Broke is bad, and it makes you sad—like when you don’t have enough money to go to skiing with your friends, so you feel like a loser when you have to ask your parents for money.

Well, I guess that wasn’t you—it was me. But maybe you have had something like that happen to you.

Here is one way to help make sure you are never broke—from the wisdom of King Solomon. Since he is widely regarded as one of the wisest men to have ever lived, it is probably worth two minutes of your time to read. Plus he was one of the richest men ever. That too is a reason to pay attention. If Queen Elizabeth, the longest reigning monarch in history as of September 9, 2015, said she wanted to tell you a secret to her success, wouldn’t you listen?

In Solomon’s words: “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens” (Proverbs 27:23-27).

As Solomon says, “riches are not for ever,” so take charge of whatever situation you are in. The grass turns green in the spring; it grows, but before long it is autumn time, and the snow comes and covers it up, and the grass dies. And if you haven’t taken advantage of what God has given you and the time He has given you, then as the scripture implies, you won’t have the green grass—the greenbacks, the dollars, the dineros—when you need it most.

So how do we put Solomon’s advice into practice?

You budget.

A budget? Aw, really? Not the budget again. Why do I need a budget? I make hardly any money. I’m just a kid. How is a budget going to help me?

Let me let you in on a little secret: Money doesn’t grow on trees, and life costs money! If you want to do things in life, then you need to manage your money and the blessings that God gives you!

And the less money you have, the more you need a budget.

Budgets have a really negative connotation—but they are awesome. They are one of the most powerful tools you can use to take advantage of opportunities and reach goals in life.

Make a Budget

Consider: Millions of Americans are successful in many ways. They earn big salaries; they drive fancy cars and live in big houses. But they are always one paycheck away from disaster. They have credit cards falling out of their wallets, but they never feel like they are getting ahead. They feel trapped—stuck in jobs they don’t even like to keep the bills paid.

They are making more money than ever—but they are spending still more.

In the book The Millionaire Next Door, authors Thomas Stanley and William Danko conducted surveys of self-made millionaires to find out what made them successful. They considered the most common traits among all these very successful individuals.

Can you guess what was the number one commonality found among these millionaires? They live beneath their means! And how do they do that?

They budget.

Rich people budget. They stick to their budgets. As famous financial expert Dave Ramsey once said, “If you want to be rich, do rich people stuff!” Don’t do what your broke friends do.

So do a budget.

Do it now. Or do it tonight when you get home from work. Or do it after returning from your trip to the mall, which will probably turn out really lame because you don’t have any money to spend anyway, and it’s a good thing you don’t have a credit card yet (hopefully). Just do it.

It can be really simple. Draw a line down a page, and in one column, list all of your income: salary, allowance, any commissions your parents pay you, money you make mowing your neighbor’s lawn, etc.

Then find a home for every dollar of income in the other column. Tithing goes at the top, then gas money, spending, savings, investments, etc.

When you are finished, your second column of expenses should equal your income. If it doesn’t, find out why and reassign some of your money to different categories.

Maybe you need to cut some expenses, but the important thing is that you are now in charge of your money and are actively deciding how it is used.

At its most basic, it is as simple as that. If that even sounds too tough, there are many free forms and spreadsheets at your disposal online that will help you create a budget.

But Solomon’s advice involves much more than just creating a budget. It requires planning so that you can get ahead.

Your Money Can Work

Look at Proverbs 27:23 again. Matthew Henry’s commentary summarizes: “We must … know the state of things, and look well to them, that nothing may be lost, no opportunity let slip, but everything done in proper time and order, and so as to turn to the best advantage. We must be diligent and take pains; not only sit down and contrive, but be up and doing” (emphasis added).

To be a success, we must be moving forward in our finances, just like in the parable of the talents. We must do more than just cover costs—we must grow what we have. We must be looking for opportunities—and be ready to take advantage of them.

That means you must be saving for the future, and saving so you can better support the Work—and take advantage of opportunities as you find them.

If you set up a good budget and stick with it, it will free up your money and help make that money work for you—instead of the other way around. It will allow you to use your money effectively.

For example, say you are 16 years old. You have your first job and are living at home. You decide that you want to start saving a portion of your money. Or maybe you mow a couple of your neighbors’ lawns each week in the summer.

Let’s say you spend all your earnings except for $5 per week that you decide to invest. (Do any of you get $5 per week in allowance?)

Let’s say you invested it in an average stock mutual fund and you earn 8 percent on it per year on average (which is less than what the stock market has averaged over the past 80 years).

Do you know how much you would have by the time you were 20 years old?

Over $1,265—and that’s from just 5 bucks per week!

But let’s not stop there. What if you wanted to let it keep growing until you were 35 years old? You would have $11,638.11.

Let’s do something really crazy and leave it alone until you were 65 and ready to retire. You would have saved $148,920.24.

But guess what? Many people spend $5 per day, not per week, just on coffee. The math on that one speaks for itself. Say instead of going to Starbucks every day, you invest that $5 per day at 8 percent from the time you are age 20 until age 65.

You would have more than $761,000.

And do you know what? Using history as our guide, this is a conservative example. What if you earned an average of 10 percent? That $5 per day turns into almost 1.45 million!

You are a millionaire by budgeting and not drinking coffee!

Imagine what you could do if you saved 10 percent of your yearly salary. The median household salary in the U.S. is about $50,000 per year. Say you saved and invested $5,000 per year from the time you were 20 until retirement. You would have 2 million dollars.

Think of what that means! Nobody should have to retire poor in America. Nobody should be reliant on welfare. Make a budget; stick to it. Make your money work for you—or “look well to [the state of] your herds” as Solomon admonished!

Take Advantage of Opportunities

What if you don’t like the markets? Then if you use a budget, you will be ready for other opportunities when they are presented.

In 2010, banks were desperate to dump foreclosed properties. I knew someone who bought a house for $42,000. He knew that he could immediately sell it for at least $55,000, based on comparable houses. The bank just wanted to get rid of it because it was swamped with foreclosed properties. He also knew that if he put $10,000 to $15,000 into remodeling, the house could be sold for around $80,000.

He had the $42,000 cash on hand, and the bank wanted the house gone. Other potential buyers had to fiddle around with getting a mortgage loan that might or might not have gone through. The bank chose to sell the house to him. He scored the deal and reaped the rewards.

King Solomon was successful for a reason. God recorded his wisdom so that we could all benefit from it.

Make your money work for you. Take advantage of opportunities.

Don’t be broke; make a budget. Be happy and glad, not sad. And have fun the next time your friends want to go skiing—and you are fully prepared for the opportunity.