Good Financial Reads: Budgeting & Building Wealth

I’m often asked, “Where should I invest my cash if I plan to buy a [house, boat, car, etc.] in two years?” My answer is always, “Put it in your savings account so you know it will be there when you need it.”

In 2009 a Canadian businessman named Stewart Butterfield tried to launch an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game for those not in the know) that eventually closed after failing to attract enough players. 

This was Butterfield’s second attempt at creating an MMORPG. The first attempt happened in 2002 and fared about as well.

I've wasted countless hours trying to track my cash flow and budget. Over the years I've tried all of the personal financial planning tools. Quicken, Microsoft Money, iBank, Mint, Personal Capital, eMoney. The list goes on. In the early days it required physically inputting all of my receipts. In the later years it transitioned into categorizing all of my bank transactions that downloaded into the software.

Most people assume they just need to earn a high income, and then they’ll be wealthy. Unfortunately, building wealth (especially when you’re doing it on your own from scratch) is not always so simple.