Now here is where your budget will become far more advanced than everyone else’s: • Copy your one-month column 12 times so that you cover all 12 months! Yes, our budget is going to go for the whole year. What’s Wrong With One-Month Budgets? Lots: … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Step 3 – Take It All The Way to 12 Months
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How to Budget – Step 2 – Income Vs Expense
Take that list of your major expenses you created in Step 1 and list them for one month. Create one column and put your rows of expenses near the bottom half of the page. Income Now let’s go up to the top of the column. This is where we will list your income for the month. For most of us, that will simply be your paychecks and your spouse’s paychecks. Congratulations if you have other significant forms of income. Some examples might be: … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Step 2 – Income Vs Expense
How to Budget – Step 1 – Where Does All My Money Go?
THIS IS NOT going to be one of those “how-to” examples where you’re told to record ever purchase you’ve ever made. Doing that accomplishes NOTHING but wasting a lot of time. Besides, Mint.com can already do this for you automatically. I’ll have more on that later in this series. Instead, look back through your checkbook from the past few months. What were your MAJOR expenses? Make a list of them. I highly recommend using Microsoft Excel if possible. And yes, there will be a link to the template we create throughout this series at the end. Here are a few examples: … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Step 1 – Where Does All My Money Go?
How to Budget My Money – Introduction
Creating a budget is one of the single best financial actions you can take for your household. Once you have your goals and priorities straight, the next step is to learn how to manage your money. Setting a budget is something that has to be done even before you learn how to invest your money. Why? Because all the income in the world won’t make you any richer as long as you’re spending more than you take in. … [Read more...] about How to Budget My Money – Introduction
When Is the Best Time to Start Saving for Retirement?
Once you have your reasons for saving money and your motivation to one day retire, there’s only one thing left to do: • Start saving today! Why? One simple reason: The effects of compound interest. Simply put, when you save your money, the effects of compound interest cause your money to grow far beyond anything you could have ever saved on your own. See for yourself: … [Read more...] about When Is the Best Time to Start Saving for Retirement?
10 Tips for Saving More Money
Saving money can be a real challenge. You know you should, but some months it feels like you’re barely making ends meet. And no matter how much you actually make, it never feels like enough. Fortunately, there are some painless steps you can take to get your savings back on track. Below are a few of my favorite tips for ways you can save more money: … [Read more...] about 10 Tips for Saving More Money
Book Review: “Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security at Every Stage in Life” by Charles Farrell
Click the image to visit Amazon.comMost financial books tell you come up with a retirement goal and to save towards it. Period. But have you ever wondered if you were on the right track? At 30, how much should I have saved for retirement? What about 40, 50, etc? What about debt, savings, etc.? Where do I stack up against my peers? … [Read more...] about Book Review: “Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security at Every Stage in Life” by Charles Farrell