Monthly Budget Your Way to Financial Freedom

Why should we ever bother with doing a monthly budget? Let me point out some of the reasons.

The world economy is going down, particularly in those countries where the working class subsists on credit. This is not good news if you do not have anything stashed for the rainy days. Just think of what you will do if you lose your job all of a sudden and you have credit card bills to pay, plus the mortgage and the car and all the insurance policies that you've got.

Overspending is a status quo for a lot of people. It is not an exaggeration to say that most income earners are only three or so pay checks away from homelessness and starvation. Do you like that to happen to you? If not, start rebuilding your financial life by building your savings.

How?

By living within your means.

How do you get to live within your means?

By maintaining a monthly budget.

A monthly budget is your complete guide to attaining something that most people find it impossible - living within what you can afford. This is so important but often dismissed as a waste of time. Some of the more common arguments against monthly budgets are:

"It's only for organized people who just want everything recorded."

"It won't increase the amount that I get every month, anyway."

"I can change it anytime, anyway, so why bother?"

The trouble is, all these arguments have a grain of truth in them. A monthly budget does not have a soul apart from your commitment to translate it into action. In other words, a monthly budget is only an external manifestation of your will to keep your expenses within your income. In other words again, having a monthly budget means that you have a desire to keep your finances under control, and refusing to try keeping one means you could not care less if you are broke next month.

Monthly budget benefits: Why it makes sense

If you have a monthly budget which you keep to all the time, you get a better appreciation of your job's value. Admit it, there are times when you think that your job sucks. You drag yourself to the office, almost not wanting to leave your warm and cozy bed. But if you have a monthly budget and you know that most of the receivables will be coming from your dear old loyal job, you will get better inspired.

You will appreciate the fact that it keeps a roof over your head and puts food on your table. This appreciation contributes a lot to making you more positive about your work and the value of hard labor. It seems like I am stretching it too far but if you truly think of it, you know it's true.

If you are a control freak, a monthly budget is for you. By making one and keeping to it, you have total control of your finances (if you keep to it). Your monthly budget is like your handle on whatever money that comes your way. You can determine how it is spent absolutely down to the last dime.

By absolute control, I mean there is no overspending - so, no nasty surprises. Forgotten bills will be a thing of the past, as every item is checked and re-checked. Last but not least, there are no unplanned purchases, as every monthly budgeter should know that every expense is planned and properly budgeted for.

Having a monthly budget allows you to see if you have been overspending for a certain item at the expense of another. For example, if your gas expenses overshoot your food budget, you might want to consider commuting to work instead, as I believe that you deserve better to eat than your car to "drink". A monthly budget forces you to stare hard at your money skills and makes you face the hard truth and act on it.

Having trumpeted a few of the merits of maintaining a monthly budget, I must say that your monthly budgeting is effective only if you faithfully follow it. Remember, your aim is to keep control of your finances and make your savings grow. Its value is not in the exercise of making and planning a budget, but in acting on whatever you have planned. And by the way, did I mention that you need to put "Savings" as the first item in that budget?

Mathe Baniaga

http://www.matheubaniaga.com

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Vonage And The State Of The Residential VoIP Industry

Considering their recent legal and customer service issues....Vonage did no favors to the residential VoIP industry. Neither did the untimely and messy demise of SunRocket. So just where do things stand now...and where may they be headed?

Vonage's biggest competition (and other independent VoIP providers) continues to mainly be the larger phone and cable companies, especially the ones that are bundling all of the various features (tv, internet, and phone).

Outside of the cable companies, Baby Bells, I think right now there are too many companies to list and too many companies without a successful plan thrown in the mix (think SunRocket).

For budget VoIP, there are lots of options today still. However, the legal issues that hit Vonage will likely bankrupt any of the budget providers. Although there's a strength in numbers that reduces the odds of any major issues should that happen, unlike the SunRocket fiasco.

Right now the market is pretty much a free for all and too many people are jumping into the business without truly understanding it. E.g., "We have VoIP! It never works!" These companies don't do the research into networking. Any glitches on the network will affect calls, call quality, etc. They dish out mega bucks (SunRocket) and flunk out because they're so focused on solely one portion of it.

The common concern in VoIP applications is a flurry of issues from the home based segment: One Way Audio, dropped ATA connections, etc. If you really look at what is happening, specifically who is being used for the internet connection (e.g. Cable companies + VoIP = headache), and what equipment is used, you'll see a pattern. It's the internet provider not the VoIP service provide who is at fault in over 95% of the cases.

But the general public as a whole just doesn't understand this. Until they do it will continue to be an uphill battle for residential VoIP providers.

Far too many companies don't take this into consideration on the home segment. Think about Farmer John or Grandma Jane who know next to nothing about the technology calling your company for help that has nothing to do with you. "Your VoIP service sucks! Now I can't even get onto Yahoo!". As a courtesy you would help them even though their cable provider or ISP is to blame. So how do you offset costs from that?

Companies such as Cox, Comcast, Qwest, etc. are providing reliable service for a fair price and offer "all you can eat" packages with arguably descent customer service to boot. As companies such as Cisco further refine technology for the Cable/Carrier markets, more and more options are going to present themselves (such as DOCSIS 3.0 = 100Mbps +, etc), and the market for companies with the copper/fiber to your home are in a great position to control the experience and leverage existing business (think Verizon's Fios).

However, I would argue that wireless companies are in greater position to displace or contend with companies such as Vonage. Again, you have a company that owns the transport, technology evolving at an amazing pace (e.g. WiMax, etc), and now you have a mobile delivery that will get better with time. I believe that options allowing for mobility and a cheap delivery to the masses is incredibly important (who doesn't have a cell phone these days?), and I believe that if you own the delivery method, you are in a great position to provide cost effective solutions to the consumer.

Many arguments can be made about the current stability of wireless, but I'm optimistic that it cannot get worse :). In addition, many arguments can be made about regulation surrounding these markets and that too can sway arguments - but politics drive me nuts, so I digress. I'll stand by and argue that those in control of the delivery medium (wireless, copper, fiber, etc) are in the greatest position to provide good customer service, have the resources to ride thru legal issues, etc. because they have the benefit of an annuity stream .... and additional value added services should be a 'no brainer' for them.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications....including DS3-Bandwidth.com and Business-VoIP-Solution.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you're always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.

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