Trent, over at The Simple Dollar, has a very interesting post up regarding net worth. He looks at how to move from having a budget mentality to developing a mentality that focuses on net worth. This got me thinking about the differences between making a budget and focusing on net worth.
Budget v. net worth
While a budget can be a useful tool, it is important to note that a budget is really more about teaching yourself to be disciplined and to look seriously at your cash flow. The idea is to try an set up a system where you are living …read more

Linda Leitz, author of We Need to Talk: Money and Kids After Divorce, has been answering some personal finance questions from readers lately. Today is a look at the third installment:
Q. I want to make a family budget, but am unsure of how to begin. What should I do to get started?
Linda offers this answer:
First, figure out what you spend now.  Ideally go through at least six months of checking account and credit card records.  If you have one of the computer programs that can track spending, it’ll be easy to download all your accounts, then categorize what each item …read more