How to Prepare Your First Budget...

Jun 24, 2014 by Askia Roberts

No financial planner, no problem. The fight for financial freedom isn’t fair. No matter what kind of spin you try to put on it, the path to comfortable living seems either impossible or too long to attempt. Many people these days are spending copious amounts of money going to see professional financial planners for advice on how to get their money situation under control. But let’s be honest, while a financial planner can show you how to prioritize your spending and how to go about consolidating your debt, surely there must be a way to plan your finances that doesn’t cost you visits to a professional?  This article has been written to open some people’s eyes to the fact that it is possible to properly plan your finances from the comfort of your own...

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Develop a Good Home Budget

Jun 24, 2014 by Askia Roberts

This is probably the most requested topic that I receive, normally after someone gets a large unexpected expense, or they start thinking about retirement and realize that they have saved a woefully inadequate amount of money. I recommend using a monthly time-frame to look at your cash inflows and outflows, because most bills are monthly and four weeks is a short planning period that most people can manage. The first thing to do is determine your monthly after-tax income. Usually, this is the amount of money from your paycheck that gets deposited into your checking account. If your income is variable, then use an average of the last three months. (Any savings account interest income would be a bonus.) Next, list out your fixed monthly expenses, such as rent, mortgage, car payment, phone, electric...

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10 Tips to Make Sure Your Financial Budget Will Succeed...

Jun 24, 2014 by Askia Roberts

10 Tips to Make Sure Your Financial Budget Will Succeed You’ve analyzed your past expenses, put them into spreadsheets, loaded Quicken with all of your data and come up with a budget. Now what? The tough part! You actually have to stick to your budget and put your plans into action. This is easier said than done. In many cases you will have forgotten about your budget and your financial goals 6 months or a year down the road. How do you keep this from happening to you? Here’s how. Make sure you follow some of these tips below so this doesn’t happen to you. 1. Create a budget with realistic targets – Let’s say one of your budget goals is to not eat out for lunch or dinner on a regular basis. If...

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3 Tips to Stick to Your Budget

Jun 24, 2014 by Askia Roberts

So you’ve made your budget and it looks good on paper. Great! Now it is time to implement it. But are you ready to follow the budget you’ve developed? Here are some helpful tips to keep you on track with your budget. 1. Determine why you made a budget. There is a reason you have put time into developing your budget, now you need to put into writing what your goals are. Do you want to be debt free, live on one income, or save for retirement? Make this into your personal or family financial mission statement. Write it down or type it up nicely and then have it laminated and display it in a prominent place where you can see it often. Many times we just need a reminder to ourselves for why...

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