Posts Tagged ‘Ultimate’
Budgeting: the Budget – the Ultimate Financial Management Tool
Posted by admin in Financial Management on January 25th, 2010
A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. If he didnât the bathroom might get overlooked altogether.
Rocket Scientists would never begin construction on a new booster rocket without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go blindly out into the world without an inkling of an idea about finances and without any plan at all.
Not very smart of us, is it?
A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.
Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up marooned on a distant financial reef.
If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals areâ¦long term and short term.
Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.
A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That wonât work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.
Even a small amount saved will help you reach your long term and short term financial goals. You can find many budget forms on the internet. Just use any search engine you choose and type in âfree budget formsâ.
Youâll get lots of hits. Print one out and work on it with your spouse or significant other. Both of you will need to be happy with the final result and feel like itâs something you can stick to.
Your Ultimate Financial Management Tool
Posted by admin in Financial Management on December 28th, 2009
Have you ever built your own house or added an extension to it? If you have you wouldn’t expect your builder to build without a set of house plans, even for the smallest of extensions. If he did the kitchen might get overlooked altogether or have your water supply in the lounge or day room. A plan is essential for any builder.
If a NASA rocket scientist began the construction of a new space rocket without a detailed set of design specifications how high do you think it would fly? Do you think it would get off the ground? Or do you think Congress would pull the plug on all that spending if they did it without any plans. Of course they would.
If you went to your bank wanting to borrow for a new business what would be the first thing they ask for? A business plan.
Even the most mundane activities benefit from planning. Going to work every day you have a plan of how to get there. OK the plan may be in your head but you don’t go out of your drive and take whatever road takes your fancy. You’d never get to work.
Yet most of us organize our lives without so much as a thought or an inkling of an idea about our finances and without any financial planning at all. It is the only are of peoples lives where planning is thought irrelevant. How often is your month longer than your pay packet but when you try to figure out where it went you have no idea?
Not very clever of us, is it?
You need a money plan. A money plan is normally called a budget and it is crucial to have one for you to get to your desired financial goals.
Without a budget you will be financially drift without direction and end up marooned (broke) on a distant financial reef. Your dreams will remain dreams and you’ll spend your life wondering “what if”.
So how do you set a budget, a financial plan? Get yourself a budget planner. You can find many budget planners on the internet by typing into your favourite search engine “free budget forms”.
Print one out and work on it with your family and remember, to be successful all of you will have to be happy with the final result and feel like it’s something you can stick to.
First, if you have a partner or a significant other, you should make your budget together. Sit down and work out what your joint financial aims or goals are – long term, medium term and short term. Don’t just throw ideas around. Work out what you really want to happen and the cost. If you want to retire at 50 what will it cost?
Then plan your route to achieve those goals. Every journey, financial or otherwise, begins with one step and the first step to attaining your financial goals is to make a realistic budget that both you and your family can live with.
Unless you are really heavily in debt and have no option a budget should never be a recipe for financial starvation. That won’t work in the long term. Break it down into detailed allowances but plan reasonable allowances for food, clothing, housing, utilities and insurance etc.
Then set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment (including drinks and smokes) and the occasional luxury item. After that debt repayment and savings should always come before any further spending or saving.
Once you’ve worked out how much you need to live on each week or month then work out your income. Include everything you can depend on. If you get tips regularly then add them in but if it’s only the occasional tip ignore it. Don’t plan on an annual bonus – it might not arrive.
Work out what you have spare. Then work out how to save it. Don’t put all your spare money into a pension when you have debts to pay. Pay your debts and reduce the interest costs then save where it remains accessible.
Even a small amount saved will help you to reach your long term financial goal and if you start saving a small amount early it makes life much easier later on.
Planning for the future is not difficult but to be successful can involve difficult choices. The earlier you make those choices the easier the journey.
Budget- the Ultimate Financial Management Tool
Posted by admin in Financial Management on December 25th, 2009
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A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. If he didn’t the bathroom might get overlooked altogether.
Rocket Scientists would never begin construction on a new booster rocket without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go blindly out into the world without an inkling of an idea about finances and without any plan at all.
Not very smart of us, is it?
A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.
Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up marooned on a distant financial reef.
If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals are…long term and short term.
Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.
A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That won’t work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.
Even a small amount saved will help you reach your long term and short term financial goals. You can find many budget forms on the internet. Just use any search engine you choose and type in “free budget forms”.
You’ll get lots of hits. Print one out and work on it with your spouse or significant other. Both of you will need to be happy with the final result and feel like it’s something you can stick to.
www.onoms44.blogspot.com
The Budget – the Ultimate Financial Management Tool
Posted by admin in Financial Management on December 11th, 2009
The Budget â The Ultimate Financial Management Tool
A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. If he didnât the bathroom might get overlooked altogether.
Rocket Scientists would never begin construction on a new booster rocket without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go blindly out into the world without an inkling of an idea about finances and without any plan at all.
Not very smart of us, is it?
A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.
Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up marooned on a distant financial reef.
If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals areâ¦long term and short term.
Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.
A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That wonât work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.
Even a small amount saved will help you reach your long term and short term financial goals. You can find many budget forms on the internet. Just use any search engine you choose and type in âfree budget formsâ.
Youâll get lots of hits. Print one out and work on it with your spouse or significant other. Both of you will need to be happy with the final result and feel like itâs something you can stick to.
Why Should I Make a Budget?
You say you know where your money goes and you donât need it all written down to keep up with it? I issue you this challenge. Keep track of every penny you spend for one month and I do mean every penny.
You will be shocked at what the itty-bitty expenses add up to. Take the total you spent on just one unnecessary item for the month, multiply it by 12 for months in a year and multiply the result by 5 to represent 5 years.
That is how much you could have saved AND drawn interest on in just five years. That, my friend, is the very reason all of us need a budget.
If we can get control of the small expenses that really donât matter to the overall scheme of our lives, we can enjoy financial success.
The little things really do count. Cutting what you spend on lunch from five dollars a day to three dollars a day on every work day in a five day work week saves $10 a week⦠$40 a month⦠$480 a year⦠$2400 in five yearsâ¦.plus interest.
See what I mean⦠it really IS the little things and you still eat lunch everyday AND that was only one place to save money in your daily living without doing without one thing you really need. There are a lot of places to cut expenses if you look for them. Â
Set some specific long term and short term goals. There are no wrong answers here. If itâs important to you, then itâs important period.
If you want to be able to make a down payment on a house, start a college fund for your kids, buy a sports car, take a vacation to Aruba⦠anything⦠then that is your goal and your reason to get a handle on your financial situation now.
Steve Cownley
More tips from
http://allsortsofbits.comoj.com/