This Week’s Financial Strategy – Creating a Budget

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An excerpt from Follow the Money Weekly Radio with Jerry Robinson – 1/8/11

To hear the entire program, click here.

by John Bearss

Transcript

Hi Jerry. I trust everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas and New Year and as we enter twenty eleven I am excited about the opportunity to share more financial strategies each week with you.

I love this time of year because as I talk with people they are establishing new year’s resolutions.  So I want to change our format a little bit.  In the past I have given many ideas on ways you can safely grow your assets and how to protect them.  But I would like to start this year, developing financial strategies that will help you achieve your goals.  So what resolutions have you made concerning your finances?

Life events often trigger a need for financial advice and sometimes it will alter your financial decisions.  Some of those life events could be:

1.      That you are just starting out – for instance you may have just graduated from college, or maybe you are newly married.  Maybe you are starting a new family.

2.      Maybe you are changing jobs.

3.      What if you are coping with Unemployment or are heavily in debt?

4.      What if you are considering buying a home?

5.      Are you concerned about saving for future college expenses?

6.      Maybe you would like to start a business or maybe you are trying to develop a business succession plan.

7.      What should you consider when planning for Retirement?  Or maybe when should I retire.

8.      What concerns do you have in planning for long term care?  Maybe you are caring for an aging parent.

9.      Maybe you have received an inheritance and would like to consider some investment options.

10.  What if you lost a spouse or you are getting divorced?

These are just a few life triggering events that could create a need for financial advice.  So what I want to know is what stage of life are you in?  Are there any life triggering events that you are dealing with now? 

One of the biggest task people want to tackle at the start of each new year is developing a budget that they can stick with.  In today’s environment I believe that this is the key to financial success or financial failure.  Statistics show us that most divorces are due to issues dealing with finances.  I have talked with many people that will not discuss these issues with their spouse because they feel it would be an uncomfortable discussion.

If I could encourage every couple no matter what life stage you are in to do one thing, it would be to sit down with your spouse and find out, where does your money go each month?  It will help you understand the thought process of your partner and maybe even help you understand what is important to them and what is important to you.  The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:21, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  So take time and discuss where your money goes and I guarantee you will learn a lot about where your heart is.

Then you need to have this discussion often because circumstances change and you may need to tweak your budget.  But by having the discussion often it will help you stay on course and it will help build a more unified family unit.  If you have children you may want to include them into the discussion so that they will understand your situation and it will help train them for when they are older.

If you have a goal of getting out of debt one of the first things you need to do is discuss how you can lower your budget, so that you can have extra money to start paying off debt.  What if you find that you are spending money on items that you really don’t need?

Setting up a budget is the first step towards making all of your financial goals become a reality.

I trust this financial insight has been helpful and I look forward to the next time when I can help you provide the foundation for a lifetime of financial independence.

About John Bearss: John R. Bearss is a Retirement Specialist with the Christian Financial Advisor Network. He has been helping clients and financial professionals understand financial strategies for 24 years.

Disclaimer: John Bearss is a registered representative of and does offer securities through Sicor Securities, Inc.  Lifetime Decisions Management, nor it’s representatives provide legal or tax advice.  Please consult your CPA or qualified tax advisor before making any decisions. Lifetime Decisions Management, Inc. is not a subsidiary of nor controlled by SICOR Securities, Inc.

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