How can I improve my Money Position (budget or budgeting)

Key Points

• Your Money Position can also be referred to as a budget, it is an averaged estimate of your income and expenses over a specified period of time.
• We love to use Money Brilliant to capture expenses, Money Smart’s Budget Planner — but also recommend to physically write down expenses and income to support the consideration of each expense (it is a highly valuable exercise!).
• Reviewing your Money Position (and it’s alignment with values & what makes you happy) is critical

Your Money Position is an estimate of your income and expenses over a specified period, usually a year or a month.

Taking the time to establish it is a great early step to build financial fitness as it sets out a plan and helps you to understand if you will be able to achieve your financial goals and can also help establish if you are living within means or over-extending financially.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” – Benjamin Franklin

There are many tools available on the internet, aside from one we have created ourselves we suggest using
– Expenses: Money Brilliant and attaching it to your credit card(s) or check your bank’s statement)
– Income: income less tax, interest from savings, dividends from shares the budget planner template from MoneySmart

Here are some questions to consider when going through your Money Position centred around your values, what is important to you and and living within your means:

• To increase income – how can I earn more – via odd jobs (gig economy) or through selling things I don’t need?
• To reduce expenses:
• For each expense line items – does this make me happy? Does it align with my values?
• How can I reduce or eliminate those ‘nice to have’ expenses e.g. via bringing lunch to work, taking public transport rather than driving, eating in more.
• Can I get a better deal on any of my ‘big bills’ e.g. home loans, electricity & gas bills etc.