Calculating Your Budget

Answer 1

Proper money management is a skill that many people struggle with. All too often, families suffer due to improper financial planning, but with appropriate preparation, these troubles can be a thing of the past.

The first thing any household should do when attempting to calculate their budget is to identify how much money is actually coming in. Remember to take into account any amount of money that a job might withhold for taxes and social programs. It might be surprising to know that many families cannot give an accurate answer to this question. Unfortunately, fear of what they might discover prevents many people from even bothering with this first step.

The next thing to do when calculating a budget is to determine the outgoing money. This means anything from a mortgage payment to student loans. Often forgotten expenses include grocery items, clothing, transportation costs and even money set aside for savings, so don't forget to calculate these values as well. When calculating this value, keep in mind factors such as the number of people in your household and how much money you want to contribute into your savings account.

The final step of calculating your budget is to subtract what the outgoing cash flow with the incoming gain. Anything left over is discretionary income which may be used on anything from vacation expenses to the bolstering of a savings account. If your outgoing cash flow very nearly matches your incoming capital, it may be wise to start looking where you can make cuts to your budget. Nearly all financial gurus advise that each household should store a minimum of 10% of their income as savings, but other factors such as debt payments and grocery bills may be modified in order to better fit your budget.

Perhaps one of the best ideas involving budget calculation is to use an online budget calculator. This removes the chance for mathematical errors and helps organize the information. Many budget calculators will also remind you of costs that may have otherwise been forgotten, and the most advanced budget calculators will even help make suggestions to improve your finances. Get started today, the earlier you calculate the budget, the sooner you can make positive changes in your life.