Journal of Finance and Accounting – TanasiJournal

Archive for the ‘Budgeting’ Category

Budgeting is a foreign word to almost everyone, but especially teens. Budgeting requires discipline and know how to be successful. Preparing a budget is similar to learning a new language. First you learn the vocabulary then the grammar and finally you learn to speak by practice. What is the vocabulary, grammar and how do I practice? Let’s keep this simple!The first step is to determine your financial goal. For example, you want to have $500.00 saved by Christmas. This is starting with the goal or outcome in mind. Is the goal reasonable? If it is, how much can you put aside each week to meet your goal? The easy method is to take the number of weeks to your goal and divide it into the goal amount ($500). Is this a reasonable amount per week? This is the beginning of budgeting. How can you change your spending habits to make these savings routine and achievable?Review your spending habits, where do you spend your money? What changes can be made to reduce your spending to achieve your goal? If you buy your lunch each day, can you bring your lunch? If you are constantly buying soda and snacks, can you bring your own snacks? If you can, give up a certain purchase such as soda. If you go to the shopping mall for fun and to meet friends, limit your purchases.This is the discipline side of budgeting. That is why I start with your goal! Your goal should create the motivation to make changes in your spending habits. It should give you the will to make those hard choices to reach your goal. Budgeting is not easy, if it were everyone would use it and everyone would be more successful.

Budgeting in this day and age is much more difficult than it ever was. As Christians, we have to be much more aware of how budgeting affects our families and our lives. It is our duty to our Lord to insure that we are following Biblically based principles in our budgeting and every other area of our existence. There are many factors that come into play where budgeting for Christians is concerned It can be easy to forget that our problems are not all produced from lack of funds or any other “lack” in our lives.The Bible says that we must hold each thought captive, this holds true for our financial beliefs about ourselves as well. Our perceived lack in our lives can many times be traced towards our attitude about money. I encourage you to ask yourself if you are truly following God’s instruction for your finances. God does not say that our money or lack thereof are problems, it’s the ego we so often relate to it that begins to cause the issue. Attitude affects use of funds, therefore affecting the actual budget, not the other way around. As God’s followers, it is our duty to guard our hearts and mind against greed, misconduct, improper stewardship of money allotted to us, our emotional responses towards funds and our ego. We are already vulnerable as followers of Christ, we must put on the armor of God in every aspect of living, including our finances.We know that as Christians, everything we have comes from God. We know that we don’t truly own any of our possessions, we are simply granted stewardship over them for our time on earth. Our family, our friends, all our possessions and most certainly our finances, past and present debt included, fall into this category. Once we truly understand and commit this to heart, God can begin to mold us and teach us how to completely embrace and care for all He’s given us.If given control, God can be trusted to change our unhealthy patterns surrounding money. He can also wipe out all debt, and negative emotions surrounding our current beliefs of money. God promises to provide for each of us and he never breaks His promise. The first step in achieving financial freedom is to realize that God can do all things and truly seek His direction for your life. Budgeting for Christians can be simplified based on the Bible’s teachings of money and finance and your ability to connect with Him concerning what he wants in your life. Transfer everything you own, including your emotional baggage, to God. In doing so, you will truly find peace of mind and heart.Budgeting for Christians should cover many of the aspects of gaining financial freedom. One of these being getting out of any debt that you have incurred. This can mean a personal loan or a house payment, but where ever the debt comes from, it’s critical that you do not stay in debt long term. Here are some helpful tips to help you achieve a debt free lifestyle and stay that way.1. Allow a realistic budget and stick to it!!
2. Continue to acknowledge that God is the owner of everything you have. (Psalms 8:6 & Deuteronomy 5:32-33 are Biblical references of this)
3. Start to retire all your debt.Start with the smallest, and as you eliminate them, you “retire” them. DO NOT add on more debt of any kind! (Psalms 37:21 & Proverbs 3:27-28 are Biblical references of this) Budgeting for Christians is done by developing the perfect budget for your needs, writing it down and getting in the habit of sticking to it. Christians must insure that they are leaving room in their budget for tithing. God promises us great rewards if we will tithe to him. As we covered before, God never goes back on His promises. “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce” (Proverbs 3:9)Remember also that God provides in many ways above and beyond finances. Your health, family, clean water, and many other blessings are available if you will only search for them. Simply being able to practice our religion freely is a gift we should not forget. Put others first, count your blessings and think positively. You are always halfway there!

Budgeting worksheets are made primarily for the use of budgeting.If you are quite familiar with the typical worksheets that you use for your basic computer needs, then you will surely understand how budgeting worksheets generally work. Just like the simple and ordinary version, these special worksheets are designed to contain data and information systematically and orderly. However, since these are special worksheets, they have special properties incorporated with them. And for such purpose, they have a particular array of specifications and categories to help out with making the budget work for you.There are many ways you can choose to obtain budgeting worksheets for yourself or for your household, and the best way is through the internet. Also, you have the option whether you like to purchase highly optimized worksheets that are designed and distributed by certain companies or you would like to simply get free worksheets. You must know that just because some worksheets are free does not mean they are not credible and reliable. In fact, if you do not really need the specialties of advanced and complicated budgeting, you don’t have to buy worksheets at all. Then again, the decision is on you.So what can you expect from budgeting worksheets in general? Their basic functions include being able to store data. With their organized sections, you can just write down the necessary information on your finances and the amounts of allocations of your expenses. With these data input, you can have your worksheets automatically compute everything and set out a budgeting plan for you and your entire household to follow. In some worksheets, you can even have additional features, such as planning for future purchase. For instance, if you dream to buy a new car or a new home by the end of the year, you can set your worksheet to have a clear and thorough plan in order for you to have the necessary amount you need when the year ends.Of course, when it comes to picking out the type and design of worksheet you would want for you and your family to use, always consider your needs. Just because availing of a free worksheet will be more practical for you now does not mean that your finance management plans will be better off. But also, budgeting worksheets are not enough if you want to succeed with budgeting, you must have the right mindset too.