Bob Parsons built two businesses from the ground up.   And I’m not talking about small businesses either.  His first business sold for $64 million and the second runs ads during the Super Bowl.  So when he wrote an article telling why measuring financial progress is so important, I took notice.

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I haven’t posted in the past week for a few different reasons.  One of them is a minor setback I had financially.  This time, it wasn’t due to a job loss, medical bills or the usual financial setbacks people have to overcome.  What I had was the kind of financial problem that got me into my current situation in the first place - a break of concentration.  Here’s my plan to get back on track and stay there.

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A while back I posted My First Rule of Money, a slightly tounge-in-cheek look at how people always seem to get in the middle whenever money changes hands - just look at your paycheck for an example. Now I think I’ve learned a second rule that will help my net worth.

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I thought I knew money when I was younger, but as life went on, I had a few lessons to learn.  I’ll try to spare you all the maudlin details.  What I’d really like to talk about is the events that led me to change my behavior with money.

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I have a rather long commute to work.  I almost always have.  So I have had ample time to notice the cars around me.  And I usually sat there in my dented Honda wondering how the people around me managed to afford Hummers, BMWs, Mercedes and the like.  Then the awful truth hit me.  They can’t.

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I read an article in Free Money Finance where the author disclosed the contents of his/her wallet and invited others to do the same.   Well, I just so happen to have my wallet out, so here it goes…

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One thing that bothered me for years about doing a home budget wasn’t the drudgery of doing a budget - it was the fact that I didn’t understand how much I should be budgeting for various categories.  I’d get answers that were vague, like “it depends on where you life” and “it varies.”  Of course there are people willing to sell me home budget software, but I don’t know if that would solve my problem.

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I’ve known for some time that savings rates were down in the US.  People are saving less and less, and to make matters worse, they were buying things on credit as well.  But I never thought it would get this bad.

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Yesterday’s post went over the various predictions people had for 2006, and where they thought you should (or shouldn’t) put your money.  After my head stopped spinning, I wondered what my financial goals for 2006 were.

It’s halfway through January - perhaps a bit late to make resolutions - but I thought I’d state my financial goals anyway.  From what I’ve read, those who manage to accumulate wealth do so by setting goals.  Anyway, here it goes…

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I’ve read a few–ok more than a few–books on finance, money and business lately, and I can see common themes running through them.  There is, of course, the mantra of “pay yourself first,” which was apparently first chanted in The Richest Man in Babylon.  Others have worked variations on that theme.  For example, David Bach not only wants you to pay yourself first, but but he wants you to do it automatically.  Dave Ramsey still wants you to get paid, but moves you to second place, right behind God.

While mulling over these rules, I’ve started a list of my own.  It’s something I plan to keep growing and editing over time, but here’s the first:

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