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When it comes time to review your personal finances, you might cringe at the idea of cracking open the books and looking closely at what you’re working with on a month-to-month basis. However, it’s vital that you pick up your accounting and see how much you’ve got going out every paycheck. If you don’t it’ll be difficult for you to craft a robust plan for your money!
Today we’re looking at some ways you can use simple planning skills to make your personal finances easier to manage. Hitting the personal finance goals you set is just a matter of discipline and sticking to your plan!
What are your financial goals? Sit down and think about the things you’d like to achieve with your money. For many people, these goals are related to their retirement, as they think about the days when they’ll be unable to work for their money any longer. Other people consider goals like saving to buy a new car outright or saving up for a vacation to a different country.
Whatever your goals are, get serious about them. How much is that car you want? What does the plane ticket to Tokyo cost? Get those numbers written down and start saving toward them with a concrete goal in mind.
Break open those books and do some budgeting. How much do you make every paycheck compared to your bills? How much extra money do you have left over? Set a reasonable portion of that money aside and put it toward your financial goals. You’ll never save up for that thing you want if you’re not putting money aside for it.
Maybe this means you make some cuts in other parts of your budget. Perhaps you can go out to eat less, or hit the movie theater less, and pocket the extra money. This should go toward your financial goals!
Don’t just stash the money you’re saving under your mattress. Put it into an account that will bring you interest! Interest is a great way to make money with your money, and it can make achieving your financial goals that much easier.
When you’ve got interest and constant deposits on your side, you can do some quick math and see how long it’ll take to achieve your goals. These concrete numbers can give you a target date. Use that date as a motivation to keep your good financial habits up, and you’ll achieve your goals in no time!
