“Summer time… and the livin’ is easy!”

The weather’s getting warmer. School’s out. Fun activities are easy to find.

It’s easy to say yes, and yes, and yes.

And yet, this can be a time of year where families create financial trouble for themselves that continues to plague them all year and beyond.

• That vacation on a credit card you won’t pay off any time soon?
• Financing a new boat or RV that you can’t really afford?
• Those little splurges that all add up?

There’s nothing wrong with spending money on things and experiences that bring you joy — especially when you’re sharing the joy with people you love. That’s what money is for!

It becomes a problem when that’s money you can’t afford to spend.

Certain behaviors are incredibly important to building wealth.

Perhaps the most important wealth-building behavior of all is to save a little bit of all you earn.

Simple on the surface. You make $100, you set aside at least $10 or $15 as untouchable — a resource for your future financial security and freedom. Then stay disciplined enough to keep your cost of living within what’s left.

Again, it seems simple. And if you repeat this simple behavior for the long run, it can be gratifying to see how it stacks up.

But simple and easy are not the same thing.

It’s easy in today’s world to spend $110 of every $100 you make. To buy whatever you want, and figure out how you’re going to pay for it later. And instead of stacking up your savings, you’re stacking up debt.

Rather than building towards a future full of financial freedom, you’re taking on an ever-heavier burden.

And what makes it even harder is that it’s mostly invisible.

That neighbor with the shiny new RV parked in his driveway? What you don’t see is the decade of debt he took on — and the financial drag it’s putting on his future.

In the long run, wealth-building tends to come from small, simple behaviors repeated consistently through time. Discipline and determination to stick with it in pursuit of your goals.

That’s how you get to the point financially that you’re saying yes or no — to a vacation, an RV, a generous donation, or anything in between — because you want to, not because you have to.

So this summer, we encourage you: make that plan and budget for how you’ll spend, save, and give. Do what it takes to stick to the plan. And enjoy the confidence it brings to know you’re working towards your bigger goals.

This article was written for financial advisory clients of Asset Strategies. If you’re not yet a client and you’d like to connect with an advisor and see how they may be able to help you work towards your goals, request a Welcome Call here.