Written by: Suprabh Acharya - 27014, Grade VIII
Posted on: 09 January, 2023
Personal finance is an important aspect of life that affects our overall well being and financial security. It includes managing our money, setting financial aims, and making financial decisions. Unfortunately, people struggle with personal finance and may not fully understand the importance of managing their money.
Setting financial goals is an important step in managing our personal money. It lets us identify our financial priorities and create a plan to accomplish them. By setting financial goals, we can work towards financial stability and security, and improve our overall well-being. There are many types of methods for setting financial goals.
The SMART method is one of them. SMART symbolises Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, instead of setting a goal to save more money, the SMART method would be to save Rs5000 within the next month. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound as we are saving Rs5000 which is specific, we are aiming for a specific amount which is measurable, the saving is based on our current income which is achievable, we are saving for the future which is relevant, and we are saving for the next month which is the time-bound. By setting SMART financial goals, we can create a plan to accomplish them. This can help us stay motivated and stay on track to reach our financial needs.
Creating a budget is a good way to keep track of our money and make sure we are saving and spending it wisely. A budget is a plan for how we are going to use our money. It helps us understand how much money we have earned and how much money we are spending.
The first step in creating a budget is to keep track of how much money we have earned. This is known as income which might come from a job, gift or anywhere. Next, we need to keep track of how much money we have spent. This is known as expense. Expenses might include things like shopping, giving, fees etc. We can track our income and expenses by writing down everything we spent money on in a certain time span. This helps us keep track of where our money is going and where we can save our money.
Once we know how much income and expenses we have, we can create a budget. It helps to make sure that we have enough money for things we need rather than the things we want. It helps us to save our money for the future.
It's important for us to save money for emergencies, like if we need to go to the doctor or if we get in an accident. It's also important to save money for long term aims, like going to universities or buying our needs.
There are different options for saving our money. One of them is to put our money in a savings account. A savings account is a kind of bank account where you can save your money and earn interest. Interest is a little bit of extra money that the bank pays us for keeping our money in the account.
Another option for saving is to put our money in an investment account. Investment accounts are a way to put our money in different kinds of investments, like the stock market or even cryptocurrency. When we invest our money, we are taking a risk, but we could also earn a lot of money if our investments do well.
It's important to start saving and investing as early as we can. “The earlier we start, the more time our money has to grow.” By saving and investing our money, we can work towards our financial goals and build good wealth for the future.
In conclusion, personal finance is an important aspect of life that affects our overall well-being and financial security. By learning about personal finance, we can work towards financial stability and security. It's never too early to start learning about personal finance and developing good financial habits. By understanding income and expenses, creating a budget, saving and investing, we can take control of our finances and work towards our financial goals. Managing personal finance is a lifelong journey. It's important to stay informed and continue learning about financial management techniques to ensure long-term financial success.
