As an ex-banker, Ashish Bhandari has had conversations with many people hoping to improve their financial situations through budgeting. He recognizes that creating a budget that can be used to reach financial goals is often the easy part- the hard part is sticking to it! Ashish Bhandari is of the school of thought that the more streamlined a financial plan is, the more likely an individual is to stick with it. For this reason, Ashish Bhandari of Dubai offers several tips that can help people follow their budget.
Keep Your Financial Goals in Mind
We all have different reasons for wanting to improve our financial situations. Maybe you want to build a nest egg, an emergency fund, plan for an expensive vacation, or put money away for your child’s education. Whatever the reason for creating a budget and planning to save, always try to keep it in mind throughout your journey to help you stick to your financial routines. Ashish realizes that you can keep your goals visible and remain motivated to stick to your budget. For example, some visual people enjoy keeping reminders of their financial objectives as well as motivators to inspire them to continue saving. The more important and visible you make your financial goals, the less likely you are to blow your budget on unnecessary spending.
Look into Automated Payments
Money management tools have experienced a boom in popularity in recent years, and for a good reason. Automation can be used to put money into your savings, pay down your debts, and ensure that you pay your bills on time. Late fees are a factor that can negatively impact your budget, and automated payments help to make sure that you are prompt with expenses that you already have accounted for each month. Ashish Bhandari also recognizes that money management tools that help with automated payments can also remind people to check their financials frequently to evaluate their spending. You want to make budgeting as simple as possible if you have difficulties sticking to your financial plans, as it will set you up to follow them as well as possible.
Evaluate Your Budget Often
Even the most well-thought-out budgets can be made null if enough unanticipated expenses arise. Therefore, Ashish recommends revisiting your budget throughout the month to ensure that it is still serving you as needed. For example, if you still have time until you get paid but are beginning to feel financial stress, consider making a mini budget that plans for the rest of your expenses before you get paid next. Remember that there does not need to be an actual problem to revisit your budget, sometimes we just want reassurance that we did all the math right and that we are still in line with our financial goals.
Practice Impulse Control
The biggest enemy to a planned budget is unplanned purchases. For this reason, Ashish Bhandari and several financial experts recommend trying to limit your impulse buys to keep your budget viable. This does not mean that you can not spend your money on entertainment and items that you enjoy, it simply means that you should try to build in a cool off period when you are tempted to make bigger unplanned purchases. One way to practice impulse control to protect your budget is to practice a 48-hour rule. Sleeping on certain purchases for a few days will help you realize if you really want or need the item or can do without it. Financial experts acknowledge that there are other ways to fool ourselves into controlling our purchasing habits as well. You can also limit impulse purchases by not storing payment information on websites that you frequently shop on, meaning that you will not just be able to check out without thinking of the costs.
