Very often, entrepreneurs focus primarily on the financial wellbeing of their businesses, while neglecting their personal money issues. As the ultimate success of an enterprise will depend on its owners’ financial viability, it is important to learn and practice the basic principles of financial achievement – managing, multiplying and maintaining your money.

Managing your money
The foundation of money success lies in budgeting, which helps you to control your spending and make prudent choices with money. A proper budget will indicate how much money you will need every month to pay for your personal expenses without having to borrow.

While saving money for a rainy day is a well known rule, there is an even more important success principle of saving. Putting aside a regular amount on a consistent basis helps you to activate the law of attraction; focusing on accumulating cash instead of just spending it will help money to multiply in your life.

If saving is the cornerstone of your financial ‘house’, then planning for future goals is the steel that gives it shape and strength. When you apply vision, strategy, and persistent action to your financial dreams, then it will be easier to forgo careless consumerism and succeed in your plans.

Your financial dwelling place cannot be built on shaky ground or else it will crumble. Proper debt management will prevent unnecessary demand for loans to finance consumer spending, and will help you to benefit from smart business loans that can grow your net worth.

Multiplying your money
After mastering money management, you then have to focus on earning more money. As a business owner, you already recognize that a regular nine-to-five job will probably never supply enough funds to make needs meet, much less achieve goals. Learning and following the success principles of running a business, can provide a ticket to a financial jackpot.

The amount that you can earn from savings will usually not be enough to achieve your medium and long term goals. To really kick-start the wealth building process, you need to learn how to invest to make your money work for you. Investing is when you actively commit money to any endeavor with the expectation of making a profit.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could make money even while you’re asleep? Passive income opportunities can give you an earning capacity without limits. If you want to be very wealthy, it’s vital to create a business model that can supply a consistent income stream even when you stop working.

Maintaining your money
Making and managing money is one thing, preserving your money is even more important. The reality is that sometimes your financial plans may not turn out the way you want. It’s crucial to learn how to manage investing and personal risks to protect your money and achieve your goals.

Many persons have enjoyed their youth without giving a thought to what will happen when they can’t, or don’t want to work anymore. The great news is that it doesn’t take much savings to achieve a stress-free retirement if you start planning for it early. Even if you didn’t, your business can continue to help you to maintain your lifestyle.

It’s not financially smart to leave your loved ones in confusion about your finances after you’ve died. It’s important to make plans while you’re alive, to transfer your property according to your wishes, and to preserve the value of your assets as much as possible.

There are many people who, after making lots of money, don’t seem to enjoy their wealth. What’s the point of having money if you’re miserable, uptight and stingy with it? Achieving true financial freedom comes from understanding that money is merely a means to an end, and that it is in abundant supply for us all to partake.

Once you learn and follow these money principles consistently, they can guide you to a financially successful future, both for you and for your business.

Copyright © 2009 Cherryl Hanson Simpson.
Cherryl is a financial consultant and coach, and the founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services, Jamaica’s number one source for practical, down-to-earth and independent answers for all questions relating to personal finance. See more of her work at www.financiallysmartadvice.com and www.financiallysmartonline.com.