Lesson 3 - Statements and Budgets - Part 1

Can we meet our savings goals?

In our last lesson we looked at setting financial goals and how they will develop over time with interest. In order to help us save for our future goals we need to take a look at our spending behaviors. If we have no problems meeting our savings contributions then examining our spending behaviors will not be as important. However if we are like most people savings will be tight, we need to examine our spending habits to see if we are over spending in area’s we shouldn’t be.

As we begin to look at statements and budgets we encourage everyone that this is not a once a year thing. Just like evaluating our savings goals in the last lesson, we need to constantly monitor our progress and be ready to make changes when needed.

It is not uncommon to find many families that do not have a clear assessment of where they stand financially and more importantly a path to get them to financial success. We receive numerous requests for Statement and Budgeting help. We often find that most individuals or families do not have this clear picture. Financial Planning is a process that must be monitored. When we say monitored we merely mean to say that as an individual I am not spending more than I am supposed to or more than is budgeted. Usually a budget for one month can be rolled over into all months for the year. We encourage individuals and families to at least evaluate how well the budget worked at the end of each month and decide if adjustments are needed for the next month. People often need 2 or 3 months to come up with a working budget that can be used for the rest of the year.

As with anything in Finance, our lives are subject to change. Events occur, life unfolds and we need to recognize when these events happen; because we might need to change our budget, savings plan, or our future goals to meet our new life events.