To set yourself up to be productive, you can think through any process and break it down into smaller, more manageable steps. Here’s an example of how the first part of the financial planning process can be broken down. You might want to follow these steps to create your own financial plan or budget outside of this course.
Step 1: Create a document or spreadsheet to keep notes about the financial plan and save the file to a folder on your computer or digital device.
Step 2: In the document or spreadsheet, make a list of possible goals and research the cost of each.
Step 3: Create a budget spreadsheet using the budget categories shown in Week 2.
Step 4: Determine annual income by reviewing pay stubs and enter it in the budget.
Step 5: Determine yearly expenses by reviewing bank and credit card statements and enter them in the budget.
Step 6: Use the 50/20/30 guideline to adjust budgeted expenses to ensure a surplus can be used for savings.
Step 7: Select a goal that matches the savings amount possible and enter the goal savings amount in the budget.
IDENTIFY STEPS FOR CREATING YOUR PLAN
Now that you’ve learned about planning for productivity, you’re ready to get started on your financial plan for the Week 6 Activity and the Week 7 Assignment. Remember, for this activity and assignment, you’re imagining that you’re a single parent and you want to save for a financial goal.
In the assignment template below, describe the specific actions you will take to create your financial plan. To do that, you will need to break down the process of creating a personal financial plan into a list of steps that you will complete.
Assignment
Describe the steps you will take to create your financial plan and budget. Make sure you provide details about each step using the information on the previous pages. (Your response should be 4–5 sentences.)
Remember, if you use any information or ideas from the webtext, be sure to add a citation (and include quotation marks around any exact wording).