Saving Savvy

 

cial plan had worked in spite of its users' undisciplined approaches to daily saving, spending, and credit man-agement. Then I realized that it's really no concern of mine how someone manages his or her day-to-day finances. People weren't coming to me to be told that they shouldn't eat out more than once a week. They were coming to me to learn how they could eventually afford to eat out every night if they wanted to."

"The fact is," Clyde asserted, "what the heck does it matter how I spend my money if I'm already takin' care of my financial planning?"

"Once again, Clyde, you have articulated my point perfectly," Roy chuckled. "I hate to admit it, but Mr. Elo-quence here is right. Our ten percent savings, retirement plan contributions, insurance premiums, and mortgage payments or rent are coming off the top, that is, not being taken from whatever is left over at the end of the month. So, how we spend our discretionary income has astonishingly little impact on our financial future. As long as people are following the rest of our financial planning guidelines, how they handle day-to-day finances can safely be left up to them."

"I've got a question, Roy," I declared. "In April or May you spoke out against budgeting. Now you're saying that, in the past, you've advocated it. Why?"

"The type of budgeting I touched on in the spring is distinctly different from the budgeting I used to recommend to people like James. Nine times out of ten, budgeting that's done to create a savings fund for the future is a losing proposition. As I pointed out months ago, it's virtually impossible to budget accurately for both needs and wants. Too often, through rationalization, the wants become needs