Managing your money properly can reduce the stress in your life."First is establishing a budget, is understanding your income and your essential expenses - essential expenses such as your mortgage, rent, automobile, transportation expenses, food, gas, those kinds of things," said David Hudson.
Hudson says it's a good idea to monitor that budget monthly, weekly, even daily.
"Because when you're monitoring your budget, it's very similar to trying to lose weight or get into shape," said Hudson. "It's something you have practice every day. It's usually harder at first but as you get used to it, it gets easier and easier."
And Hudson continues the physical fitness analogy - it's always easier if you do it with a partner.
"When you have any goal that's challenging, it's if you have someone that you're working with that's in a similar situation, you can encourage each other, you can celebrate small wins with each other and we find that's easier to stick to a budget when you've got someone that you're working with to help you," Hudson explained.
That may be your spouse or partner - - or your financial adviser. In any event, Hudson says, you should celebrate small victories. One more thing - as a part of your budget planning, plan for the worst.
"Set aside three to six months of essential expenses in a liquid savings account," Hudson said. "That's first what you should be targeting on a step by step basis. Once you've achieved that goal, you can then look at larger goals, saving for a down payment on a car, on a house, paying for college tuition."
