may no longer consider a necessity. One thing that I do want to point out. In order to get us close to living the life we desire today, there’s certain sacrifices that you have to be willing to make. Take your lunch and cook more meals at home, and limit yourself to only eating out on the weekends. Want to catch a movie? Stay in, and catch it streaming on one of the devices I mentioned earlier. If you're still not convinced that you can devise a budget plan on your own, give Baisley and Walker Consulting a call, and we'll guide you throughout the entire process.

Just remember that by making these small changes and sacrifices, you will be so much closer to #livingyourbestlife than before. The only way to accomplish this is by Planning Today, for Tomorrow’s Future.