Jimmy Lou, Incorporated

When Jim, a young teacher and coach, was first married, he sat down at the kitchen table with his new wife. “We need to have a budget,” he said. Not knowing how his first marital negotiation would turn out, he was pleasantly surprised when she whole-heartedly agreed. As the bread winner for the family, Jim proposed a plan: “We will pay all of our bills, buy groceries and put gas in the cars. When we have done all that we need to do, whatever money is left over, we will put it into savings.” His wife agreed. Approaching their first anniversary, Jim found that they had saved no money–not one plug nickel. “What happened?” Jim asked his wife. She responded, “I don’t know. Every month we run out of money before we can put any in savings. Sometimes, we run out before the end of the month.” Jim thought long and hard about this, and he observed his fellow teachers. It appeared that almost everyone ran out of money every single month. Custodians did. Principals did. Master and First-Year Teachers alike. Jim thought about the phone company. They got their money. The morgtage company, electric company and credit card companies all got their money; and yet, what was most important of all of these was left at the end of his first year of marriage without one solitary dime–savings for Jim’s family and future. It was at this point that Jim realized that it didn’t matter what he did or how much money he made, by the end of the month, all of the money would find a way to be spent before it could be placed into savings. So, Jim decided to turn change that scenario. For once he would let the electric company, the mortgage company and the credit card company worry about getting their money. His family and future were the most important things in his life, and his budget should reflect that. So, Jim started doing what has become the primary tenet of the Jimmy Lou Philosophy: He paid himself first. Every month, the first thing he would do is put money into savings. Later, he learned about savings plans that would take the money directly out of his check, and this made his decision much easier because, instead of having to make the same decision every month, he only made the decision once. Did Jim still run out of money before the end of the month? Yes. Did he miss the money going directly into savings? No.