track expenses

One of the most important things you can do to live a healthy, happy and secure life is to develop basic personal financial skills. Understanding about budgeting, debt and savings will impact every part of your life. It can mean the difference between poverty and prosperity. In today's podcast Licensed Insolvency Trustee, John Adamson, shares his thoughts on how to make budgeting as stress-free as possible. It may seem like a daunting task to create a budget, but there are ways to simplify the process.

John discusses topics around:

• Why budgeting is important when you are making financial decisions
• How to start and stick to a budget
• Breaking your expenditures into needs and wants
• Best ways to save for your retirement
• The benefits of having a chequing and savings account

Licensed Insolvency Trustees can help you take control of your finances. From simple budgeting techniques to insolvency filings, they are considered some of the best financial advisors in the country, licensed by the federal government of Canada. 

About John Adamson

John founded Adamson & Associates Inc. in 1996. His experience includes more than 25 years of helping individuals, small business owners find solutions to their financial problems. John is approachable, easy to talk to and enjoys helping people solve their debt challenges. 

Additional Resources 

Adamson & Associates - Licensed Insolvency Trustee

Want a Better Budget? Understand Your Income and Expenses

How to Prepare for a Money Emergency Even If You’re Broke

Welcome to the Balanced FI Podcast, episode 4! Thank you so much for listening in! 

This episode dives into how and why you should track your previous spending as a tool for changing future spending. Learn what methods are available for tracking spending more easily and how to decide what you want to track. 

Tracking previous expenses and continuing to track future spending is the first step in the Financial Security Steps, on your way toward financial security.

Resources:

Read: Track Your Expenses, Financial Security Step 1

Read: Save a Mini Emergency Fund, Financial Security Step 2

Read: Save for Recurring Expenses, Financial Security Step 3

Read: Calculate your Net Worth, Financial Security Step 4

Read: Create a Budget, Financial Security Step 6

Mint

YNAB

EveryDollar

Budgets Made Easy

Sources:

The Balance: The Best Personal Finance and Budgeting Spreadsheets

Welcome to the Balanced FI podcast, episode 1! Thank you so much for listening in!

Financial independence is having enough invested so that you don't need to work anymore - you can live ff the interest. That's an amazing  achievement, don't get me wrong... but it's just not realistic for a lot of people. Financial security is much more attainable; financial security is  "having enough money to fund your lifestyle, as well as work toward your financial goals."

Financial Security Steps

I created the Financial Security Steps to help guide others through the process, with smaller goals & concrete to-do lists. This is the process my own family is following during our debt-free journey. 

The Financial Security Steps are:

1. Track expenses
2. Save a mini emergency fund + begin retirement savings
3. Save for recurring expenses
4. Calculate your net worth
5. Create a debt payoff plan
6. Create a budget
7. Pay off debt
8. Save an emergency fund of 6 months' expenses
9. Increase retirement contributions
10. Choose your next financial goal

Resources:

Read the Balanced FI blog post Financial Independence vs Financial Security

Read the Balanced FI blog post The Financial Security Steps: Welcome!

Download the Balanced FI Financial Security Steps printable

Sources:

Yahoo Finance: What is Financial Security, and How Do You Get it?

Ramsey Solutions: What Are the Baby Steps?