As we discussed in this post, a budget is a spending plan which can help you become more organized. The purpose of this is meeting your expenses, your personal goals and tracking your income. Starting and maintaining a budgeting plan takes a lot of self-control and discipline which can be managed through organizing your money and being consistent. But is there such a thing as an “ideal” budget? Well, we think there is! Creating your ideal budget An ideal budget tries to align your spending to what is normal or considered typical for an American household. For example, does it seem “normal” to spend 75% of your monthly income on housing? We don’t think so either! So an ideal budget will try and align the spending of your income along the following categories: Now after knowing what an ideal budgeting plan looks like, go out and find all your sources of income. This can include your salary, investments (such as savings account, money market account, or mutual fund), passive income (such as rent income), and retirement income. After determining your total income divide it into the previous categories and start looking to see if the numbers seem reasonable and achievable.
Did you ever wonder why some people never seem to be able to keep money around? They get paid on Friday and all the money is gone before Monday? Well, in this post we’re going to talk about 5 habits that might be keeping a person broke. Habit #1- Not knowing your subscriptions Subscriptions can add up quickly. You can have $5 here, $10 dollars there. You should take a moment and review your bank statement or credit card statement to see what monthly subscriptions you have. You also need to determine what you use and do not use. Cancel the ones that are not being used. Keep an eye out for what you are being charged for in your subscriptions. Sometimes subscriptions plans can increase in price without you being aware so if something you were paying 10 bucks a month for now turned into 20 bucks. Habit #2 – Spontaneous Shopping Who does not like shopping for new things; rather it be clothes, electronics, or even shoes? There has to be a limit to what people can buy based on their budget. One way people dig themselves into a deeper hole is by not realizing how much they
what is a budget? You might find yourself asking, where is all my money going? Sometimes it seems to just slip through your hands. A good solution to get yourself on track with your money habits is creating a budget and sticking to it. A budget is an itemized and detailed plan stating where each dollar is going. This creates guidelines for you to follow in order of priorities or personal goals. For the best results, you want to make sure you are customizing your budget so it fits your daily routines in terms of necessities. Creating a budget can help you develop great money management skills! How Do I Create One? Creating a budget isn’t really a hard task at all. One just has to review their income and expenses and then put the all of the information in a summary format. Here are the specific steps: Step 1: Calculate your income The core of your budget starts with your income. That’s because it serves are your key performance metric. Now what do we mean by that? Well, if you are spending less than your income, you will be saving and creating wealth. Spending more than your income? Well
You might find yourself asking why you were not approved for a loan or credit card. That decision was made based on many factors. Some of those reasons might be because there is a history of not paying on time, you do not have any credit yet, or you are adding too much debt into your accounts. If you are looking to improve your credit score, I will be listing some tips as well as what goes into your score. Ultimately you can use these to see how you can get an 800+ credit score! First, we will be breaking down the categories that are used to determine your score. Credit Score History Payment History- 35% 35% of your score is made up of your payment history. The largest portion of the score is going into whether you are paying on time or not. Make those payments on time! If you find that hard to do, set a reminder somewhere visible for you and put it a couple days prior to the due date. Credit Utilization-30% Another big chunk of your credit score goes into a ratio. This ratio is determined on how much credit you have available vs
With everything being so accessible online, it may feel odd to have to write a check. Something that used to be so necessary is now almost unknown knowledge to today’s generation. So, if you’re wondering how to write a check with dollars and cents correctly, then check out these six quick steps. Date You can write out the date in word or numerical format listing the Month/Day/Year. Some will typically use the numerical format. Why? Because it’s faster to write! Payee Write the name of who you’re paying. Make sure you make it out to the proper person or company AND spell their name correctly. For example, S-H-A-W-N versus S-H-A-U-N. If you’re not sure who to make it out to or the correct spelling – just ask. Because if you write it wrong, the person can’t deposit it at their bank. Numerical Amount Write the amount to be paid numerically. Just make sure that you use commas and decimals in the correct place. Written Amount Write out each number position in expanded form like you would in math class. So for example for $1,900.06 we would write One Thousand, Nine Hundred and 06/100 cents versus Nineteen Hundred and 06/100 cents.