What are your thoughts on budgeting? Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Harmful? Does it make us focus on the wrong things? Is it irresponsible not to budget? We asked folks we admired to share their thoughts with us.

Philip Dancy | Personal Finance Coach

Absolutely, I have a budget. Due to being a personal finance coach, I am a firm believer that your finances are the foundation to pretty much anything. You need a budget to pay off debt, invest, save, travel and even build generational wealth. I think the misconception about budgeting is that it is constricting, but it is the complete opposite. You can indeed live your best life and budget at the same time. When it comes to making lifestyle and spending decisions, one of my main priorities is saving/investing but I also build #playmoney into my budget. There is no point in building wealth if you can’t have fun. I also tend to think of spending decisions in regards to my financial goals. Will this purchase keep me from reaching a goal? Does this align with where I am trying to go? Again, it is key to build #playmoney into your budgets but you should also consider if its a want or need. Read more>>

Arianna Casamiquela | Esthetician & Massage Therapist

Yes we definitely have a budget! We started this business from nothing. The first year even before we opened we cut back a lot at home and saved as much money as we could to buy the products and equipment we needed. Once we were able to open we invested almost all of our earnings back into the business so that we could keep growing. Keeping finances simple at home really helped so that we never became overwhelmed or unnecessarily in debt. Whenever making any financial decisions at home or for the business we really think about it and our end goals so that we can stay on track. Read more>>

Melissa Marzan | Hand-Lettering & Illustration Artist

I like to say I have a loose budgeting strategy. I’m not the kind where I have a strict, down to the dollar budget, but I have created a mindset for my personal finances in which I treat my money as a tool rather than something that causes stress and fear. My parents had instilled in me the value of saving money, so I have very early memories of having the opportunity to save the cash I would get from birthday, Christmas, and graduation cards for my own use. I’m very grateful that my parents allowed me to handle my own finances when I was a kid because it build the foundation of how I take care of my money today. Both my parents worked very hard to provided everything they could for me growing up, so being able to buy things for myself without having to ask them for money was my way of lessening the burden on them. My lifestyle and spending decisions are dependent on the amount of funds I have allocated to a specific purchase. Read more>>

Michelangelo305 | Musician

I consider myself to be the king of resourcefulness. Sometimes if I’m lucky I can put together a small budget for certain projects, but for the most part I diy the heck outta things. Read more>>