Budgeting 101, part 1
Many readers said they were interested in creating a budget in 2009. Here is the budget I use, which certified financial planner Rebecca Robins gave me. It is safe to download it to your desktop. I like it because it adds the numbers for me.
To fill it out you need your bills from the past month. For each line item be as specific as you can instead of rounding. Delete or add line items to fit your situation. Give yourself an hour to fill it out and plan a reward for completing it.
For irregular expenses, like insurance, taxes, vacations, IRA contributions, health savings account contributions, car maintenance, and parking tickets, add up what you spent in these categories for all of 2008.
Divide your total yearly irregular expenses by 12 to get your monthly contribution to cover these irregularities. Set up a savings account to automatically draw this amount from your paycheck. When your irregular expenses come up, you will have money saved up.
Next week we will look at the numbers you filled in so stay tuned!
3 Comments
Leave a comment
About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
My Facebook Profile
Thanks, Julia! My husband will be thrilled that I am doing this.
Good luck! It's really overwhelming at first, but breathe easy. It gets simpler! I'm going to follow up with the next step in about a week. In the meantime, you can always ask a question via a comment. ~Julia
Julia,
A suggestion to your readers. So much as late has been made of those individuals who are financial planners. Unfotunately, some have turned out to be nothing but crooks, with "fancy pants" alphabet letters after their names that the average person does not know what they really mean.
Many individuals have fallen prey to those "fancy pants" letters after the financial planners name, and most assume that these individuals are not going to run with their money or churn their account(s).
We hear and read more and more about individuals who have been scammed out of their money and life savings.
Not because Rebecca is local to me, rather, its what is stated on her web site. One area of interest I noticed is that she is a C.P.A (Certified Professional Accountant).
In my past life (yes here on earth...lol), I had C.P.A.'s reporting to me indirectly within the organization. I know what their work involves, and it's not a cakewalk.
A C.P.A. desgignation is not easy to obtain, and is hard or harder than passing the bar exam (I'm sure the attorneys on here will beg to differ with me).
I think it would help if Rebecca would take a moment to tell you, or she can blog about it herself what all the alphabet letters mean, what you should really be looking for in the financial planners designation and what resources one can use to verify their credidentials.
By all means, this is not to go after Rebecca. From my perspective and comfort level, I place more regard in her C.P.A. accredidation than all the other letters after her name. The C.P.A. designation already tells me she has not only a sound understanding, but a more advanced knowledge of accounting prinicpals and applications, which I believe is required to manage anyones financials.
Also, kudos to you Julia for taking time to help your readers with their budget(s).
Dean and Carolina...are you reading this?...look...little or no cost to you...LOL
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT