The reason people engage in financial planning is that they want to have more resources at their disposal in the future than they have in the present. The only common exception to this is usually toward the end of one’s life when passing an inheritance to the next generation, charitable organizations, or to their faith community causes individuals and families to intentionally reduce their wealth. Apart from this, most people want to find ways to improve their financial situation.

This desire—to increase wealth and enjoy the possibilities that come with it—finds expression in a number of ways. Most people look forward to an annual raise and/or bonus. They are happy when they experience increased wealth through good investment returns. They have come to know that increasing their own wealth will mean that they have more opportunities in the future than they have had in the past.

It is important that a distinction be drawn between creating wealth and acquiring wealth.

Our economy works to provide an environment where individuals and families can create wealth. Through their own action, with their own resources (time, talent, and dollars) they are able to create wealth. Within the right kind of political and economic environment, the creation of wealth is not a zero-sum game. Simply stated, this means that the creation of wealth by one person or by one family does not necessarily mean that another person or family somewhere has to be worse off by the same amount. Our experience continues to be that an economy can work to improve the lives of everyone who is free to participate in it.

We acquire wealth by receiving it from someone else. This could mean an inheritance or gift. There is nothing wrong with acquiring wealth in that way, and those who do will find this resource helpful in managing a windfall, such as an inheritance or gift.

Good money management is about making wise choices. It is about creating a life for oneself and one’s family. This will involve possessions such as houses and retirement accounts and insurance policies. Possessions provide us with a measure of financial security in the midst of the uncertainties we all face. Life would be pretty difficult if we decided to try to live it without having any possessions. Certainly the quality of our life would be negatively impacted if we decided not to have any possessions at all. That would mean a hand to mouth existence and would probably end up actually costing us more in the long run than deciding to own the variety of things we need to live.

This is not to say we should go about merely accumulating more and more. A lot of people get into financial difficulty because they try to acquire things that they cannot afford with dollars they do not have. The carrying costs alone (insurance, maintenance, storage) eventually will mean that they do not have resources left to provide for their own future or the future of their family. Taken to an extreme it can mean that they do not even have the resources they need for the present. Good money management is about striking an appropriate balance and using our possessions in the way they were intended to be used. Our quality of life has certainly been enhanced by the practical application of scientific discoveries, but the ultimate meaning of life has less to do with what we have and more to do with what we give. Wisely acquiring possessions can mean that we have more time, more money, and more talent and skill to share than would otherwise be the case.

This resource is about acquiring resources in a way that enhances life and is consistent with good money management. Given the fact that there is competition for each dollar that comes our way (Do I share this dollar, do I save this dollar? How should I spend this dollar?) it is also about managing income so there is more for the things that you really need and want, more for the sharing with others, and more to save for the future.

For most people, this will mean being employed. Every week, they engage in productive activity and as a result of that are paid a salary. For some, the stream of income they depend on is a result of their own business activity. They are “self-employed.” Still others have reached a point in life where the income is from the wealth they have created from their investments. For many of us, the stream of income is a combination of two or even all three of those possibilities.

Spouses need to work together. Most couples I know have different views of how the stream of income mentioned above should be allocated. One tends to be the spender and the other, the saver. Studies have shown that even if both are spenders, over time, one will become the “super spender” and one will become the “relative saver,” and if both happen to be savers, over time one will become the “super saver” and the other, the “relative spender.”

Successful money management requires that couples work together and develop a spending plan (sharing, saving, spending) in support of mutually agreed on goals. You are not looking for the perfect plan that both persons are crazy about. You are looking for the plan that incorporates the differing points of view that characterize most relationships and provides a reasonable balance to allocating resources to the present (sharing and spending) and the future (saving).

Not everyone in the world enjoys the freedom to act that most who read this resource have. For those of us who live in the United States, individual freedoms are constitutionally guaranteed and backed by the rule of law. This is essential. In fact, the reason developed nations have become developed nations is because of the political and economic freedom they enjoy. Without it, it is very difficult to create wealth.

This resource is not just about creating wealth. It is about creating wealth and, at the same time, meeting the needs of your family in the present, sharing some of your income in the present, and at the same time creating even more wealth to meet future needs and to share even more. It is not intended you live a life that is so austere that you never enjoy the present. Rather it is hoped that by following the advice in this resource your enjoyment of the present will increase as you manage better and take advantage of the possibilities that characterize life in the twenty-first century here in the United States.

There are alternate uses for every dollar that comes your way. You have to choose what you will do with it: share it, save it, or spend it. And the choices do not end there. Share it…but to what cause? Save it…for what purpose and in what kind of investment vehicle? Spend it…on what? The decisions are not irrelevant. They get to the heart of money management.

For example, consider a report on the “digital divide.” This report detailed households that were not able to afford computers and access to the Internet. One parent said, “After we have paid for the TV’s and cable, there just isn’t any money left for Internet access or even a computer.” The irony is that computers now cost about the same as televisions and Internet access is about the same (maybe even less) than cable costs, especially with all of the premium channels. It’s about priorities. Nowhere does it say that someone has to have a big screen TV and cable before they can have a computer and go online. It’s about priorities and values.

If you have those basic elements in mind, then you are ready to proceed with the guidance found in this resource. If not, you need to work to get to that point, because until you do, you are going to find the information here more frustrating than helpful.