Your Money Matters
Making a Budget
Setting Realistic Financial
Budgets
DVDs, electronic gadgetry or
restaurant meals.
If you’re the type of person
who always has plenty of
cash, knows exactly where
every penny goes and never
has trouble paying bills, skip
this chapter. You’re either too
rich or too smart to need it.
Drawing up a budget is
usually pure drudgery
enlivened only by the reality
of staring your foolish
spending habits in the face.
For the rest of us,
unfortunately, making - and
sticking to - a budget is the
essential tool for ensuring
that our money gets used
the way we need it to.
Why do you have a luxury
sound system if neither you
nor your spouse listens to
it? In fact, one of the chief
impediments to budgeting
is that most people would
rather not know how they
really use their money.
Even if you’re in the happy
situation of having plenty
of income, the homework
involved in drawing up a
budget can be instructive,
It’s bad enough to learn
this kind of information on
your own. It’s even worse
you are spending more
than you wish on items like
worst fears - and provides
new ammunition for future
“discussions.”
Take heart. Any spending
mistakes you’re making are
probably common and not
impossible to kick. Moreover,
the bulk of budgeting’s pains
are at the beginning.
After you have a budget in
it with a couple of months
of actual spending - tracking
your expenditures becomes
almost automatic.
If your boss at work were to
ask you for an analysis of the
department’s spending, you’d
Budgeting your household
should be approached in the
same businesslike fashion. A
variety of electronic tools can
make the process easier.
Military OneSource
Consultants provide
information and make
referrals on a wide
range of issues, including personal financial management. Free
face-to-face counseling sessions (and their
equivalent by phone or
online) are also available. Call 1-800-3429647 or go to
www.militaryonesource.
mil to learn more.
VeteransPlus provides
free, confidential financial education
counseling to service
members and veterans.
Their resources can
help you better manage
your finances, get control of any debt that
you may have and learn
how to save and invest
for your future. For
more information: www.
veteransplus.org or
call 888-488-8767.