In these moments when the cost of living in colombia is skyrocketing and more and more money is not enough to cover all the expenses of the month it is important to build healthy financial habits and establish a budget.
Preparing a family budget allows us to be clear about the requirements are the household income and expensesin addition to being able to cover unforeseen events that may arise and allocate a percentage of the money to savings.
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It must be borne in mind that one of the main keys to create an efficient budget is to be realistic, so it is necessary to avoid rigid budgets that are impossible to meet. In this way, it is necessary to be as honest as possible with income and expenses.
According to BBVA, the first thing to do to prepare a budget is separate income and expenses by categories. It is necessary to identify the inputs (income) and outputs (expenses) of money, as well as their periodicity and level of need.
It is also key to recognize that the budget is a tool that must be constantly updated in order to have the best information to manage, change and adapt all the inflows and outflows of money.
Two decisions are derived from financial management that are often incompatible: save or go into debt. Therefore, it is key to understand that, although saving seems to be a solely positive toolits excess can have pernicious effects, as it slows down consumption.
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And on many occasions, going into debt is the only option to access products and services, as is the case of a living placethat if it were done through savings, it would have to be postponed for many years or it would even be impossible to face.
In addition, the fintech tyba recommends making an evaluation of the expenses to determine those that are necessary and that by eliminating them can represent a great relief in finances.
For this, it is important to ask questions that help identify these expenses “ants” Like, how many streaming platforms are being paid for and how many are actually being used? Do I still pay for the gym membership that I stopped going to several months ago? Are the appliances in good condition or will there be a large expense for repair?
One of the goals for the year should also be that household members can save 10 percent of their salary until they have three months of salary as an emergency fund.
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According to the Investor Mood Index Study published by tyba, Colombians who do not save do so mainly because they do not have enough (35 percent) and because they do not have enough income (25 percent). In that, setting clear goals from the beginning of the year should be a priority so that the purposes of 2023 can be met.
Something that can affect family finances is not paying credit debts with a financial institution on time, since they not only start to run late interest cost overrunsbut also the credit history is affected.
Therefore, pay the debts of the Credit cards It must be a priority so as not to affect finances and keep them healthy. A good technique to avoid running into delays is to set a payment reminder alarm a few days before the deadline.
