Every smart llama needs a financial plan.  To put that plan into place, you need to have some core principals relating to money – principals that you stick to no matter what.  Or, at least do your best to stick to.  Sometimes real life emergencies and situations come up to throw our plans off.  But having these principals ( or pillars ) in place can help make sure your goals make sense, and keep you on track.  Here are my 9 financial pillars – some are almost painfully simple, but all have their place.

1. Spend less than you earn.  This isn’t new advice, but it is sound.  Spending less than you earn is the one surefire way to make sure your finances stay in line.
2. Pay your bills early.  Not on time – early.  The due date is not the day you should be paying any bills.  There’s all sorts of room for error if you wait until the due date – you could forget, or some sort of technical difficulty could prevent your payment from going through.
3. Keep your expenses low. Don’t lock yourself into more monthly obligations than you can handle.  Mortgage, car payments, cable, cell phone bill, membership fees, etc.  All these “small” expenses add up.
4. An emergency fund is not optional.  Everyone needs an emergency fund – at the very least, enough to last you for 3 months expenses.
5. Invest for the long term.  Short term investment gains are great – take them if you can get them.  But all investments should be done with the long term in mind – several years at a minimum.
6. Separate wants from needs. If you can learn to tell the difference between wants ( optional ) and needs, you will find yourself spending less money on unneeded things.
7. Maintain a good credit rating at all costs.  That means don’t ever skip a payment, don’t ever pay a bill late, and be sure to keep your credit card utilization reasonable.  Having a high credit score means you pay less when you do choose to borrow money.  Why pay more interest than you have to?
8. Money isn’t everything, but not having money is.  Being broke is awful.  Being poor is even worse.  Avoid both by any (legal) means necessary.
9. Always make your money work.  Whether it’s earning you interest in your online savings account, growing in the stock market, or creating opportunities through business investments, it’s important to keep your money working.  If it’s not working hard for you, then your money is useless.

Like anything, even my financial pillars are subject to change.  But I don’t think that they will – these items are fundamental to the way I deal with money.  What core beliefs do you stick to when dealing with money?