Sitting down with a professional and following this simple budget plan could be the most important thing you do all year.
Follow these 5 Steps when creating a monthly budget:
- Gather all of your monthly expenses, pay stubs, bank statements and savings or 401(k) statements.
- Set-up an appointment with a professional to analyze and balance your budget.
- Document and create your monthly financial plan.
- Set realistic and attainable goals.
- Analyze your performance and adjust accordingly.
Use this worksheet to help determine what your monthly (and then annual) expenses are - then use these numbers as reference with our Retirement Income Gap Calculator worksheet to help determine if you have enough guaranteed income to meet your ESSENTIAL expenses in retirement.