WHILE YOU may never have thought of it, your calendar of events need not only include birthday and anniversary dates. When it comes to the sorting out of your finances, planning key activities at regular intervals during the year will go a long way in helping you gain control of your money. Before you begin, identify an area where you will keep all your bills. Try and steer away from the dining table or kitchen counter. Keeping all your bills in one set place will ensure that you get a handle on always knowing what bills you have to pay and when they are due to be paid. Now get out your calendar, mark the following tasks down and be assured that you (and your finances) will end 2003 with a bang!
EVERY WEEK:
EXAMINE YOUR SPENDING
Make note of every cent you spend. Yes, just like medicine that usually doesn't taste good, the only way that you can see how much you are spending is to track it. A simple notebook specially bought for this purpose will do.
START COLLECTING
YOUR RECEIPTS
Here comes more medicine. To further help you get your hands around how much you spend, what better way than to keep your receipts-all of them. Put them in a safe spot and tally them to see what your total weekly expenditure was and where it went.
CREATE A LIST OF YOUR BILLS
Make a list that shows all the regular bill payments that you have to make, e.g. light, water, food, etc. This will ensure that not only do you not miss your payment date, but that you also see how much your regular monthly expenditure is for important bills (as difficult as that may be to look at).
EVERY MONTH:
PAY YOURSELF FIRST
Yes this is possible, and the greatest savers in the world will tell you that when they receive their paycheque, the first thing they do (even before paying bills) is that they pay themselves. Be careful here, as paying yourself doesn't mean taking it and running to the plaza for a shopping spree. Paying yourself means putting aside that money in your savings and investment accounts.
TALK TO YOUR SPOUSE
Gone are the days when it was only one partner that knew about the financial goings-on of the household. The truth is, what if something serious happens to that spouse? A brief monthly conversation that gives an update of where money was invested and how it was spent will ensure that both parties are fully informed in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
EVERY QUARTER:
ASSESS YOUR GOALS
Use this time every quarter to look at the goals that you have set for yourself (with dollar amounts already attached to them), and see where you are in achieving them. This regular check-up will help give you a better picture on how much further you need to go to achieve your goals.
SORT YOUR RECEIPTS
Having gathered your receipts, sorting them shows you where your money is being spent. For instance if there are way too many receipts for 'John's Burger Café', you may need to look at finding ways to eliminate spending so much money there, enabling you can put more of it aside for saving and investing.
TWICE A YEAR:
REVIEW YOUR INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS
Begin taking an active approach towards your investing activities. Look at your account balances and see how much you have earned and how much closer you are to achieving your financial targets. Having marked your calendars, go for it. Integrating a consistent set of activities into your regular routine may prove to be a bit unusual at first, after all, how many of us are in the habit of taking such active interest in the planning and monitoring of personal finances. Be assured, however, that at the end of 2003 you will be on top of your game.
To further discuss investing and the many options we have available, contact DB&G at info@mydbg.com or toll free at 1-888-CALL DBG.
