Introduction To Budgeting

• Budgeting
  • Introduction To Budgeting
  • Getting Serious
• Insurance
• Debt Reduction
• Savings
• Before You Invest
• Investments
• Retirement Planning
• Estate Planning

Calculators

• KiwiSaver Account Calculator for Employees
• Residential Property Investment Calculator

Useful Resources

• KiwiSaver Tools and Information
• Follow the Secrets to Wealth
• Get the newsletter direct to your inbox each month
• Independent life insurance information

• Getting started
• Understanding what you spend your money on
• Understanding how much money you spend
• Refining the budget
• Managing your budget going forward

Understanding how much money you spend

Please enter the weekly value of your income and expenses against the relevant account categories. Why use weekly values instead of fortnightly or monthly? Our research shows that to successfully (and more easily) understand your money position, it's best to review and manage your money on a weekly basis.

The following notes may assist you.

The timing of income and expenses is usually different

For example, the mortgage may be paid monthly, while groceries are bought weekly. As discussed above, we suggest that you use a weekly frequency. If your expenses and income are not calculated as weekly amounts, use the frequency calculator to convert those values into weekly figures.

Working out all the different expenses can take some time

For those lucky enough to have the information at their fingertips, the process may take only a few hours. For those busy trying to remember where they last saw that shoe box, don't be surprised if the task takes the better part of a couple of rainy Sunday afternoons.

Remember

Use your after-tax income. Only use your regular income. Don't include ad-hoc overtime or bonus payments hat can't be relied on.

Some costs will be easy to work out

These include your weekly rent or monthly mortgage. Others will take some thinking about. For example, how much do you write down for your weekly night at the movies, dinner or pub? Some weeks you might spend $30, some weeks $75, and some weeks - well, you just can't remember.

At this stage, enter an ideal amount. There'll be plenty of time to review and change these figures; there's no right answer.

Don't be put off if your expenses are much higher than your income; this is just the beginning, the first cut.

Again, we recommend

Print your first-cut budget or, better still, take a moment to save your budget.