A Financial Plan

1. A Financial Plan

2. Determine your current situation • Analyze how you use money now • Come to terms with how you spent or overspent money • Think about how to monitor your spending

3. Set and prioritize your goals • - Decide on short term goals • - Decide on long-term goals • - Goals should be realistic and attainable • - Decide which goals are the most important to you

4. Develop a long-term plan • Think about how you can work toward your goals. • Make sure your plan is something you can do without a lot of trouble. • If it involves working a lot more or spending a lot less, it may not be something you can do

5. Organize your records • Organize your bills • Organize your bank records • You may choose to use a program like Excel or Numbers • You may also choose to do it in a spiral bound notebook • Try to keep your records simple • The more difficult it is, the less likely you will be to follow it

6. Set up a budget • Reflect the 3 R’s: Reality, Responsibility, and restraint • Reality • Keep it realistic • Is it doable? • Responsibility • Hold yourself accountable • You are the one who will succeed or fail

7. Set up a budget • Restraint • Deny the urge to partake in wasteful spending • Assessing needs versus wants • Reevaluate the budget regularly • What is working? • What is not working? • Change the plan, if necessary

8. Keep it simple • Complex plans are less likely to be followed • Most people you achieve their financial goals keep their plan relatively simple • It is much easier to track progress and follow through