If people have learned one thing from the past few years it is the importance of personal finance planning. Too often, people are prone to putting off until tomorrow the things that should be done today and in the manner of finance, that leaves you one crisis away from disaster. This is a place that no one wants to be in and yet so many are, that is why personal finance planning is so vitally important. Here we will look at some simple methods of getting on track when it comes to your personal finance.
Budgeting
For many people the word budget is akin to diet in their vocabulary, it is a dirty word but in reality, a budget is your best friend. Without a budget, it is too easy to overspend or give into impulse purchases. This is a product you never intended to buy but was handily placed right by the checkout. When you have taken the time to clearly set your personal finance budget these things are less likely to occur.
Assessment
The first thing you must do before creating your personal finance budget is a thorough assessment of your spending. This can be done in several ways from fancy budget software to good old pen and paper, the important thing is that you complete the assessment.
Start with the basic bills for your household, mortgage, car payment, utilities, insurance and food. These are the expenses that you must pay no matter what and you need a clear picture of how much of your income they are consuming. Next, spend a couple of week’s journaling all other expenditures such as morning coffee, newspaper, impulse buys, soft drinks or anything else you routinely spend money on. All of this will give you a very clear picture of where your money is going.
Goals
It may seem strange to stop in the middle of your personal finance planning to set some goals, however this is an all-important step that will make the next phase much easier. Without goals, you will never move very far forward. Have you ever tried to take a trip to some place you have never been without a map? Well look at goals as part of your personal finance-planning map, above is where you are and the goals you set are where you want to arrive. Retirement, college funds and even vacations are all nice goals to consider and will help keep you on target when you are tempted to blow the budget with an impulse purchase.
Adjustments
Now that you know, where you are financially and where you would like to be the idea is to map a route to get there. This may require some adjustments to your expenditures and depending on your financial status, these could be small or large. For instance if all you are lacking is a small vacation fund you could probably achieve that by refraining from your morning latte, however if you have no savings or retirement and you are pushing 40 bigger sacrifices may be necessary.
Decision Time
You have only two choices when your out going is more than your income, cut costs or make more money. There is no magic formulas or overnight schemes that are going to fix this problem. Ideally you will do a little of both cutting and increasing to pull yourself up on level ground. These tips may seem a bit difficult at first especially if you have to sell a car or downsize your home to get ahead, but in the end, you will be grateful that you no longer have to stress over every penny and you can breathe a little easier.
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