10 Steps To Creating A Sound Financial Plan

Everything goes better when there is a thoughtful plan in place. Whether single, married, and with children, you should build a financial plan that best fits your lifestyle now and in the future.

What Is A Financial Plan?

Financial planning is an ongoing process to develop and implement a comprehensive financial plan to help you achieve financial success.

Core Components of A Financial Plan

1. Create A Budget

By creating a monthly budget,  you can review monthly inflows and outflows of money. Inflows are your sources of income that support outflows, that is, fixed and discretionary expenses. Ideally, your income sources should exceed all of your costs after spending.

2. Net Worth

Besides your budget, your net worth is an essential tool. Net worth is assets less your liabilities at one point in time. Your assets should be growing faster than your liabilities as you build your wealth from investments while keeping debt at low levels.

3. Build An Emergency Fund

Saving money for an emergency fund is essential. If you don’t have one, you need to prioritize building a fully-funded emergency fund.

4. Manage Your Debt With Timely Payoffs

You want to keep your spending in control and manage your debt to low levels. Carrying large credit card balances and only paying the monthly minimum is a fool’s errand. Doing so is hugely expensive given the prohibitive high interest rates of credit cards, making your purchases excessively higher.

5. Examine Your Credit Report

It’s an excellent idea to periodically review your credit report for potential errors or issues that you want to correct promptly. Typically, the higher your credit score, the lower your borrowing rate and better your access to credit when you most need it for purchasing a house or an opportunity to start a business.

6. Risk Management You need to get the right insurance coverage to protect you and your family from exposure to risks based on items you own, our activities like owning and driving a car, and potential financial loss.

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