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Managing Your Financial Resources

Mod6 budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

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Page 1: Mod6   budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

Managing Your Financial Resources

Page 2: Mod6   budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

What Is a Budget?

What can a budget do for me or tell me?

A budget is an itemized summary of your income andexpenses for a given period. 

A budget is a plan for managing your money.

A budget provides a concrete, organized, and easily understood breakdown of how much money you have coming in and how much you are letting go. A budget is a plan for short-term expenses, like your monthly bills, and mid-term expenses, like vacations, as well as long-term expenses, like buying a house, paying for your college education and putting money away for retirement.

Page 3: Mod6   budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

Why Is a Budget Important?

What use is a budget?

A budget helps you determine whether you can grab that bite to eat orshould head home for a bowl of soup. It’s an invaluable tool to help you prioritize your spending and manage your money—no matter how much or how little you have. Source: http://www.personalfinance.duke.edu/manage-your-finances/budget/overview

Page 4: Mod6   budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

Why Have a Budget?

Why should students budget?

College students can use a budget to figure out how to make do with their school expenses and limited incomes, thus reducing stress and providing stability in knowing how to make ends meet.

New graduates create budgets to make sure they're properly allocating their first paychecks among emergency savings, retirement savings, student loan repayments, rent and utilities, and reward for their hard work like new gadgets and nights on the town.

Adapted from: http://www.investopedia.com/university/budgeting/basics1.asp

Page 5: Mod6   budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

How Do I Create a Budget?

Creating a budget is vital in keeping your financial house in order.

In order to be successful you have to include as much detailed information as possible.

Ultimately, the end result will be able to show where your money is coming from, how much is there and where it is all going.

Record all of your sources of income.

Create a list of monthly expenses.

Gather every financial statement you can.

Break expenses into two categories: fixed and variable.

Total your monthly income and monthly expenses.

Make adjustments to expenses.

Review your budget monthly.

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Budgeting Tools

Tools can be simple – paper and pencil or online, whateverfits your style. There are free tools on the Internet as well as tools you can purchase. The following are just two examples:

http://www.mint.com (free) - Mint pulls all your financial accounts together so you can see your entire financial picture. It allows you to set a budget, track your goals and do more with your money. You can also see your balances and transactions together, on the web or your phone.

http://www.youneedabudget.com (available for purchase after free trial)– You Need a Budget (YNAB) teaches you how to set up an account, customize your categories, budget your dollars and work toward building a buffer. Read YNAB’s four budgeting rules: http://www.youneedabudget.com/method.

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Budget Challenge: Impulse Control

Budgeting requires discipline and organization, but equally important is practicing impulse control so that you don’t sabotage your own success.Impulse control is one very important predictor of success in life.In one Stanford study, children who were able to resist eating a marshmallow when asked turned out 10 years later to be more competent and have higher SAT scores!

You can improve impulse control by practicing deferred gratification.

Controlling impulsive behavior contributes to more education and more wealth.

Self-control lets you relax because it removes stress and enablesyou to conserve willpower for the important challenges.

Adapted from: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/books/review/willpower-by-roy-f-baumeister-and-john-tierney-book-review.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 and http://sivers.org/book/Willpower

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Budgeting Tips: After You Graduate

Budgeting is a practice that you should incorporate into your life beyond your school years. If you budget your money, you will be able to take control of your life and feel more secure and content. Not budgeting can lead to a live of fear, drama, misery and insecurity.

The top issues to incorporate into your budget, now if possible, but particularly after you graduate are:

Paying off student loans

Setting up an emergency fund

Starting a retirement account

Page 9: Mod6   budgeting ppt v2 - 06262013

Budget Tips:Paying Off Student Loans

Student Loan Repayment Strategy

Paying off student loans should be your first/highest priority.

Pay the highest interest rate loans first (usually private loans), then lower interest rate loans (usually federal Stafford and Perkins loans).

Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, so you need to plan for repayment.

Budget for a 10-year payoff structure for your loans, if possible, to save on interest and to allow you to move on to other priorities.

Paying the loans earlier in your career makes sense from a tax perspective. As you start out, if you make less than $75,000, you can deduct the first $2,500 in interest.

Consolidation generally doesn't save money. Be sure to read all the fine print if you are considering consolidation to see if it makes sense for you.

High debt may make you financially undesirable to a potential partner!

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Budget Tips: Setting Up an Emergency Fund

Emergency Fund Basics

Start with the goal of saving $2,000 for minor catastrophes.

Slowly build your emergency fund up until you have enough to cover 4-6 months’ of living expenses.

Things can happen (e.g., a new grad who injured a kneeplaying Wii tennis was out of work for 6 months!).

Automate deposits to your fund so that saving the money is routine.

Make the fund less accessible so that you are not tempted to dip into it for other things and to help you practice impulse control. Have the deposits go into a separate stand alone account or use two different financial institutions, like a bank and a credit union.

Investigate using a credit union because they are usually competitive with banks in services, if not better. Many hospitals are often affiliated with a credit union, so you may be able to join a credit union easily.

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Budgeting Tips: Credit CardsIf you must rely on credit cards…

Your goal should be to pay them off monthly and if that isnot possible, carry no more than a 10% balance.

You need to maintain a good credit rating, not a perfect one.

You can check your credit ratings at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion annually at: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp.

You generally do not need credit monitoring services. Get advice from your bank or credit union before you commit to this type of service.

Cash rewards and miles are not necessarily a good deal – investigate the rewards programs carefully.

Stay away from store cards: low limits results in high utilization.

If you need to get a credit card, look for cards with no application fee, an annual fee of under $40. It can be a good way to establish credit and contain spending.

Try not to use your credit cards. You will spend more than if you use cash!

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Budgeting Resources

How to Create a Budget http://financialplan.about.com/od/budgetingyourmoney/ht/createbudget.htm

Budgeting Basics (9 sections) http://www.investopedia.com/university/budgeting/

Money Saving Tips for the Going-Back-to-School Crowd http://www.allalliedhealthschools.com/blog/2012/money-saving-tips-for-back-to-school/

10 Steps to Making a Financial Budget http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson2/index.htm

Master Your Money in 9 Days http://www.youneedabudget.com/method/nine-day-course

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Managing Your Financial Resources:An Investment in Yourself

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

~Benjamin Franklin