Budgeting is the path to wealth building!

Budgeting is simple, not always easy

Every January, I write a post about the importance of budgeting and the 8th wonder of the world. If you aren't familiar with the latter, Albert Einstein famously said "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it...he who doesn't... pays it." The path to financial independence and wealth building starts with knowing your numbers and having a budget.

Those that get ahead do so slowly typically, by making many small investments in themselves for years and decades on end. What starts out small slowly snowballs into something much bigger. Take Warren Buffett, for instance. If he stopped investing at age 30, he'd only be worth a few million dollars. Rather than stopping, he has continued to re-invest and is now worth an estimated 120 billion dollars. You don't have to create a company like Apple or Tesla to become wealthy. You just need to follow a budget and invest in assets with money you allocate to investments monthly.

This year, rather than give you my boring excel spreadsheet, I am giving you a much nicer budget that was created by Alvin Lam. Here's a quick bio about him:

Alvin Lam is a PhD candidate studying science at UC Davis. He is passionate about personal finance and eager to help others achieve financial stability. With his knowledge and experience, Alvin offers personalized consultations designed to guide beginners and college students in creating effective budgets and financial plans. A sample monthly budget made by Alvin is included to get you started on your financial journey.

I met Alvin door knocking and we ended up talking for quite some time about investing and budgeting. You can get his budget template for free here.

Or, you can download the PDF version below:

If you are looking for more advice or to schedule a consultation with him, his email is smartstartfinancing@gmail.com

Copy of Monthly Budget (Smart Start Financing).xlsx

Download XLSX • 62KB