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BT BUDGET WORKSHEET
A personal budget
is not difficult to do and will help you determine how much you can invest.
Here are three options for putting together a budget:
- Download the BT Budget Worksheet
If you have access
to the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet tool on your PC, you can download our
BT Budget Worksheet. This will allow you to
save your worksheet to your computer and amend it over time. The worksheet
contains instructions for you to follow.
- Order the BT Budget Worksheet
If you do not have
the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet tool on your PC, you can email
us and order a printed copy of the Worksheet.
- Manual Budget
Or you can create
your own by following a few simple steps.
Your income
On a large sheet of
paper, make columns for each month of the year. Leave room for a total
yearly figure at the end.
Down the side of the
page, note down all of the sources of income that you receive, broken
down by each month of the year. Include your after tax salary or wage,
interest and dividends, plus any allowances or bonuses. Include your spouse
or partner's income.
Add all your sources of income to calculate
your total income for each month, and for the year.
Your fixed expenses
Then, also by month,
record all of your fixed expenses - that is, expenses whose size you have
no control over. Include items such as:
- your home expenses
(eg.rent, mortgage, rates, gas, water, phone),
- car expenses (insurance, registration, running costs)
- children (school fees, trips, clothes, books, child care)
- insurance
- transport
- food.
Again add these to
get your total fixed expenses for each month, and for the year.
Your variable expenses
Do the same exercise
for your variable expenses - that is, expenses over which you have some
control. Include items such as:
- household (furniture,
appliances, maintenance, computer equipment, cleaning, pets)
- personal (clothes,
dry cleaning, shoes, hair and beauty care, education)
- recreation (sports,
eating out, concerts, movies, videos, pay TV, books and magazines, music,
toys, hobbies)
- health (chemist,
dentist, doctor, optical, physio / chiropractor, prescriptions)
- gifts (birthday,
Christmas)
- donations
- alcohol and cigarettes
Putting it together
Work out the following:
your total annual
expenses = total annual fixed + total annual variable expenses
result (amount available) = total annual income - total annual expenses
If this result is a negative number, you are spending more money than
you earn, and you have nothing left over to invest.
Can I find some
extra?
Whether this is the
case or not, most people are fairly shocked when they tally up their variable
expenses, and find that by going back over these expenses there are areas
where they can cut down without having a dramatic effect on their lifestyle.
The idea is to shave
a little from a few different areas of your variable expenses.
This exercise may
make the difference between having a negative number in your result, or
a positive one.
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