Health and wealth are two of the modern pillars of a successful life.

But, what is wealth? Heck, what is health? While I could probably create a whole blog series on what is health, that’s not what I’m talking about today.

Today, I’m going to talk about wealth. More importantly, the beginner steps to creating wealth.

Wealth is defined as, “an abundance of valuable possessions or money.”

When you think about wealth, you may think of Downton Abbey or The Crown, maybe, people like Emily and Richard Gilmore.

While you aren’t wrong those are all examples of wealth they all had to start acquiring wealth before they had an abundance of it.

No matter what resources you look at building wealth starts with creating a budget, paying off debt, saving an emergency fund, and accruing 3-6 months worth of living expenses in a savings account or something similar. Once you are financially stable, you are supposed to start investing.

So let’s talk about a budget.

A good budget allows you to restrict your spending and funnel “extra” cash towards debt or savings to help you build wealth. This budget will help you develop better financial habits and prevent you from engaging in spending that isn’t helping you build a future.

As I’ve recently spread my financial wings, I’ve learned that sticking to a budget is really hard. Or maybe I’ve learned that I have VERY little self-control. I’m unsure what the real lesson is, but I know that to get serious about your wealth, you have to get serious about your spending.

Most people recommend getting an accountability partner to ensure that you are staying with the limits of your budget. Having someone to talk to when you’re struggling because you want to spend money, or on the flip side, having someone to celebrate with when you stay on budget/under budget can change the whole experience.

At the end of the day, I’ll be the first to admit that this girl is still figuring it out. I’m making it work and paying the bills. In the meantime, if someone can budget for me and just tell me how much I’m allowed to spend, that would be great.