The Financial Freedom Project

There are few things on a battlefield more powerful or intimidating than an army tank. They’re mobile, possess incredible firepower, and are heavily-armored. And whether it be in the form of sand, mud, water, or barbed wire, they can overcome practically any obstacle.

When building your personal budget, your goal should be to model it after a tank. You’ll want it to be easy to maneuver, powerful, difficult to knock off-track, and capable of surmounting any obstacle between you and your financial goals.

This comprehensive guide will provide you with the 26 steps to building a bullet-proof budget and creating a money management system that is virtually unstoppable. Continue Reading

Work. Errands. Relationships. Kids. Sometimes there’s simply too much going on to keep it all straight. The time demands of life in modern society can make it easy to feel like life is living you these days, rather than the other way around.

When was the last time you talked to someone who mentioned their excessive amount of leisure time, or how well they were able to remember all of their to-do’s? If your social circles are anything like mine, these interactions are few and far between.

With this in mind, who wouldn’t jump at the chance for some additional free time or a few less things to remember? Automatic bill pay offers you the opportunity to simplify your life and obtain both in the process. Continue Reading

Culinary sauces are the foodie’s spice of life. Whether in the form of a homemade cranberry sauce, a mouth-watering BBQ glaze, or some pain-inflicting fire juice, every King or Queen of the Kitchen has a secret concoction that only they can make. A sauce that transforms a simple dish into something people talk about for days.

If you’ve been following this Master Your Money series from the beginning, you’ve been busy whipping up your own custom money management system. And perhaps without even realizing it, you may have created an automatic hidden bonus for yourself in the process.

We’re not talking mere chump change, but nearly 10% of your annual income. So prepare to savor the results of your hard work, because it’s time to take a look at this secret sauce that can transform your budget into something truly special. Continue Reading

I come from a highly competitive family. We have trophies for winners of annual board game tournaments and football pools. Engraved plaques for golf scramble champs.

It goes without saying that we also have a fondness for the Olympics – a gathering of the world’s finest athletes to compete for the right to be labeled the best on earth. It was while watching the figure skating competitions during the Winter Olympics earlier this year that I was inspired with the idea for this post.

Even a perfectly balanced budget is of little use without the proper cash flow choreography. Today we’re reviewing how to keep your monthly income and expenses in sync like a perfectly choreographed performance on the ice. Continue Reading

In early medieval history, some feudal landowners turned their hand to lowbrow tactics to supplement their income. Their insidious acts ranged from merely charging excess tolls to highway robbery and even kidnapping for ransom. Such scoundrels gave rise to the term “Robber Baron“.

While unfortunate, you may think that this tale of highway banditry perpetrated hundreds of years ago doesn’t concern you. But I’m here to tell you that it does.

Because there’s a modern-day robber baron afoot, masquerading as your friendly bank. Exorbitant bank fees are the new highway robbery. And if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself being relieved of your hard-earned cash faster than a waylaid medieval merchant. Continue Reading

Paying bills isn’t the most fulfilling feeling in the world. And buying necessities like grocery staples doesn’t exactly provide any ultimate feeling of satisfaction or reward.

But when you decide to treat yourself by indulging your taste buds, buying that item in support of your favorite hobby, or splurging on your favorite vice, you expect to obtain a feeling of fulfillment, satisfaction, or reward.

However, the typical joy of discretionary spending can be quickly sapped by the stress of financial uncertainty, fear, guilt, shame, regret, or worry. With this in mind, today we’re taking a look at how you can ensure your spending is as stress-free as a well-fed animal in the zoo. Continue Reading

I’ve always been fascinated by naval history, particularly accounts of naval warfare. As an adolescent, I remember binge-reading virtually every naval military history book contained in the archives of our local library.

I found the exploits of Sir Francis Drake, a 16th-century English privateer commissioned to harass Spanish merchant trade in the Caribbean, particularly fascinating.

By this point in the Master Your Money series, you should have a rock-solid money management system and budget in place. But like a poorly-tied sailor’s knot, all the work you’ve done thus far can be easily undone by overspending.

Today we’re turning back the clock to the Age of Sail to review a naval practice you can adopt to combat overspending and keep your budget out of the briny deep. Continue Reading

Finding and maintaining your balance on the save vs. spend tightrope can be difficult if you share your finances with a spouse or significant other. Particularly if the two of you possess differing views or attitudes about money.

One of the great mysteries of life is that all of us are born as either natural savers or spenders. And while some birds of a feather may fly together, the old “opposites attract” idiom is proof enough that this isn’t always the case.

If the spending habits of your significant other ruffle your feathers, read on to learn how Mrs. FFP (a spender) and I (a saver) managed to reconcile our wildly different spending habits as newlyweds. Continue Reading

How much of your discretionary income should you save? And how much of it is okay to spend on splurges and guilty pleasures?

These are loaded questions, and one-size-fits-all formulas aren’t the answer. These questions can only be answered by you, and you alone. Your unique personality, financial goals, and income level are all contributing factors.

Properly weighting your saving and discretionary spending is a balancing act with high stakes. Lean too far towards spending, and you put your financial freedom at risk. But save too aggressively, and you may find yourself chafing under a budget that feels restrictive rather than freeing.

This article will help you find your footing on the save vs spend tightrope. Continue Reading

Today we’re going all the way back to 1985 to take a lesson from the most iconic video game in history – Nintendo’s original Super Mario Bros.

We just finished examining how to build a savings goal ladder rung-by-rung which will enable you to reach the finer things in life. But before you can put this ladder to use, you need to know a few tips and tricks regarding how to manage the impact of Mint savings goals on your monthly budget.

If budgeting in Mint was a video game, think of this article as your guide to beating the savings goal level. By the end, you’ll be capable of using Mint savings goals to power up your finances just like Mario powers up with Super Mushrooms. Continue Reading

If you’ve ever had the privilege of picking fruit fresh from the tree, you know that the biggest and tastiest morsels are often located in the very upper-most, hardest-to-reach branches.

While frustrating, this should come as no great surprise given the abundance of fresh air and sunlight available at the top of each tree. Reaching this fruit requires both determination and, in most cases, a ladder. But the juicy reward makes the effort expended well worth it.

Just like grade-A fruit, financial freedom doesn’t always come easy. Obtaining it requires both intentionality and the right tools. With this in mind, today we’re reviewing how to build a savings goal ladder rung-by-rung that will enable you to obtain financial freedom and reach the finer things in life. Continue Reading

In the last article, we used the story of the American ’49er and the greatest mining boomtown in U.S. history to discover how you can strike it rich by mining your debt.

By the end of that article, you should have been able to identify the size of your personal debt mother lode as well as the potential income and wealth concealed within each of the individual loans on your debt claim.

But in order to calculate how much of these riches you can actually recover, you need to decide which debt reduction method you’ll put your money on and ride to the debt-free finish line.

Today we’re taking a definitive look at the top two thoroughbreds in the debt-free derby to determine which is the better mount for your financial racetrack – Debt Snowball or Debt Avalanche. Continue Reading

The almighty price tag is everywhere – fast food drive-throughs, restaurant fold-out menus, catalogs, grocery aisles, clothes racks, and online product listings.

Price tags come in all shapes, sizes, and colors and influence our shopping behavior in many ways. Similarly, the price tag of your financial freedom should influence the saving and spending decisions in your monthly budget.

With this in mind, today we’re exploring how to check the price tags of the individual items on your financial freedom shopping list.

Continue Reading

Murphy’s Law – Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. We all know this old adage. And I’d wager that most of us have lived it and can lustily vouch for its accuracy.

The insurance industry is predicated almost entirely on this concept. There are at least 95 policy types that exist – life, health, home, auto, motorcycle, boat, accidental death and dismemberment(!?!), travel, liability, flood, kidnapping, alien abduction… the list goes on.

And while hopefully your chances of being dismembered or abducted by aliens are excruciatingly low, just remember that Murphy is still out there.

So the question becomes, how do you Murphy-proof your finances? I submit that you can do so by copying a design element dating back to the early days of “the motorcar”. Continue Reading

Have you ever daydreamed of what it would be like to run a large business? Of being an executive high roller in a high-rise? If so, you’re in luck, because your household has an immediate opening for a Chief Financial Officer. And you just happen to be the most qualified candidate to fill it.

The job requirements of a CFO are varied. They can include ultimate responsibility for everything from crafting budgets to managing cash flow and optimizing tax liability.

These facets all have an impact on the bottom line of every business. But there’s one metric that trumps all others when it comes to determining business success or failure – net profit. Continue Reading

You open up your mailbox and there it is – that forgotten annual bill for your auto insurance, home insurance, or property taxes. You open it with trepidation and baited breath, wondering the extent of the damage. Your heart sinks as you realize the amount due will throw your entire finances off-balance for several months.

Sure, those Christmas gift-giving and annual vacation memories were great. But now that the credit card bill funding those memories has arrived, it’s time to pony up and pay the piper.

Do your irregular bills have you on the run? If so, it’s time to dive deep into the budgeting playbook and shore up your protection so you can avoid the unexpected bill scramble drill for good. Continue Reading

Budget, budgets, and budgeting. If you read those words and picture something akin to handcuffs, a ball and chain, or an experience about as enjoyable as plucking a nasal hair, you’re not alone. These words possess a negative connotation in the minds of many.

Based on your own past experience or perhaps someone else’s horror story, you might even believe that budgeting and the concept of financial freedom are diametrically opposed to one another.

But the relationship of budgeting to financial freedom isn’t that of a necessary evil, or even a means to an end. Done right, budgeting actually serves as the key to removing those handcuffs you’re envisioning, along with that ball and chain. Continue Reading