Joe's Money

Lets take a look at how I think the average Joe’s budget should look like.  Budgets are only useful if you have enough discipline to stick with them.  You will hear me repeat the following constantly throughout my blogging.  99% of success is taking action.  Hold yourself accountable for sticking to your plans.  The old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Every payday, every dollar I have coming, is budgeted before the cash even hits my account.  I have found it much easier to pay bills, etc. when all (well, lets be realistic, most) expense are budgeted for.  Here is a sample budget (Which is actually mine to the dollar) to get the juices flowing on what items should be planned for.  Almost all expense fall into this category.  Seriously, when is the last time you didn’t get an electric bill?  So why isn’t it in your budget?  Ask yourself the same question for all categories listed below.

All dollar amounts are per pay period (Every two weeks).

Mortgage – $500
Car Payment – $180
Insurance – $100
Savings – $253
Cell Phone – $53
Comcast Cable/Internet – $29
Electric/Gas – $100
Grocery – $100
Trash Service – $15
Car Maintenance – $25
Home Maintenance – $45
Vacation Fund – $25
Water/Sewer – $30
Clothing – $35
Gifts – $50
Long term entertainment purchases – $40
529 Plan – $13

Cash withdrawn every pay period for other expenses/fun $400.  This includes gas expenses for driving to work, etc.

Most of these are pretty self explanatory.  However, some are not.  I’m an eletronics junky.  I like computers and giant TVs so I have budgeted a small amount of my total pay to the “Long term entertainment” account.  The 529 plan is a educational savings plan for if and when I have kids and they opt to go to college.  Yes, you read that right, I save for college expenses for non-existent children.

You may be looking at these numbers thinking “This is impossible.  I don’t have that kind of money.”  I didn’t always have this money either.  The truth is, if you are living within your means, you should be able to budget for any of these things.  If you are stretched to the max between rent and groceries, you may need to consider getting a smaller place or looking for ways to increase cash flow.  We’ll get to that later.

Think your situation is impossible?  Shoot me an email with your example.  I will create a budget for you and post for all to see.

Well, guess what?  I’m not.  I read an article the other day detailing how banks are “evil.”  If I hear the word evil again, I’m going to drive my car off a bridge.  Society kills me.  There is no personal accountability anymore.  Everything is someone elses fault.  I don’t buy it.

It sounds like people have completely forgotten that banks are a business.  The teller behind the counter, gets paid.  I know, this must be shocking news to you.  It turns out that the bank has to make money to pay this person.  Another shocker, I know.  So why it that when you found out they charged miscellaneous fees, they are the most evil people in the world?  100% of these fees can be avoided, if you are accountable for YOUR actions.

The article basically goes through and calls out the banks for their high fees on overdrafts.  At the end of the article, there is a section where users can post their responses, very similar to this blog.  I was in hysteria after reading the comments.

One reader comments “These outrageously high bank overdraft fees are just another example of the financial system profiting from the unfortunate.”  I find this completely ridiculous.  Here’s an idea, stop writing bad checks.  The argument the fees are too high is completely irrelevant.  I don’t care if the fees are $.02 or $500 per transaction.  At the end of the day, if you had enough accountability for your finances, guess what, the fees would have never been incurred anyways.

Ways to avoid overdraft fees:

1.  Keep a check register
2.  Keep an extra couple hundred dollars in your account.  If you don’t have a couple hundred dollars extra, get a budget.
3.  Don’t even use a bank.
4.  Use cash or a prepaid debit card.  No one is forcing you to bank.  If you don’t have enough accountability for your OWN finances, stop using banks.
5.  Be accountable for your own actions.

Another reader comments about how banks constantly screw him over by processing debits before credits.  Again, this shouldn’t matter.  If you had control of your finances, this would not be an issue.  Many of the readers write of the constant barrage of overdraft fees.  You know what this shows me, not that the fees are insane, but that you have been “screwed” time and time again but have learned absolutely nothing for the “crazy” fees.  So not only do you leave yourself susceptible to the banks “evil” practices, you know so much about how they work to “screw the little guy” you have actually learned the ins and outs of how the bank works yet have not taken an even fundamental step to correct this wrong doing that is being thrown upon you.

Get real people.  You can point the finger all you want but at the end of the day, if the finger isn’t pointing right back at yourself, you’re never going to change.  Its up to you and NO ONE else to fix this.  Your money mistakes and problems are no ones fault buy your own.  The bank didn’t open the account without you asking.  In fact, you probably had to get in your car, drive there, fill out an application, and make a deposit.  The credit card company didn’t send you a credit card without you signing up.  Sure, they advertise, but YOU took action to do this to yourself.  If I ate fast food 3 times a day, 7 days a week, and got pissed off that I weighed 400 pounds, I sure the hell wouldn’t be saying the fast food chains are evil.  They post the nutrition facts in the restaurant stating the burger has 800 calories.  If you’re too lazy to read that, its no ones fault but your own.  Its just as easy to stop over drafting as it is to stop eating double cheese burgers and uber grande size fries everyday.

Cliff notes of the article:  Overdraft fees didn’t break you, you broke yourself.