Operation: TRINITY by IKC - Journal on Personal Finance Thoughts
Before the talk on investing and trading even begins, we need to first address the elephant in the room.
Most hoomans foolishly try their hand in the market without having a thorough and (more importantly) an HONEST discussion on personal finance.
Being an Accounting Professional myself (and a CPA, MBA), personal finance is taught to us as second nature: afterall, we’re expected to do that on a corporate scale and managerial level. 
Before any talk of investments or trading, we need to have a BUDGET for it. That’s right, i said the B word.
Oftentimes, people claim to do it or pretend to be good at it but more often than not, people DON’T budget.
People see it as a burden. However, I kitty invite you to shift your mindset from “this budget restricts me from getting where I want” to “this budget directs me to where I need to go”.
Also, your budget HAS TO BE IN WRITING, not in your memory. By “in writing”, i don’t strictly mean pen and paper - it can also be written in digital format such as in a spreadsheet or document file or even an app (whatever floats your boat). The point is, there is an actual archive or record that you can retrieve and analyze for later and that the data inside is safe and secure for use at all times.
You really need to record your income and expenses and have an overall plan for them - no shortcuts here, sorry.
If you really want to get serious about budgeting, look up ZERO-BASED BUDGETING.
In layman’s terms (oh this cat has to make it simple for you hoomans), a zero-based budget simply means you give every cent a job. You allocate every cent into where you need or want to spend them. All your earnings are allocated (budgeted) onto every expense category with the proper prioritization (of course) until you arrive at zero (0).
It is simply done this way:
- All your earnings, net of deductions listed at the top of your budget
- All the mandatory deductions will be below that (social security, taxes, insurance, etc)
- All the obligations you need to pay (salary loans, tithes and giving, personal and other obligations) will be below that next
- Your 4 walls: Rent (or mortgage), Utilities such as your usual water and power bills, Food, Transportation (to and from your job or business)
- Savings and investments
- Play money (for wants and other expenses)
On the more modern approach (which I use), number 5 (Savings and investments) is actually put near the top of the list (possibly 3 or 4). We do this because we want to prioritize allocating for it.
Say you want to invest 10% this month? Take that at the top of the budget first and then the rest of the line items will have to adjust instead.
Do this zero-based budget and do your best to implement it. Stick to it like glue!
You need good ol honest discipline to follow the budget you set.
After a month, adjust as needed. It ain’t gonna be perfect on the first run but you’ll get there!
The adjustments will come next. As you see yourself stick to the budget more consistently, you now gotta trim the fat off the meat. See which expenses you can cut down on so that you can have more savings for investments. Do you really need to take 5 Starbucks Iced Coffee Jelly every week? How about 2 or 3?
Do you really need to eat at high en restaurants for dinner 3 times a week? How about 2 or just 1?
Do you really need to fly Business class? Maybe Economy might not be too bad?
Try to get as much of your monthly income from ending up at the expense categories to the savings and investment categories.
Don’t be disappointed when you can only trim a little bit from your expenses - it counts too!
As my grammpa Emperor Kitty Cato I once said:
“Every Denarius counts to an Aureus!”
Keep saving. Every bit counts.
May you break resistances and reach new highs!
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