How do you budget for something you can already afford?
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Anonymous
Lol what? Every business has a budget though. It's important to know where your money goes. |
Anonymous
Lol. You’re budgeting, idiot. |
Anonymous
This. I’m retired (and retired young) and have zero budget for anything but I’m thrifty and thoughtful amount spending money. Some things can cost whatever and I don’t care (like travel related expenses). Other things, I try and find better deals. |
Anonymous
+1 Sound like PP got someone to think of a budget that would work with his/her brain/personality and set an auto plan in motion. We are very HNWIs and budgeting season (Dec/Jan) is my favorite. I just "budgeted" $64k this year for vacations. (Now I look forward to planning them). I may not spend it, but it's been earmarked. Grocery $1.5k; property tax $30k; kid tuition $75k; I could go on... most wealthy people budget (or have someone do it for them). If not, they won't be wealthy long.... OP- start by setting up 3 categories 1. Essential Spend 2. Savings 3. Lifestyle Define what goes where for you and track where you are. Then set some goals, like 50% essential spend, 30% savings etc. You can lump or split however you want. For example, essential spend for us includes all home costs, taxes, groceries, medical, etc. I even include the lawn service, housekeeper, and private school there. Lifestyle are things like club membership, vacations, clothing, etc. These are YOUR categories, you decide how to define them. I don't think twice about the cost, for example, of a carton of eggs (I notice, I just don't question purchasing) if I stay in budget month to month; or replacing a school uniform when the kiddo spills paint (again) as long as the allocation to that category is ok. Once you set your structure it's easy to maintain, fun even... And you don't even have to know the price of a gallon of milk. |
Anonymous
Exactly! Budgeting helps you see where you might be spending too much or where you are allocating money you never spend. |
Anonymous
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We are late 50s MC. Have never budgeted. Always spent out of one bank account (that represented the lower earner's income) and move money over to that account if there's a shortfall. That's it.
Simple checks each month - Are the balances in Accounts A and B higher today than same time last month? Right answer - Yes. Did I move money over from Account A to B (the spending account)?. Right answer = No. If I did, why? Right answer = to support a one-time exp. Sweep out excess money from B and all the money from A to invest - 529, brokerage, etc. Oh, 401K, Mega Roth, ESPP and HSA get deducted out of paycheck before hitting accounts A and B. That's it. |
Anonymous
| We basically keep track of our spending. We review it periodically to see if anything is getting out of hand or if we need to adjust the cash flows (eg add or lower savings rate). We have been married 28 years. It works for us. |
Anonymous
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It always help to not accumulate Stuff that you may not need. That's usually clothing and shoes and household stuff.
It must feel great when you have enough money to not have to think about watching your wallet. When do i splurge on a gourmet meal - everyday! When can i replace that 10 year old car-oh wait, what is that noise coming from the car. |
Anonymous
This is me too. I keep close track of my spending on a monthly basis but my "budget" is generally more in a line with "that's too much money for that thing" than "I do not have the money in my bank account for that thing." |
Anonymous
| We just buy it. Or finance if it’s a car and rates are low. |
Anonymous
+1. Take care of the saving and you won't have to have a budget or a spending problem. |
Anonymous
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I've never really "budgeted" per se. We max out retirement and put a decent amount in college savings, are halfway through a 15 year mortgage, and don't spend frivolously in general. We take nice vacations and eat out when we feel like it.
One thing I do is move $1000 from checking to a "vacation fund" every month. But it's more so when I spend it, I can move it back to checking to keep my balance pretty flat even with a larger than normal credit card bill. I do the same with a "car fund" so I can eventually pay cash for a new car. For the vacations, it may keep me close to a $12k/year budget but if I overspend that amount, I don't worry about it too much. |
Anonymous
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We budget for savings targets - retirement, 529s. We keep our emergency fund / available cash at a certain amount. After that, we just use our checking accounts for what we want. When our checking accounts (his, hers, joint) get over a certain amount, we sweep it into our investment account. For everyday things like clothes and furniture, we use checking. For something like a vacation over $10-12k, buying a new car, or buying a nearing conditioner, we look at our accounts and decide where the money should come from. Then we replenish any emergency/cash accounts as needed.
For something like a car that we will purchase in cash, we will talk about it 3-12 months out and start rearranging money and/or spending less to account for it. |
Anonymous
That someone was me. Ever since I graduated college I put the max into my 401k, 10% net into brokerage, and 20% into savings. Once savings hit - comfortable level I moved that into short term savings. I’ve shuffled the numbers around as the years have gone on. Bull market got more $$ bear markets gets less until I feel we have hit bottom. Despit how upset you people get about it, I do not budget for vacations or shoes. Sorry. I want, I buy.🤷🏽♀️ |
Anonymous
You sound brilliant yourself 🤣 |