A budget is not a schedule of expenses, but a critical tool to help you allocate your after-tax money wisely to cover essential living costs, protect yourself and your family against unforeseen risks and create wealth.
Everyone's needs and circumstances are different and there is no one-size-fits-all budget. Your budgeting process is most likely to succeed if you keep it simple using this Budget planner as a guide.
How to use the Budget planner
We have tried to make it easy, but creating your first budget still requires time. Make sure that you have access to all your personal financial information and set aside enough time to complete this process in one session.
Remember, a budget is a planning tool and not a summary of money spent in the previous month. Once you have planned your spending, you can download your budget in spreadsheet format so that you can track your actual spending to it.
If your circumstances change, you can adapt your spreadsheet or create a new planner to download.
