The Budget – The
Ultimate Financial Management Tool
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.
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