#SAMPLE OF A PERSONAL MONTHLY BUDGET HOW TO#

For one thing, you'll have an emergency fund and retirement savings. Once you have a workable budget you'll see how useful it can be to prepare you for the future. Having a budget that you regularly reassess will help you take stock of where your money is going and how close you are to meeting your goals. You 'pay yourself' by beefing up your emergency fund and investing for retirement, you pay your bills (including any debts you're carrying) and then you can spend what's left over. But it's living from paycheck to paycheck in a good way. That may sound like living paycheck to paycheck and in a way it is. Ideally, every dollar of your income should be accounted for in a monthly budget. Let's talk about living within your means. Second, having a budget leaves you better prepared for changes in the future. First, it helps you live within your means.

Having a budget is important for two reasons. Budgeting also lets you see how much you're spending in different categories. Household Budget BasicsĪ budget lets you manage how much you're spending relative to how much you're earning. With our interactive budget calculator you can see how people like you in your zip code are budgeting based on factors including the number of adults and children in the household and the size of the household's annual income.

#SAMPLE OF A PERSONAL MONTHLY BUDGET HOW TO#

We offer advice on how to streamline your budget, how to fix your budget and how to stick to your budget. Here at SmartAsset we talk a lot about budgets.

Sample of a personal monthly budget