No matter how we do it, we always stumble when it comes to finding the money to fund a consistent investment plan. You feel that your earnings are not enough for your expenses and investing would be the last thing on your mind. However, there is a way to find the money without having to look for an additional job or asking for a loan.

When it comes to financing our own money we tend to follow the following equation:

Revenue – Expenses = Profit

This is how we usually get our profit. We earn money, and then we spend it. Although accounting necessities make it somewhat more complicated for most businesses, but it still gets you to this basic equation.

Unfortunately, we use this same equation in operating our personal businesses. How much remains in the profit is used for investing, and usually it’s not that much.

The problem is that the income statement is a report that reflects what has happened, and not an operating philosophy. However, we treat it as such. If you want to invest 10% of your income each month, the equation above simply won’t work.

Before you know it, some "emergency" would happen and would make you spend the money you intend to invest.

The right way of spending money for investment is through this equation:

Income – Investing Fund = Expenses

This forces you to pay yourself first. You need to fund your Investing Fund before spending on other expenses. Meaning, setting aside a part of your money and using it for investment before you could spend it on some trivial things. In that way, you know your Investing Fund would not get lost in the daily grind of living expenses.

However, the downside of this formula is that you would be forced to discipline yourself in holding your expenses to no more than 90% of your take home pay.

You can try automating this process by requesting your company to have 10% (or any amount that you wish) debited from your salary and put into a money market mutual fund or other savings instrument until you are ready to make an investment. This eliminates the temptation of skipping a deposit.

To further bolster your Investing Fund, you can also put 10% or more from your bonuses, extra commissions, and the likes. Once you get the habit of automatically putting aside 10% (or whatever amount the you wish) into an investment fund and living on 90% of your take home pay, it would eventually become natural for you.

If you own a business, no matter how small it is, this same strategy works just as well. All you need to do is to set a profit target, which you could take off from your income. Whatever remains would become your expenses.

Finding money to invest is a matter of making it into a priority. You need to pay yourself first and then learn to live off what remains of it. In that way, you will always have money to invest and, eventually, you will have more money than your could ever imagine.