Money, without a doubt, is necessary for life. Basic living expenses need to be maintained for a reasonable quality of life—which can be attained by most people if they manage their finances correctly. One of the best methods for managing personal finances is to create a budget. Creating a budget can help keep your finances organized while controlling the amount of debt you might require to live the way you want. Budgets help you plan for your monthly expenses, activities, needs, and even your financial future. Managing your personal finances can appear to be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be—budgeting and personal finance spreadsheets are readily available online. Personal Finance and Spreadsheets Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston created the first financial spreadsheet program in 1979. Since then the technology has been adopted by businesses, banks, and governments, who use spreadsheets for creating budgets, tracking spending, and creating reports for their financial… read more
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You know that a budget is an incredible tool for reducing your debt and building your savings. But the thought of creating a budget from scratch can be overwhelming. It’s possible to start with something simple. The simplest budget, the 80/20 budget, advocates committing 20% of your income to savings and 80% to everything else. Similarly, the 50/30/20 budget has you put 20% into savings, then divides the remaining portion into 50% for needs and 30% for wants. But if you need something a little more specific and structured than that (but don’t want to commit to a full budget worksheet), there is a happy medium. The following five-category budget allows you to break down your spending into simple, basic categories, so you can see where your spending should line up and make adjustments if necessary. If you follow this budget, you’ll automatically be putting aside a portion of your money to both debt… read more
If you’re hoping to gain more control over spending and begin working towards your financial goals, you need a budget. A personal or household budget is an itemized summary of expected income and expenses for a defined period of time, typically one month. While the word budget is often associated with restricted spending, a budget should really mean more efficient spending. A budget will show you how much money you expect to bring in against all of your expenditures from the required expenses like house payments and rent to discretionary spending like entertainment. Instead of viewing a budget as a negative, you can view it as a tool for achieving your financial goals. What a Budget Does As a personal financial planning tool, a written, monthly budget allows you to plan for how you’ll spend and/or save your money each month and also keep track of your spending patterns. Though making a budget may not sound like the most exciting activity (and… read more