If you just got paid and you have $2,000 in the bank then you budget $2,000. The basic premise of all three programs is that you budget based on what you actually have – it’s not a projection in the future or a record of the past. All three are online, have great mobile apps and are very secure. In today’s post I want to do a review of the top three budgeting programs – Mint, You Need a Budget and EveryDollar. It is cheap (or free) and does all the hard work for you. In this day and age there is no reason not to use budgeting software. Once you attach a dollar amount and a deadline to the goal your budget can start to really work for you. Do you want to travel? Go on vacation next year? Buy a better car? Buy a house? Those are all financial goals, and you will achieve those through your budget. Do you want to retire someday? That’s a financial goal. You have financial goals, though, even if you haven’t attached a dollar amount to it yet. Maybe you have a goal to become a millionaire, maybe you don’t.

That’s right – they set a goal to become a millionaire then the budget was the tool they used to get them there. “Millionaires became millionaires by budgeting and controlling expenses, and they maintain their affluent status the same way.”

After they compiled the research they wrote a great book titled “The Millionaire Next Door.” One of the key findings of the book was about budgeting: They studied how they made their money, what their family structure was, what kind of car they drove, what kind of watch they had and on and on. Budgeting puts you in control of your money and helps you achieve your goals.Ī few years back two professors did the largest research study on millionaires in the United States. Budgeting is the foundation of financial wellness and success.

You need a budget vs everydollar