Budgetary Planning

Can you make response each posted?

Here is the intstructions below:

Budgeting

In your everyday life, budgeting is a best practice in order to keep living expenses and savings within your financial means. In many instances, personal budgeting is as important as budgets prepared by companies. Why? Remember that companies exist because people buy their products.

In this Discussion, you will calculate a personal budget and then relate personal budgeting to management budgeting at companies.

In preparation for your Discussion posting, go to the Library and research “personal budgets.” Find at least one article on personal budgeting. Include information from the article in your posting reply. You must also include a citation and reference in APA style.

Please respond to the Discussion Checklist using the information from the personal budget you calculate using the criteria provided in the Personal Budget Criteria document here. Take time to review your classmates’ responses and to provide your feedback.

Checklist:

• What surprised you, if anything, in the budget(s) that you prepared?
• What process did you use in making your personal budget?
• What changes, if any, would you make in the personal activities that are under your control, based on the budget(s) that you prepared?
• How would your budget change if next month you had to move to a different state?

1. From :David Nelsen posted Mar 12, 2018 12:51 AM

Hello Class,

When I worked out my family’s budget for the month, I was rather surprised how much we spend. We’re spending over $4k in general expenses without even considering how much we spend on food eaten out or purchased from the grocery store.

I based my budgeting on a yearly average of income. My fiancee’s income is pretty stable during the year, but mine tends to fluctuate due to the seasonal nature of the work I do. To come up with what our average monthly income, I worked out our income was for the year after taxes were accounted for. I divided that number by 12. I then added up all of our expenses and many rounded many of our expenses upwards to help account for small incidental expenses that might have been forgotten.

I would definitely make changes in the food we purchase. One thing I noticed a while back was that if we purchased a week’s worth of groceries, we usually ended up throwing a fair amount of food away. Usually we would end up too busy to cook a meal we had planned towards the end of the week, and by the time we came back to meats we purchased, they’d have gone bad. We started only buying meats 3 days out for meal planning. We lost more time having to go to the store, but we saved money in wasted food. We usually do 1 bigger trip to the store per week, then one or two quicker ones to pick up things that have shorter shelf lives.

If I had to move to another stay, my budget would depend on whether I’d have to pay for the expense or not. I’ll assume it’s covered by an employer. With that said, I’d look at what the potential State and local taxes are to begin with, and determine what I need to budget for those. There are general indexes based on buying power income per State. In States in the New England area, or the West Coast, the buying power of the dollar is lower than in the Midwest or the South. It would be hard to look up all the different prices of small ticket items such as groceries, so I’d adjust my grocery budget by what the difference is in consumer buying power, then add 10%. I’d do that for all variable budget items. For the larger expenses, such as rent or mortgage, I’d be able to look up those larger expenses more easily.

I read “How to make the perfect budget” by Barbara Drury. The best advice I took from it was to learn your spending habits. Track your spending for several months. After you know what your normal spending pattern is, you can then look for ways to cut spending. She suggesting assigning “every dollar a job” by allocating your income in a budgeting app on your smart phone.

References:

Drury, B. (2016, Apr 27). How to make the perfect budget. The Age Retrieved from http://lib.kaplan.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.lib.kaplan.edu/docview/1784084917?accountid=34544

2. From: Nancy Noel posted Mar 12, 2018 12:14 AM

I have found that making a budget is easy, it is sticking to it that is more difficult, at least for me. When making an effective budgeting you have to know your total income and list all your fixed expenses such as rent / mortgage, groceries, childcare, medical bills, medical bills, education expenses and transportation cost such as car payment, insurance, gas, etc. Also, not any other monthly bills that you may have. After that, it helps to keep a spending journal this will help clearly defined where you are spending your money. This will help know where else you may be spending your money. Once you’re aware of where your money goes, you can set realistic, concrete goals (“save $700 in my vacation fund by August”) rather than vague ones (“go out less”). This will motivate you to revisit your budget regularly. (Cross, Miriam) Budgets based on research and analysis are more likely to result in realistic goals that will contribute to your growth and profitability. (Weygandt). Budgeting well can take some trial and error. I assumed that tracking expenses was enough. But “it’s not budgeting if you don’t check back in and ask your- self, ‘Do I want my money going into those categories?’” says Rebecca Conner, a CFP and founder of Seed- Safe Financial, in Seattle. (Cross, Miriam)

Income for a two-income family:

Monthly Income:

Husband $3,500

Wife $2,000

Total Income $5,800

Monthly Expenses:

Mortgage $1,700

Cable/Internet/Phone $145

Car $495

Insurance $350

Gym $65

Credit cards $300

Utilities $130

Water $80

TOTAL $3,265

Other Expenses:

Groceries $300

Gas $60

Child Care $65

Children Sports $100

Eating out $800

TOTAL $1,325

TOTAL PLANNED EXPENSES: $4,590

What surprised me the most of the expense of eating out. I would make changes the expense of eating out. My budget would change if I moved in that I would have to find different housing and have to find different daycare. Taxes and cost of living are different in each state so, another budget would have to be made.

Cross, Miriam. The Power of Living Within Your Means. Millennial Money. April 1, 2018. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.Weygandt, J., Kimmel, P. & Kieso, D. (2015). Accounting principles (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3. Sarah Mcconnell posted Mar 11, 2018 4:02 PM

Hello everybody,

A budget is the finance and or quantitative term of company plans and procedures to be followed in the long-term. Budgeting is being prepared of the budgets and other policies for the control of the business enterprise, coordination and planning. Also, budgets are more brief and precise duration of time. It is the main goal in opposites of the actuals that is being distinguished. Although, the main meaning of budget is the activities that is being controlled.

What surprised you, if anything, in the budget(s) that you prepared?

After making the budget, I was shocked of how much money went out for wants like cable, eating out, entertainment and shopping to the grocery store. We should be able to have plenty of leftover cash in order to have good savings.

What process did you use in making your personal budget?

“Track your spending using a spreadsheet or a budgeting tool, breaking your monthly expenses info a few categories (such as housing, entertainment, debts and savings). Then impose limits based on you spending history and monthly income.” (Build Wealth for a Lifetime, 2016). I used the process from the above article.

What changes, if any, would you make in the personal activities that are under your control, based on the budget(s) that you prepared?

I usually would start cooking meals again as when I went back a few months, I have noticed we had a lot more cash left over when I was cooking all the meals. In this case, I can make a menu again and stick to it. Besides from cooking, cutting cable out will work as well as it would save more money a month that can go towards savings.

How would your budget change if next month you had to move to a different state?

Cost of living would change and my current salary may not afford the same luxuries as I move. Shipping, gas, hotel and insurance costs can also pile up pretty rapidly. It can drain my bank account as moving requires quite a few upfront expenses. Also, adding security deposits for renting and starting utilities in my new home. In overall, it is crucial to save in advance and a make budget.

References:

Build Wealth for a Lifetime. (2016). “Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 70(4). 24.

Weygandt, J.J., Kimmel, P.D. & Kieso, D.E. (2015). “Accounting Principles.” (12^th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.