Finance Roll

It is amazing how many people are barely making ends meet. It is even more amazing how many people are taking their finances for granted by failing to plan and budget. People assume that planning and budgeting is for the other guy, or some large corporation.

I personally believe that it is a shame that our society has not focused on teaching these basic, and yes I say basic, life skills. Planning and budgeting focus on creating short and long-term life goals, and creating controls and measures by which we can discipline ourselves to meet and achieve those objectives. Some people cringe when they hear "controls and measures", but we must remember that knowledge is power. Controls and measures provide you with the knowledge to know when adjustments must be made to keep the course. You must not be afraid of what a budget plan will disclose, instead use that information and everything at your disposal to change a potentially bad situation into something positive. The idea is to not bury your head in the sand, but with open eyes plot an expected end.

Everyone should have goals and a vision for their lives. It is not enough to just want something; you must consider and learn what it takes to get that thing you desire. A critical and base part of knowing how to get something, is knowing what you currently have. When you think of navigation, whether it is for boating or airplanes, they both must know the starting and ending points before they can plot the best track to the destination; you must also have a realistic understanding of your starting point. Your financial starting point comprises, but is not limited to your current cash flow, and other resources at your disposal.

In order to reach and achieve your goals and thusly realize your vision, you must plot a course and direction that will guide you to the destination (goal). Budgets provide the financial roadmap (navigational plan) to achieving your goals. At its best the budget should be living, and adjustable, consistently providing a view to the prize (the goal). When I say adjustable, I mean it must provide the visibility to be able to change upcoming discretionary debt sources to accommodate current day unexpected expenditures; these changes will in effect balance the budget. With regards to view, your ability to follow-through with the budget will greatly depend on your ability to keep the goal in sight.

To be successful you must plan and budget. Every small, medium, and large business including corporations plans and uses budgets. Budgets provide the roadmap for their fiscal success by ensuring that the money is applied to items that will help the company meet its goals. We than as everyday people should do no less, and use budgets as a means of achieving our goals.

Given the times in which we live, budgets are more of a requirement than an option. Look for a budgeting program that provides visibility, changeability, and maintainability. Visibility is the ability to consistently see the goal; your vision and goals will provide the continued motivation to follow-though with the plan. Changeability is the ease at which you can make changes that are rolled out through the entire budget. The ability to be able to easily create, edit, and delete income and debt sources will determine the ease at which you will be able to tailor a budget the meets your requirements. And lastly, the budget must be maintainable, it must be living and not rigid; you will need the ability to see where a current expenditure has caused the budget to go negative in the future, so you can adjust an upcoming discretionary expenditure to balance the budget.