PHOENIX — This Money Saving Monday, we’re talking with Scottsdale-based certified financial planner Alison Stine. She’s the owner of Stine Wealth Management.
She is helping us to prepare now for setting up your family to be successful with your finances in 2024.
“I know nobody wants to be confined to a budget and feel like they can’t enjoy themselves and that’s not the objective by any means, but on an annual basis check in and review your outflows. What are you spending on monthly basis?” asked Stine.
First, track what you're spending.
Stine suggests writing your outflows down, including what you’re paying for housing, car, investments, savings and debt repayment. She then suggests breaking them into your wants versus your needs.
And if you need help, she said you can think about it as groceries versus eating out and choosing to set limitations around those lists to form your budget.
“Our needs tend to be about 50-percent of our income, our wants tend to be about 30-percent, that’s that lifestyle. Then that should allow 20-percent for saving and investing,” shared Stine.
Review your budget now for next year.
Stine added to try to make sure you’re living within those ratios.
Now that we’re in mid-September, Stine shared this is a good time to reflect and reset as we prepare our finances for 2024.
“We want to see what did we do this year when it comes to paying down debts, saving, investing, and can we afford to make any changes? Hopefully in a positive way so we can prepare for the 12 months ahead in 2024,” said Stine.
Include your kids in financial conversations.
She also said make sure to include the entire family when talking about finances.
Stine suggested talking to children at a young age about age-appropriate money topics. She gives an example about if they love visiting Disneyland help them to break down what a trip like that truly costs.
“We have the gas or the flight, we have the ticket, we have the food, maybe trying to see and break it down,” said Stine.
Stine also recommended making a weekend activity over money. Give a kid a $100 bill and let them pay for your family’s breakfast and activities, and this can help them to learn what you can really get for a dollar.
We all need a little motivation.
Stine’s motivation for all of us on a Monday is that now is your time!
“Understand where you are, take actionable steps moving forward. It’s all about getting started and if we could be one-percent better every month or every year then we’ve made progress,” shared Stine.
>> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.
12News on YouTube
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.