Money

							Money-Life Balance: What It Is and
How to Get It
By Catherine New
Posted 4:40PM 10/25/11Posted under: Family Money, Personal Finance
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We're familiar with the idea of work-life balance --
that miraculous sweet spot where one's out-of-office
world is rich and full, and doesn't collide with one's
career.

But how about money-life balance? According to J.P.
Morgan Chase and Co. (JPM) and the nonprofit
advocacy group Consumer Action, a reasonable
money-life balance considers the positive emotional
benefits that go along with behaving responsibly with money. In other words, you
achieve money-life balance if you're not racking up massive credit card bills during late-
night online shopping binges on Zappos.com (ahem).

In a newly released survey conducted by Chase and Consumer Action, only one-third of
1,016 adults said they had money-life balance.

The Key to Good Balance

Financial planners point to budgeting as the starting point for achieving money-life
balance. Besides the obvious tracking of income and expenses, having a budget means
you don't have to spend precious mental energy thinking about whether a purchase is
affordable or not.




      Do you have money-life
             balance?
Yes                               229 (71.3%)
No                                92 (28.7%)
"Willpower is a strenuous way of controlling your actions .... routines can conserve
energy," psychologist andWillpower author Roy Baumeister toldDailyFinance in a video
interview earlier this fall. "Set your life up so you don't have problems in advance."

Finding the right financial planning method for you is like buying shoes: You have to try
on a lot of pairs before you find the right fit. It can be as simple as keeping a spreadsheet
on your home computer or using a spreadsheet template from the Google personal
finance library.
Another popular way to put the brakes on overspending and excessive borrowing is by using a
prepaid debit card. Loading a card with a fixed amount -- like $1,000 for the month -- is an easy
way to manage costs and keeping funds you intend to spend separate from the money you have
earmarked for saving.

There are also a number of online budgeting apps, such as Mint.com and SmartyPig.com, that
can create neat visual graphics of how much you are spending on extras such as restaurants,
versus necessities like student loans, as well as helping you set savings goals.

Do you have balance in your financial life? Please share your tips for how you achieved your own
money-life serenity below.