Your Life and Your Budget

Budget. Yep, we said it. The dreaded “B” word. As a financial institution, we’re all for budgets and their fiscal responsibility. As a private citizen, you’d likely rather talk about a root canal, but please hear us out. While a budget may be painful to create and/or stick to, it has distinct advantages that can help enhance your life. We’re serious! Let us prove it with a few relevant points...

Stress Buster
Anxiety about the future takes us out of the driver’s seat, making us feel as though we’re not in control. It creates a fear of the unknown, which then breeds stress. Without a budget, we don’t know if we’ll be able to meet our financial obligations in any given month, creating that uncertainty. With a good budget, we’re always aware of where our money is going, therefore reducing the stress associated with the unknown.

Concentration
It’s tough for our hard-earned paychecks to do their jobs efficiently if they have absolutely no game plan. When we monitor our spending via a budget, we have a plan of attack. We have focus. A budget is simply a tool that allows us to prioritize and direct our money to do what we want it to do.

Easy Does It
Put simply, a budget lets us simplify. When we see where our money is going on a regular basis, the waste can slap us right across our disbelieving faces. Many times this slap can motivate us to simplify our lives by cutting things out…especially those things that are both unimportant and/or costing us too much money.

Not Guilty
When we have a budget, we know where our money is going. There’s no uncertainty. It’s all accounted for. This in turn allows us to make purchases without guilt. We KNOW we have the money, because we budgeted for it. Guilt-free spending—what a nice sense of freedom!

The Giving Spree
Having a grip on how much we spend creates some breathing room within our budgets. This allows us to earmark some of those extra funds for donations to causes we find worthy. Food pantries, animal shelters, research…the giving makes us feel good and goes to help any number of causes.

Really, a budget isn’t that scary, especially when you consider the benefits it provides. Besides, whose life couldn’t do with a little less stress and guilt?

Just in case you’re curious, here’s a breakdown of the living expenditures for the average U.S. family, circa 2009:

Housing                                       34.1%
Transportation                             17.6%
Food                                            12.4%
Pension/Personal Insurance       10.7%
Misc.                                            10.3
Entertainment                              5.4%
Healthcare                                   5.7%
Apparel and services                   3.8%


Did you know Vantage members have FREE access to BudgetSmart software through Accel? You can establish a budget, track spending, view tips for saving and spending improvements, and experiment with "what if" scenarios. Why not try it and start seeing that paycheck stretch farther?!