Are you about take your first steps in the job arena? Or do you want to buy that dream house? Are you a home maker juggling to keep up with the rising prices? Maybe you are on the verge of retirement and would like to spend your golden years without any worry.
Budget:
Making a budget is the one of the tips of financial planning. A budget is a guide that tells you how much money you have, what your needs are and how you should distribute your funds.
Here are some essentials of budgeting
- An efficient budget will help you keep a track on how you spend money and also bring up any shortfalls that you may be unaware of.
- Create your budget by recording all your sources of income, listing your monthly expenses fixed and variable and finding the difference between your income and expenses. If your income is more than your expenses, you are on the right path and can look for venues to invest in. You will have to readjust your variable expenses, if they are more.
- Do a review at the end of every month to evaluate your performance and make changes if necessary.
- Sticking to a budget is a daunting task. You must think positively and remain motivated while keeping your expectations realistic. Keep small achievable goals in the beginning.
- Use cash instead of plastic money credit or debit cards. It may be inconvenient but by using cash you know how much you are spending.
Start Investing:
- If your budget is in place and you are contributing to a retirement plan, then it is time to look into other tips of financial planning. You need to learn the ropes of investing.
- For investing, you must make sure you do not have any debts. You should have at least three months of income available to take care of any emergency expenses.
- For investing you must know what you are saving for and how far that goal is. It can be for a college degree two years later or that dream house five years hence.
- Are you willing to risk or would you like to keep your money safe? There are risk tests available online that will help you figure that out.
- You must spread your money in a variety of investments to bring down the risk. While a stock gives high returns, it is a risky affair. Bonds, with their low returns, are low in risk. A combination of these will give you a decent return.
- If you are a new investor it is better that you look for stock mutual funds because they are less risky than an individual stock. You can go to one of the several website to decide which fund you would like to invest in.
No time is as good as the present to look into the following tips on financial planning and subsequently wealth creation.