Catching A Vision

Managing your personal finances should begin with catching a vision for your purpose in life … what you’re made to do! You will go where you’re looking so it’s vitally important to create a visual roadmap for where you want to go. Catching a vision starts with considering the question – What Do You Want? Start the visioning process by sitting down in a quiet place and drawing/listing out all of the things you want to see happen in your financial world. Don’t be shy or short on detail! Be descriptive and specific, add color and, most importantly, be BOLD! Empty out the desires of your heart onto the paper and begin the journey to renewing your financial vision.

Budgeting & Planning

Budgeting and planning for your finances should begin with a realistic look at how you earn and spend money currently. This should be a realistic data set compiled from actual income and expense activity over the last month or so (refer to bank and credit card statements and any record of cash spending you may keep). Use the Traditional Budget Template to compile this data. Once you have a realistic snapshot of your monthly income and expenses you can start to analyze your money habits and make changes. You can also complete the Goal Setting Worksheet to further assist you in setting financial goals to be planned for in your budget. The Provision Perspective Worksheet is another tool we use in the classroom setting to further adjust our budgeting plan. Create a Budget Plan using the Traditional Budget Template.

If you are not a salaried earner who receives income at regular intervals, you may want to check out Sliding Budget Template to plan your monthly budget. This worksheet allows you to account for income received at regular intervals by pairing it with prioritized monthly expenses. You can then list eh remainder of the month’s expenses in priority order at the bottom on the worksheet which will then show you how much additional – or “slide” – income you will need to meet your budget for the month. See the Sliding Budget Example for a working example of this worksheet.