FINANCIAL BUDGET PLANNING
Are your tired of saving your income and slowly getting no where? We can help you allocate your dollars more efficiently!
financial budget planning
Personal financial budgeting may seem mundane, but budgeting is the daily trip to the financial gym that tones your bank accounts, helping you reach your goals over time.
Luckily for you, Savvy & Suite can serve as your financial personal trainer with our financial planning services, pushing you towards your financials goals.
How do you plan your first foray into budget financial planning? Here are some common steps in financial planning that ease the transition:
How do you plan your first foray into budget financial planning? Here are some common steps in financial planning that ease the transition:
1. Identify your goals. Without written, attainable goals, financial planning through the use of budgeting will fail, similarly to if you don’t write down your fitness goals. This creates a sense of accountability and aids in the planning process: if your budget doesn’t match up with your goals, the disconnect needs to be addressed.
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Strategic financial planning that aligns with your goals has a much better chance of resulting positively than a haphazardly constructed “plan”.
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It's also important to know what your goals are in order to properly assess what tools to use. For instance, if you’re trying to save in order to purchase are car in the next three years, you most likely would not choose to use the same tools as someone attempting to save for their child’s college tuition in the next eighteen years.
By defining your goals, you’re understanding exactly what methods are available to you in order to reach those goals. Savvy & Suite also would be happy to talk resources available to you, eliminating the unknown in that regard.
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We’re also here to discuss which of your goals takes precedent over any other goals. We’re complex beings; it’s okay to have more than one financial goal at a time! We’ll never persuade you which of your goals is more important than the next, but we will inform you of the financial consequences of placing one goal in front of another.
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Repayment of debt is a great example of this. It’s a complex goal that can have impact throughout your entire financial life, but we’d love to help you come to the conclusion on where such goals should rank on your list.
2. Take stock of your situation. Do you know the ins and outs of your bank account, accounting for every income stream and expense area?
If not, it’s vital to dig into your current money situation in order to account for every area of your life that requires financial attention. A personal financial audit will allow your budgeting plan to capture your entire situation, starting you off on the right foot.
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Because situations vary from person to person, we’re here to talk through exactly what your personal financial situation entails in order to align your budget procedures with reality. Obviously budgets can vary, but we’re happy to tweak templates in order to suit your needs.
It’s also important to account for exactly how your income streams perform.
For instance, it may be more difficult to feel comfortable with a budget when you’re a gig worker whose income fluctuates from month to month. This is in contrast to a fixed income, which makes budgeting a bit easier. No need to fret! Savvy & Suite can develop a plan to account for this variable income, taking the stress out of budgeting on a variable income.
3. Fill in the plan. Savvy & Suite can work with you to develop a budget that meets your needs. Once this occurs, your budgeting experience can truly begin. We can also offer insights into how aggressively to plan for certain events and we’ll work with you to try to understand your entire financial picture. Each individual plan is unique and deserves to be treated as such, but we’ll ensure that your goals are aligned with your plan.
This record-keeping can seem monotonous, but it’s essential in order to reach your goals. Once you have a solid foundational budget to work from, you can use this “master” to expedite the planning process going forward. From there, it becomes a well-oiled machine, humming along with minimal effort.
4. Be consistent. This is arguably the most important part of budget financial planning. An inconsistent budget process is equivalent of going to the gym one time in a month and expecting massive results. Taking the time to review your budget monthly, compare how your budget ended up, and adjusting as needed will pay off over time.
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One of the great strengths of our team is the ability to have these monthly conversations, checking in to see on your personal financial process. You are able to tap into our vast budgetary knowledge in order to re-calibrate your budget or perhaps talk through changes that could help aggressively accomplish your goals. This accountability and consistency really matters to us and it should matter to you, too.
In today’s technologically driven world, there are countless phone apps that can assist with your budgetary process. We are here to help integrate these applications into our services, allowing you to have an additional resource than just some app customer service.
We’re invested in your personal growth and are happy to have conversations that get to the root of your goals and aspirations in order to craft a perfect budget. If you’re more of an “old school” planner, we’ve developed Excel-based templates that allow for easy transition (we’re accountants; we understand the love of Excel).
Whether you’ve just graduated high school or are a young family looking for family financial planning services, our budget professionals can assist in the creation of a budget template that works for you.
All this seems deep, but we’re only in the compliance arena! If you haven’t gathered by now, it’s crucial to have a plan, whether that’s a yearly tax planning strategy or a long-term one.
Without a plan, it’s more likely that you have a surprise on Tax Day and absolutely no one wants that. We’ve seen a wide range of tax planning strategies and would love to discuss your goals and aspirations to create an impactful tax plan that helps you reach those goals.
This is especially true if you’re anticipating unique events happening in the near future, such as selling your business. Before any numbers are exchanged, it’s important to get a grasp on the tax implications of something like this; Savvy & Suite would be honored to play a role in such an exciting time, making sure you understand the tax consequences of a sale.
While there may be other financial planning services out there, Savvy & Suite has extensive experience in many overlapping fields, with budgetary financial planning existing in our sphere of knowledge.
Financial planners may be notoriously pushy, but our team prides itself on personability and the relationship aspect of financial planning. Although it may seem simple, this personal touch allows us to develop a rapport with clients that aids in the planning process; when you have trusted advisors on your side, it can relieve many of the apprehensions associated with financial sector businesses.
At Savvy & Suite, we’re here to craft a flawless financial plan together in order to propel you toward your financial goals.
