I just finished reading a 10 year old book titled 'The Millionaire Next Door'. According to the authors, Thomas Stanley PhD and William Danko PhD, based on their extensive research, millionaires are frugal. They don't live the high life spending for lavish homes, cars, jewelry and entertainment. They do live the good life knowing they are financially secure.

Now, if being a millionaire is not your goal, nonetheless you might want to be secure. Stanley and Danko suggest a formula you can use to figure out where you stand. Multiply your age by your annual realized income and divide by 10. That's about where your net worth should be now. Where are you?

One place to start a new plan would be to know how you spend your money and on what. Following the outline set forth in a book titled 'No Balance Due' by Lenny Tumbarello (www.nobalancedue.com), we tallied what we spent our money on over a period of time, then annualized the outgoing cash. It's surprising to see what you spend when you annualize it. You could also use an online service like www.mint.com or www.quickenonline.com to track those expenditures. For us, it helps that I regularly update our financial statement including income & expenses, assets & debts.

Budgeting may not seem exciting but reaching your goals is a tremendous reward for your efforts. Who knows, maybe you'll become a millionaire one day!