how to budget Archives | MoneyDigest.sg

Tangled in a financial dilemma? Who will you ask for monetary advice or practical financial tips? If a professional is out of your reach, the next best thing is to read about their nuggets of wisdom.

This is why I collated the best financial advice from three experts. These experts are no other than Suze Orman, Cullen Roche, and Jeanne Kelly. Suze Orman is an American Financial Advisor, Author, Motivational Speaker, and Presenter. Cullen Roche is the Founder of a financial services firm called Orcam Financial Group, LLC. Lastly, Jeanne Kelly is a media acclaimed Credit Coach.

1. TAKE CHANCES

Suze Orman tells us that nobody achieved financial security by being frightened and weak. Being confident in one part of your life is contagious, as it will bring more opportunities to you. You won’t get there unless you try!

2. INVEST MORE IN YOU

Cullen Roche shares that the primary way to financial success is more than just saving. It is by investing more…in you. Since your primary source of income is the person you see in the mirror, a good way to maximize your wealth is to make yourself valuable to other people or other companies.

To be valuable and different from the rest, you must never stop learning. Education that improves your skills so you can adapt to the ever-changing economy. I personally recommend you to start with free Internet education from YouTube’s Khan Academy or Crash Course.

3. BAD CREDIT IS EASY TO AVOID

Jeanne Kelly claims that it is easier to maintain good credit by avoiding bad ones than to rebuild a new credit once it has been declined. She says that a quick way to avoid bad credit is by regularly reviewing the credit reports – at least two times a year. In merely 15 minutes, you can minimize the errors of your credit report and save more money!

4. EQUATION FOR YOUR INCOME

Lastly, Cullen Roche suggests for you to try the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. Spend 50% of your income to the basics or essentials such as rent, food, and utilities. 30% should go on your personal needs such as entertainment, vacation, and leisure. And the 20% left should be allocated to your savings.

Image Credits: 401(K) 2012 via Flickr with CC Attribution-ShareAlike License

Take in their knowledge only if it applies to your situation. Then, fuse the elements together and enrich your life.

Sources: 1 & 2

There comes a time when your lack of skills on accounting and budgeting will be a dilemma once you opened your small business. You may be knowledgeable in sales and trading but budgeting is important too. Budgeting helps the business owner to determine whether hey have sufficient money to fund the operations, expand the small business, and generate profit for oneself. Without this, you may spend more than what you earn.

The good news is that, there are modern alternatives to make your budgeting feast quicker and easier such as using Smartphone Apps that highlight your business’ expenses. And, on that note, here are the 5 Ways To Budget Your Start-Up Business Like A Boss…

1. DO TONS OF RESEARCH

Businesses may not be diverse but there are similarities. So, do tons of research on the local library, online forums, and start-up business owners about their company’s budget and financial plan. Use a platform like Quora or Yahoo Answers to enable you to ask the users on certain prices of the materials you must use or where to buy them. This will ensure that you get the best deal without spending too much.

2. ORGANIZE THE NUMBERS

After doing your research, organize the numbers by putting it inside an Excel spreadsheet. Analyze and estimate the total amount of money you must allocate on different categories such as raw materials, rent, insurance, and taxes. You may also put the estimated percentage of revenue for each category.

3. USE A SOFTWARE

Aside from using an Excel spreadsheet, you may budget like a pro by using accounting software called inDinero. inDinero helps you run the small business better as it safeguards your transactions, your cash flow, and your expenses. It connects the bank accounts so you can visualize where your money goes. Furthermore, it helps you with your payrolls and taxes. You can also outsource your accounting tasks with company that is willing to provide cloud accounting service such as Quickbooks or Xero for a fraction of the cost.

4. REMOVE THE UNNECESSARY

Upon analyzing your cash flow and expenses, consider cutting the costs of the things that are unnecessary. Save more by taking advantage of the payment terms offered by the supplier or by purchasing on the start of a new billing cycle.

5. BE READY FOR THE WORST

Most of the expenses, such as office supplies and salary costs, are predictable. But some unforeseen things such as higher petrol prices may happen that will spike up your expenses for that month. This is why it is important to be ready for the worst. Do not let these unfortunate events stress you or put you in debt.

Image Credits: John O’Nolan via Flickr with Creative Commons License

Sources: 1 & 2

Search the site