How do you make a budget? (I'm 21)?

do I need to buy Quicken? I asked my bank and credit unions if they have a financial advisor who can help me, but they said they don%26#039;t offer such services. I REALLY want this Infinity g35 and ppL on YA are telling me it%26#039;s a bad idea. I want to see what I can do to get my self in that car!! So, HOW DO I CREATE AND STICK TO A BUDGET? THANKS

How do you make a budget? (I%26#039;m 21)?

First of all, if you carry a balance on any of your credit cards pay them off. Credit card interests are usually way high and it%26#039;ll take you forever to pay it off and will make it harder for you to stick to your budget.

Now look at your monthly income and expenses. After paying for rent, utilities, car insurance, car payment, food, what are you spending your money on? Are you buying clothing, eating out, knick knacks, and going to concerts/entertainment type of stuff. After you spend money on the necessities, if you are spending a lot on things you can do without, you can cut back on those things. Say only buy one new item of clothing a month. Say only eat out twice a month. Say only go to the movies once or twice a month. Brown bag your lunches instead of going out to eat. Make your own coffee instead of buying Starbucks coffee.

It isn%26#039;t wise to be in debt just to have a nice set of wheels. You might not know this but car values depreciate. As soon as you buy a new car and drive it off the lot, its value will have depreciated 20%. Consider buying a 2-3 yr old Infinity. They will be just as nice but won%26#039;t cost as much as a brand new one. You should also put at least 10% of your money into a savings account. That is money you can use in the future for a rainy day or for another high ticket item. You should have at least 3 month%26#039;s income set aside into a savings account in case you lose your job or got into an accident. That way you%26#039;ll have something to fall back on in case you can%26#039;t work. I know you have your heart set on this but don%26#039;t be too upset If you can%26#039;t afford an Infinity now. If you start learning good money management habits you%26#039;ll be sure to be able to afford one in the near future. They%26#039;re always redesigning the cars every 3-5 yrs anyway so if you wait you%26#039;ll get an even better model so you might as well wait until then. Good luck.

How do you make a budget? (I%26#039;m 21)?

Well for example you could look at a weeks of expenses or a month, and use math to fin out how much money each category food, shelter, electricity, TV, phone, ETC costs in a year. Now that you know this you can look at how much you earn and find out how much disposable incem if lucky enough to have it you possess. since you want that nice automobile i would suggest you look at your expenses now and then find how to cut them.

How do you make a budget? (I%26#039;m 21)?

first thing you need to do is make two columns: income and expenses (include in expenses everything you spend money on) one way of doing this is to carry around a small notebook and every time you spend any money you write it down, do it for a couple of weeks. list your monthly expenses (rent, car payment, electricity, gas, etc) those should not change too much. list all of your debt (credit cards, car payment, etc) along with the interest rate of each. whatever money left over from your income after all expenses becomes your disposable income, I suggest you take as 10% and invest it and use the rest to pay off the highest interest rate debt, after it is paid off, use that money to pay off the next highest and so on until you have no more debt. Then you should be able to have extra money to be spent on whatever you want. 21 is a great age to start a great investment strategy, if you invest 100 dollars a month in something with a decent rate of return you can have a ton of money by the time you are 50. just something to think about, good luck

How do you make a budget? (I%26#039;m 21)?

i found this budgeting calculator on the Bank of America website it%26#039;s not 100% thorough but it%26#039;s a start. Hope it helps. Follow the link.

How do you make a budget? (I%26#039;m 21)?

The envelope system is the best way to budget your money. Label a few envelopes with categories out of your budget; food, gas, entertainment, savings, etc. Fill the envelopes with however much cash you want to spend per month on each category. When you need to make a purchase, pull cash out of the appropriate envelope. This system is an almost foolproof way of staying within your budget.

As for the car, I have no problem with you getting an Infinity G35. . . as long as you pay cash. You%26#039;ll never get ahead financially if you pay interest on a car that is losing value every day that you drive it.