Managing finances is the worst!
Sometimes, it can be hard. Especially when income is uncertain or not enough. And then, let's be honest making financial plans can be quite boring. Sometimes, you could find the whole calculation and numbers thing tiresome and complicated.
You could avoid doing this but it would spell doom for your finances. Several of us plan events in advance but we don't even take the time to plan our finances. Do you know what this means?
It means you are walking blind! You don't know your assets or liabilities. You aren't sure how to achieve financial goals. The worst part is, you might wake up broke and penniless and not even know how you got there!
Okay, I was being a little overdramatic on the last one. But the point is you need to manage your personal finances. One of the tools that can help with that is a personal finance calendar.
A personal finance calendar is a personal tool that helps you observe your finances. It also helps to set financial goals for a certain period. This could be yearly, monthly or quarterly.
Why do you need a personal finance calendar?
A personal finance calendar helps you have a total outlook at the year and your expenses. You wouldn't go to war without armour. You shouldn't also go into a year or live life without knowledge of your personal finances.
A personal financial calendar guards your spending. Even though things don't work as planned, a personal finance calendar still acts like a guard rail. It also helps you get back to base when things get messy.
On the surface, a personal finance calendar looks like something you could ignore. Afterrall, you can swing along as the year passes by. But, if you care about your money and finances, you'll be sure to have one.
Most times, people make a personal finance calendar at the beginning of each new year. No. It's not just because of the " new year, new you, new plans and new adventure theory." Uh- uh.
It's also because you have the opportunity to look back at the past year. You can look at your spending habits and use that as a yardstick to measure how you are likely to spend this year.
No method is set in stone. You can choose to create your personal financial calendar whenever you want. Next month, The last month of the year, Even Today!
And here are 7 easy steps to do it. Be sure to bookmark this page, in case you want to draw up yours by December. Just saying.
1. Examine your current financial status
Before drafting out your personal financial calendar, you need to become aware of your current position financially. Grab a sheet of paper and list out your personal assets and liabilities.
What is your net worth? This will assist you in setting your financial goals for the year or period of your financial calendar.
Take a self financial inventory. What does your account balance look like? What are your investments if any? How much is your debt load? Credit card debt? What is your credit score?
You also need to take a look at previous receipts or take a walk down memory lane to observe your spending habits from the previous year. Is there anything you should have spent more on? Or anything you should have spent less on?
There are several apps that help you manage your personal finance and track your spending habits.You should consider using one of these apps.
What does your income look like? How much do you earn monthly or yearly, minus taxes?
Take notes and write these down. Taking notes of your financial status helps you reach a stage of personal financial awareness.
2. Make a list of your fixed yearly expenditure
Your fixed yearly expenditure includes your recurring expenses for every year. This could be your mortgage, light and water bills, rent payments, school fees, taxes.
This list forms your yearly expenses and is a crucial part of making your personal finance calendar since you need to know how much is going out.
Don’t forget to write the due dates for these payments. You don’t want to have to miss them. Input these due dates into your calendar if possible and set reminders for these important money to-dos.
3. List your intended expenses for the year
Now. After writing down your fixed expenditure for each year, the next thing you need to do is to take note of those expenses that are peculiar to only this particular year. Maybe, you want to travel to see your parents for example or you want to get a new bike for your son.
The reason why you should note all of these down is because it acts as a guard rail and lets you know how much you would spend.
Also add in an estimated amount of what you intend to spend on food, medicals, entertainment and miscellaneous. Even though you can't guess the specific amount, this once again acts as a railing and should be inputted into your personal finance calendar.
As someone who is concerned about their personal finances though, you should have a budget and not spend without caution. You can use a template to help you construct a Monthly Calendar budget or If you prefer to go with bit-sized budgets, you can use a simple weekly calendar budget template.
4. Make a list of your financial goals
What are the financial goals you intend to achieve in the new year? Or the period ahead? This could be anything.
Maybe you want to settle all of your debts or purchase insurance. Maybe you want to diversify your investment portfolio or start saving towards retirement or emergency funds.
Write these goals down and include how you intend to achieve them.
5. Make sure you think ahead
A lot of people fail to think or plan ahead when it comes to their personal finances. Sometimes, it seems almost impossible to save or set money aside in your emergency fund.
However, writing it down in your personal finance calendar helps put things in perspective. You can look at it from the scope of a year and decide to apply the "little drops of water make a mighty ocean" approach.
Before the break of the COVID - 19 pandemic, a lot of people went about with nothing set aside for the rainy day. Take Franklin for example.
Franklin didn't earn enough at his job, he was neck-deep in credit card debt. He couldn't see how he could afford to save nor did he have time to draw up or make a personal finance calendar.
Franklin never took a thorough look at his personal financial position and usually swung by. After the pandemic began, Franklin didn't have anything to lean back on.
Don't be like Franklin. Think of the future. It doesn't matter how little as long as you keep something away.
6. Create monthly calendars
Now, all the things you've written down are the ingredients needed to make a personal finance calendar.
You then need to find a perfect mix of how to blend these in as monthly events. Here Is a screenshot of what mine looks like for the next few months of the year. If you want a more robust sample, you can check out that of Kerry Hanson, here
6. Stick to it
It's no use signing up for a race if you know from the start that you aren't going to run. The same way it's no use taking out the time to make a personal finance calendar if you know you won't use it.
Be reminded of due dates, input these into your calendar, monitor your expenses, try to catch up with your financial goals. Stick to your personal finance calendar and you will see the benefits.
Conclusion
There you have it. What are you waiting for? Remember, you don't have to wait till next year. You can start now. All you have to do is take some time to sit down and get a complete understanding of your personal financial situation.
List out your yearly recurring payments and the payments for that particular year or quarter even. Don't forget to add in the due dates. Be sure to also note down your goals and your plan to save. You MUST have a savings plan.
Take all of these and break them into monthly calendars. That way you achieve a little at a time. The most important thing, however, is to stick to it!
Have any questions or personal opinions? Then please leave a comment.
One more thing, be sure to connect with me on Twitter @Girllikeannie and follow me over here on medium.
