Simply Essential Personal Budgeting Kit
- Book Review,
by Sylvia S. Lim
Canadian Moneysaver, February 2002
...stands apart from other budgeting guides by providing tips and information to help you create a realistic, workable budget.
Book Description
- Understand where your cash goes and how you can keep more of it - Learn to trim spending painlessly - Discover how to set realistic financial goals -- and achieve them
From the Back Cover
Do you find yourself living from paycheck to paycheck? Do you worry about how you can make your next credit card payments? Even worse, do you feel helpless when you try to think about how you’ll ever manage to retire at 65 (let alone "freedom 55") or do you try not to think about it at all? Most important, do you feel overwhelmed at the idea of coming up with a personal budgeting plan? If the answer is yes to any or all of these questions, this kit is for you. It’s a step-by-step guide to getting yourself back on track financially for the rest of your life. Along with all the necessary forms, it contains tips and information to help you create a workable personal budget. It simplifies the budgeting process, making it easy for you to create a solid, realistic plan. You will learn how to: - Set realistic financial goals - Trim your spending painlessly - Pay down your debt methodically - Save and invest - Develop a retirement savings strategy - Make up an estate plan - Makeover your lifestyle for a successful and stress-free future The future — your future — is in your own hands. Have respect for money and what it can do for you. Start today, and budget your way to financial freedom! All forms are included on a 3 1/2" disk in MS Word, PDF, and MS Excel formats, for use with any PC.
About the Author
Sylvia Lim, CFP, CGA, obtained her Certified Financial Planner designation in 1999 and has helped many clients properly plan their financial futures. She received her Certified General Accountant designation in 1982 after discovering that she thrived on the numbers side of management. Since 1989, she has operated her own successful accounting practice. She is also a popular instructor at business colleges and within the business community.
Excerpted from Simply Essential Personal Budgeting Kit by Sylvia S. Lim. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Do you find yourself living from paycheck to paycheck? Do you worry about how you can make your next credit card payments? Even worse, do you feel helpless when you try to think about how you’ll ever manage to retire at 65 (let alone "freedom 55") or do you try not to think about it at all? Most important, do you feel overwhelmed at the idea of coming up with a personal budgeting plan? If the answer is yes to any or all of these questions, this kit is for you. It’s a step-by-step guide to getting yourself back on track financially for the rest of your life. Along with all the necessary forms, it contains tips and information to help you create a workable personal budget. It simplifies the budgeting process, making it easy for you to create a solid, realistic plan. You will learn how to -- - set realistic financial goals, - trim your spending painlessly, - pay down your debt methodically, - save and invest, - develop a retirement savings strategy, - make up an estate plan, and - makeover your lifestyle for a successful and stress-free future. Financial Budgeting You may feel you already know how to budget, or perhaps don’t need to know, but your lifestyle can tell a different story. You may have trouble paying your bills, have no savings, be behind on your taxes, and generally not be able to make ends meet. Getting out of this rut takes some effort, but the rewards for doing so are high. Simply put, developing a financial budget allows you to take charge of your finances. It means that you put into print how much you earn, how much you can spend, how much you will need to pay down your debts, and how much you can devote to savings. A financial budget is a blueprint that provides you with a direction to follow for the next few years. It allows you to take control of your spending and your financial life! In addition to gaining greater control over your money, you can also employ financial budgeting to help you save for the big-ticket items you’d like to purchase. You can successfully use this kit to help you put aside money for -- - a car, - your daughter’s wedding, - your children’s college education, - an extended vacation, - a new kitchen in your home, and (of course) - your own retirement. Whatever your reason for wanting to be in charge of your money, the rules are the same. You must know what you want, where you stand financially, and how you will achieve your goals. With a little patience and some determination, you will find that budgeting becomes simply a new habit you’ve taken on and applied daily. In time, it will become second nature to you. You don’t necessarily need a lot of money to live a rich and full life. Many pleasurable things in life cost little or no money at all. But having a fulfilling, comfortable, and financially secure life requires some work on your part. You must commit yourself to good planning and work toward success a little at a time. A small dose of thriftiness and some good old common sense also help. Anyone can do it. Commit yourself to following the steps in this workbook. You’ll be glad you did. You may not become a millionaire overnight, but you will come away from the experience knowing and believing that you can be financially savvy. You’ll be on your way to a more secure and comfortable future. The Stress Factor Perhaps you’ve woken up in the middle of the night with money concerns on your mind. Or perhaps on some nights you can’t fall asleep at all. Maybe you find yourself edgy and irritable with those closest to you because you can’t seem to get your mind off your financial troubles, and find that more and more, stress is negatively affecting your ability to enjoy your life. 12 May 2001). Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as a physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension, a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium. In a 1993 World Health Organization (who) report, stress was cited as the number-one health concern for the industrialized world. As human beings, we often experience stress when we feel we are not in control of a situation. If stress accumulates, we may become physically sick, have insomnia, or experience depression-like symptoms. This emotional or intellectual tension may actually shorten life and certainly works to decrease its quality while we’re living it. If you believe that by decreasing stress you can bring about a better quality of life for yourself and those around you, you will understand the importance of managing or eliminating situations that cause you needless anxiety. One of the major stressors in many people’s lives is money -- or, more precisely, lack of money-management skill. In fact, it is not knowing where you stand with your finances that causes the stress. For instance, you may -- - not know how much money is in your bank account when there are many bills to pay, - not know how to go about paying all the bills that have piled up in the kitchen drawer, - not know how long your current job (and paychecks) will last, - worry about your inability to save because you don’t know where your money really goes, - worry about your inability to cover unexpected expenses or emergencies, and/or - worry about not having enough money on which to retire.
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