Lets talk budgeting…
Back in my high school days, towards the end of my senior year a teacher spent a whole lesson teaching us about budgeting and why it’s one of the most important skills you could master to ensure happiness with your finances. He drew out a grand plan on how to structure your budget and where you should allocate your income & expenses.
He drew out 3 buckets of where your income should go, he listed down the categories spend, save & invest. Where spend included expenses like bills, fun money, food etc. Save included building an emergency fund, holiday savings or life savings. And invest is where he talked about kiwisaver & shares.
Having a budget & being conscious of your budget is the most important part. How you manage your budget is totally up to you.
The lesson he taught that day was that having a budget & being conscious of your budget is the most important part. How you manage your budget is totally up to you.
In this blog, we’re going to walk through the budget feature and how it can level up your money warrant of fitness.
The budget feature is designed to be as simple as possible to give you guidance and confidence on where your funds are coming in, going out and what you have left over. Once you group your spending in the merchants feature your budget can be automatically generated using the auto budget feature based on your spending habits.
Setting up your budget
Step 1: Enter in your income details, this includes your income amount, frequency and when you last got paid
Step 2: List down your expenses, this might be per week, fortnight or month. Just like what my teacher said, this includes spend (bills, food etc), save (emergency fund, savings) and invest (shares or even self investment).
Step 3: Review what you’ll have left over after, this will help you understand where you need to make adjustments if your expenses outweigh your income. Or see where you can invest your money left over, this might be by bumping up your savings contributions each week.
Throughout the set up, the widgets in the budget feature will give you quick insights on to better judge how you’re tracking. These can also be shown on the dashboard.
One off budget
Just for those special occasions and one offs that pop up from time to time in life, we've created a one off budget feature as well.
The one off budget feature enables you to set a budget for a particular period of time, this might be a holiday, weekend away or simply just doing some shopping.
The one off budget will track your spending vs what you've set as your budget and notify you when you're close to reaching your spend limit. It's great for when you want to make sure you're managing your spending during times that are outside of your regular budget. That way you can spend more time enjoying the things you love doing, stress free.
Can I just set and forget my budget? your budget will always change to shape around your lifestyle so it's important to check in every so often and make sure what your budget is correct. Usually monthly is a good time to review your budget.
A general rule of thumb is, the larger the sum of money left over the more options you have to invest or splash out on that new pair of kicks.
Happy budgeting!
Final words
Thanks for reading, if you have any feedback or questions on what you've seen so far, feel free to get in touch using our contact form or alternatively give us a bell at hello@budgetbuddie.co.nz
Disclaimer
This blog or any other information provided by BudgetBuddie is not financial advice. If you're needing financial advice please get in touch with a licensed financial advisor or professional.
