Son celebrating Father’s Day with his dad.
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When it comes to Father’s Day, there definitely is no shortage of amazing gift ideas from tech gadgets to barbecue gear and subscriptions to anything imaginable. As you can see from this list here, almost anything is possible. But there is a gift that many are not even thinking or writing about that Dad might appreciate the most, and that is giving him the gift of having financially independent kids. Here are several ways to show your father that you are in control of your finances and on your way to financial independence:
Follow the Golden Rule of Financial Wellness: control your cashflow to spend less than you make.
Being aware of what is going out every month and comparing it to what is coming in is a vital part of the financial independence process. You can do this in just a few easy steps:
1) Pull together your credit card and bank statements (anything you use to pay your expenses every month).
2) List all your expenses beginning with the last month (although the last 2-3 months or more is ideal to help capture the irregular expenses). If you prefer to write things down like me, use the pen and paper approach. If you prefer a spreadsheet, consider a worksheet like this to get you started. For the more tech focused, try an easy to use budgeting app like PocketGuard or Mint and for those budgeting with a partner, consider Honeydue. Choosing an approach that gels with your personal preference and lifestyle is key!
3) Tally up your expenses and compare them to your monthly take home pay. Are you spending more than you make? Are you spending more than you had mentally accounted for? Are irregular expenses taking you over your limit periodically? Are you just interested in being able to save more?
4) Challenge your expenses and create a spending/savings plan that will put you in control of your money and make your spending more purposeful. You would be surprised how things can find a way to creep into your spending and steadily increase your expenses while eating away at your savings. Things like subscriptions, incrementally increasing cable/wireless/insurance bills, irregular expenses or spending on going out again now that the world is opening up – all of these can be budget crushers! Take a look at these (mostly) painless ways to save money for some ideas. The 50/30/20 rule is an approach that seems to work for many individuals, and here are some other ideas on money management strategies that might work well for you.
Set savings on automatic: The first step is to build your emergency cash cushion so that Dad is not one!
1) Create …….
