Personal Finance - Planning

It is very important to have a plan for your money. A plan helps you keep track of where your money goes and also helps you plan for the future, such as goals you may set for yourself. A financial plan or budget helps you:

• see where your money goes and how it is being spent
• stay out of debt, or help you pay it off
• keep you organized
• make investment decisions
• build trusting relationships
• meet financial responsibilities (such as short term/long term goals, various payments, etc.)
• save money
• prepare for emergencies

In order to prepare your plan, you need to do the following:

• identify your goals and the deadlines to go along with them
• estimate/budget your expenses
• calculate your income
• review personal debt issues
• allocation of savings
• balance income vs. expenses
• impliment plan
• constantly review and revise

There are many ways to get advice on how to arrange a budget and plan that will work for you and suit your needs, such as going to your bank, looking on the internet, or talking to people and seeing how their past experiences with budgets have worked out. If you make a plan that works for you, and you stick to it, you will be able to reach your goals.

Here is a link to a student budget calculator by CIBC: https://www.cibc.com/ca/education/articles/student-budget-calc.html