Mention the “b” word, as in BUDGET, to a friend and they’ll look at you like you have a third eye growing from the middle of your forehead. For most people the word budget too often carries negative meanings such as limits, restrictions, living on an allowance, giving things up, no shopping, no fun.
Unfortunately, the point they’re missing is that a budget doesn’t limit you but instead gives you freedom. That’s right - FREEDOM. The words “budget” and “freedom” are not mutually exclusive, once you understand what a budget can do for you.
Having and using a budget will give you direction. Your budget is your personal map of how you’re going to move financially from “point A” to “point B” and so on. Would you like to pay off your credit card debt? Buy a new house or car? Save for retirement? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then let me ask you one more - how are you going to do it? What’s your plan?
Let’s take a look at paying off your credit card debt. You’ve decided to lower your debt by adding an extra $20 to your monthly payments. Great idea - as long as you can afford it and you stop using your credit cards. However, you won’t know if you have the extra $20 if you don’t know what your monthly expenses are from the start. With a budget you may find that you can actually afford more and pay off your debts faster. You’ll have the freedom to use your money more wisely and achieve your goal.
What about buying a new house or car? If you don’t have a budget, you won’t know how much you can pay for a house or a car payment. Make that mistake and you’ll get a visit from the repo man or you’ll find yourself in foreclosure. Your budget gives you the freedom to make an informed decision.
How about saving for retirement? Unfortunately most of us don’t consider retirement savings until we’re into our forties or even fifties. Imagine if only we’d been smarter, had a budget, and started contributing toward our retirement when we were 10, 20, or 30 years younger?
Having a budget doesn’t limit you. It gives you the freedom to make informed financial decisions, allows you to use your money more wisely, and achieve your financial goals more quickly and easily.
A budget is a systematic plan for the expenditure of a usually fixed resource, such as money or time, during a given period. As a single mother you might groan at the thought of putting together a household budget with all your expenses, but it's easy to do and will also help you become very financially organized.
Shaping up your finances is particularly important if you are experiencing a life altering experience such as a marriage, divorce, new baby or any other event that changes your finances dramatically. Whatever the state of your financial life, developing a sensible household budget
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Whether you know it or not, you are always setting your financial priorities. Some may decide that a new stereo system is more important than this month's electric bill. This may be a little off the wall but it is still setting your priorities.
Anyone wanting to better manage their money would be wise to determine what their financial priorities are and stick to them. Of course, if you see that these priorities will not put food on the table and pay your bills then you will have to rethink your priorities.
Setting your priorities is simple. You just decide what is the
most important aspect of your finances and
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If you’re considering going to university, there is a strong chance that you’re also contemplating taking out a student loan to fund your university expenses. Student loans don’t have to equate to student debt and if you plan your finances, it is possible to get by without student loans and possibly even profit from them. There are many sites on the internet which provide downloadable student finance guides and online advice on how best to manage your finances. Moneynet offers a comprehensive student finance guide (www.moneynet.co.uk/student-finance-guide/index.shtml), whilst the money section on support4learning is also a popular internet resource. (www.support4learning.com).
The first step to avoid financial
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Are you one of those people who doesn’t open their bank or credit card statements? Do you take out store cards on the spur of the moment? Have you been with the same bank simply because it is less hassle than changing?
If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, fear not confused consumer, help is at hand, with some assistance from a few internet tools.
Websites such as Fool.com, Fool.co.uk and Moneysavingexpert.com
have proved extremely popular with
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Budgeting. It's a word we're all familiar with. Everyone knows
what a budget is, right? Yet how many of us actually make and
stick to a solid monthly budget? The truth is that most of us
start out with the best of intentions, but an unexpected
expense comes up and busts our budget. Then we give up and go
back to juggling our finances and worrying about having too
much month left at the end of the money. However, if you are
striving to create a budget for the purpose of systematically
paying off your debts, or to start a savings and investment
program, then it's critical to develop
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tool by TheWebsiteDesign.Co.UK
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