Why People Do Not Stick To Their Budget

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From research, we know that the reason people do not stick to their budget is that they do not have specific financial goals. You probably already have an idea about what you want to do, if you are able to improve your financial situation. If you are single, it will be easy to set goals. If you have a partner, it might require some negotiations and it will be even more important to write down the goals you agree upon. Either way, a written plan will help you keep on track and make it easy to check up that you follow your road map to success. The plan should not only state what you want to achieve, but also how you are planning to reach your goal. As you work your way through this book, you should find ideas you want to use. Make these ideas …show more content…

One important incentive for saving is interest or return on your investments, i.e. that you will be able to spend more tomorrow if you save today. The earlier you start saving and investing, the more interest you will accrue and thus the earlier you should achieve financial freedom. An important turning point will be if you have saved enough to avoid any consumer credits. Your interest on these savings will be the avoided interest on your consumer credits and in addition, what you receive on your savings account while saving. Therefore, the return will be quite substantial: instead of paying e.g. 20% or maybe more, you receive interest instead. Therefore, once you have accumulated the necessary financial buffer for unforeseen expenses, you should start reducing any high interest debt. As mentioned earlier, my personal opinion is that you cannot set the value of savings high enough. Savings can give you the freedom to realize your dreams; start a company, start painting, take time off or pursue whatever dream you have and finally yet importantly give you peace of mind. Therefore, the more you save, the faster your dream might come true. How much is …show more content…

2% net is actually decent as of now. To keep it simple inflation is not included in the calculation. These 2% equals the real term interest experts agree upon, e.g. at 2% inflation this equals 4% return in nominal terms. Let us also assume that you are able to continue with an interest of 2% after tax when you are retired, which is unlikely, if you want to make sure you preserve your saving after retiring by reducing risk. • Salary: For illustrative purposes, we assume you earn the same in real terms from your graduation at 21 until you retire which is of course unrealistic. • Life expectancy: Let us also assume that you reach an age of 87, which is not too optimistic considering that we become older and older. • • Income: We will also assume that you have no other means of income (social security, pension, etc.) or other assets that you can utilize. • Standard of living: You want to preserve your current living conditions, e.g. have the same income as you used to have or at least the same consumption. Please note that all numbers are after tax. Alternatively, you can calculate your own options as described in the chapter “Retirement” on page 19, where we also will have at how to calculate your life

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