When you’re a busy professional, you might not find the time to keep on top of your finances or budgeting strategy, but this plays a huge role in whether you achieve your long-term money goals or prospects. Life can get busy quickly, particularly when you work long hours, have a family or other personal commitments and, as a result, regularly reviewing your spending habits and financial health can be forgotten. But, one of the best ways in which you can make a more positive step towards your finances is through budgeting.
Taking time out to review and check your finances is hugely important when it comes to your monetary success, whether now or in the future and budgeting can help you to get a clearer idea of how you spend your money and where it is going, allowing you to make better informed decisions when it comes to spending. With that in mind, let’s take a look at 3 budgeting ideas for busy professionals.
Add Reminders To Your Calendar
If you are a busy professional, then chances are that you already use your calendar a lot to organise your professional and personal life, so why not take the same approach when it comes to managing your finances? Spending time going through your budget and financial outgoings should be prioritised in terms of your time just like everything else.
Consider adding in monthly reminders to go through your budgeting predictions and to do a review of your accounts and spending. Also look to make annual reminders in line with when insurance premiums may be coming to an end, or you’re approaching 0% interest cut off points for credit cards.
Live Below Your Means
One of the easiest ways to keep control of your spending is to live below your means, which means you need to spend less than you are earning each month. This can help reduce the amount of day to day spending you might be doing, such as grabbing a coffee each morning on the way to work or nipping into the shops for a few things and coming out £40 lighter, but it can also help you put more towards spending.
If you have financial commitments or repayments, such as credit card debts or DRO, then you can focus on paying larger amounts off, without feeling as much of an impact.
Create A Leisure Budget
One budgeting method which is popular with millennials and busy professionals is the 50/20/30 rule. This is where you allocate 50% of your income to essentials, 20% to savings or towards debts and then 30% to other expenses, such as holidays, meals out or investments. This can help you to understand what is a priority in your life and can help you to appreciate things such as a nice lunch or day trip somewhere new much more. When you have identified what priorities you have, then you’ll be more motivated to stick to a budget and avoid overspending.
If you are looking to get a better idea of your financial situation, or are worried about any debts you might have which you are struggling with, then it’s always advised to speak to a financial debt advisor.
