Make Money and Save Money

Over the coming weeks I will be providing you with information on understanding your financial situation so you determine your short and long term financial goals. The overall outcome should be little to no debt and living within your means, don’t worry we will go slow and make the transitions as pain free as possible.

Today we are going to cover income and expenses; this is the first step to determining your future financial goals. I have prepared a  Personal Finance WorkSheet with instructions for you so you can better understand where you are at today. Just fill in your information and remember to be as accurate as possible while doing so.

Once you have the totals of both income and overall expenses subtract the expenses from income. Is your Expense more than 50% of your income? If you answered yes, a few decisions will need to be made on your part in order to begin making your future goals.

Wants versus needs; do you know the difference? Check out my previous post that discusses this topic for further reference. Determine what expenses can be eliminated that pose no threat to your overall well being; can you live without the second cell phone, do you need the Macy’s credit card? Honestly sit down and go over your worksheet, make a list of needs and one of wants. On the wants list pick one item that you can live without and set a goal to eliminate it in 30 days.

That is all I want you to do for now, as I said we want to do this as pain free as possible so there will be little temptation to give up. Included in the zip file from above are links directing you here and to my email, if you find the worksheet helpful bookmark this site. I will be releasing more worksheets with each installment of this topic series.

Sneak Peek of Pt 2: Setting and Reaching  short term goals. Not only will I help you set them, I will give you tips on how to reach them. Find out why it is okay to reward yourself for reaching your goals.