Budgeting

Definition – “an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.”

No matter what your occupation or lifestyle, in order to get to where you want to, you must have a roadmap, a plan. One that will guide you to your destination. I remember as a young boy, my parents laboring over a roadmap looking for the best route to take to our vacation spot. Today, of course, that’s done simply by putting your destination address into your car’s navigation system and away you go.

However, setting and achieving financial goals is not as simple as that . You need a plan to get you to those goals. The best starting point to attain that is with a BUDGET. Most people don’t have a budget, or if they do, many don’t stick to it. Are you one of those people ?

So how do you put a budget together?

The simplest way to start is to list on a piece of paper all of your monthly income and your partner’s as well, if you have one. Once you do this, list all and I mean all of your expenses. Start with your fixed expenses – rent/mortgage, utilities, car payments (if any), insurance, cell phone, etc. Next, you’re your variable expenses – groceries, credit cards, gas, dining out, vacations. Be as precise as you can. Did you forget your dry cleaning expense, pet expense, libation expense, personal savings (very important)? I’m sure I’ve left a few out but you get the idea. The more precise you are, the better your chances of moving forward to get where you want to be. 

Now here comes the tough part !! If your expenses exceed your income, changes need to be made. Maybe you don’t go out to dinner as much, or take smaller, less expensive, vacations. How about bringing your lunch to work? Cutting expenses on certain items may be painful but necessary to get you to have the means to attain the financial goals that you have, big OR small. Saving for a home. Children’s education. Whatever ! It is so important.

A BUDGET is your starting point. So get out your pencil and paper and have fun creating your budget. You’ll be happy you did !!

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