Budgeting

Budgeting. Many of us tend to think that budgeting software is for those over-cautious individuals who like to keep track of all their money down to the last dime, and could probably be compared to the fabled merchant of Venice in extracting blood from the last pound. If you are in this group, or even one of those who shirk from budgeting thinking it's too difficult, and not really necessary for someone with simple needs and finances, then this should serve as a wake up call. Millions all over the world, and especially in the US, lost most of their life's savings in the recent economic downturn. This was because many felt their jobs were secure and they took on a lot more debt with large houses and luxury autos, as well as careless spending. If you think budgeting is not for you, then clearly, it is time to revisit this matter and give it very serious consideration: budgeting is for everybody.

The reasons aren't really hard to guess. As has been pointed out, budgeting does help you keep track of your money, but that is not all of it. If you budget your resources in a careful manner, then not only do you know where your money is going, you also acquire and develop strategies to optimize your expenditures and reduce your debt. Ultimately, through solid investments, a sound economic future for you and your family can be attained. It may sound old-fashioned and perhaps prudish, but good budgeting systems have proved to be invaluable for many individuals who have weathered some severe economic times and have survived quite well.

Here's how. Most individuals see budgeting in two ways: you either choose to take command and do everything yourself with spreadsheets, etc., or leave everything to an expert or a service provider. What we would like to recommend, however, is the proverbial middle of the road, which keeps you involved in decision making without leaving you out in the cold or at the mercy of plans and spreadsheets. Yes, we are talking about user friendly, smart budgeting software.

The logic behind budgeting software is simplicity itself. You buy the software, install it on your machine, run through the setup and feed in all of your financial details and specifications in the slots indicated. This last area allows you to choose parameters in accordance with your existing financial situation, an option which many conventional advisers and budgeting service providers lack. We recommend budgeting programs that utilize the "zero-sum" method of creating your personal budget. Basically, the concept is to take your previous month income, and from that amount, set up your budget expenditures for the current month. It generally allocates funds similar to envelope budgeting and you can include accounts to save for future purchases as well as reduction of debt. In this method, you know exactly what you have to spend, not like most programs where you are guessing what your income will be.

With this plan in hand, you then interact more with the budgeting software to generate clear cut strategies for the optimization of your expenditures. This means that you assign every last dollar to a particular area of spending and create a budget for both the short and the long term, meaning that you give "every dollar a job". Last, but not least, most software programs come with audio-visual aid such as graphs, pie charts and interactive commands, but the budgeting software program that we highly recommend on our website, provides live interactive training during the month, and also has an active member forum dispensing help whenever needed. So, please don't delay this very important decision any longer, gather your financial information, and prepare your budget.