A Little Financial Planning Can Go A Long Ways

(post by Marissa) Six months after we were married, Steve and I were visiting his grandparents in Ogden. Steve started talking to his Grandpa (who is an amazing Grandpa by the way) about our different strategies for recording our expenses and tracking our money, which all failed. Steve's Grandpa proceeded to explain his perfect record-keeping secret...QUICKBOOKS. Steve, instantly converted to the method, went home that night and started setting up Quickbooks. We have been using it ever since and love it. We cannot do our bills unless we are sitting at the computer with Quickbooks open.

You can handle ALL of your finances directly from Quickbooks. You can pay your bills, print checks, transfer money, etc. You can order very professional looking checks; write your checks in Quickbooks; and then print the checks through your printer. Steve wants these really bad! Anytime we write a check, he reminds me that we need to order the professional checks! One Day..haha. We print out monthly reports comparing Budget Vs. Actual, Year To Date Financials, etc. We recently started looking at the budget during the month to see how we were doing. This allows us to see if we have additional funds in the entertainment budget before spending it, etc. Before we would simply evaluate ourselves after the month ended and say, well we failed there or did great there. However, with the new technique of evaluating during the month we don't have any excuses to stray.

Some of you may be saying, a budget is so restrictive. I find the opposite. You spend your money on what you value more when you track it. Rather than throw money away here and there, you are more likely to spend it on worthwhile things such as tangible items, fun entertainment, nice dinners out as opposed to frequent fast food stops, etc.

I was reading this article about strategies for sticking to a budget and I can vouch for them because we have implemented several. People that have a budget often end up with more vacations and big purchases because unless you put a large expenditure in a budget, it often never happens because the money ends up going to random items that eventually end up being thrown away in the next move.

Article: http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/smartspending/archive/2007/11/13/7-strategies-for-sticking-to-a-budget.aspx-strategies-for-sticking-to-a-budget.aspx

I think the best strategy to harmonious financial matters is to review the budget together every few weeks (budget vs. actual). You can't just hide spending if you are looking at it together.

I am posting about this because 2008 is knocking on our door and it seems as though everyone has the big goal of better finances in the new year (including us)! I wanted to share with others the pivotal decision- the use of Quickbooks-- that has changed our finances. So one recommended purchase is some sort of financial tracking software such as Quickbooks or Quicken. I have used both and personally prefer Quickbooks. However, if you want to be able to see the value of your portfolio by simply logging onto your financial software then Quicken is better. I found a version of Quicken for only 15 dollars online. (Quickbooks Simple Start is free, can be downloaded from the internet, and has all necessary features. This is Brand New to 2007. The 2008 one is even better. Quickbooks has never had a free anything!)

One more great thing about Quickbooks. Some of you may hate me for this, but the end of 2007 means taxes will also be knocking on our doors! Quickbooks makes it very easy to do taxes because you can 1)Import your financial information directly into Turbo Tax 2) Have a print out of your expenses that are tax deductible such as: medical, dental, health insurance premiums, moving costs, property taxes, Mortgage interest, donations, etc and then give the info to your accountant. You will likely have more deductions if you keep track of all of your expenses and record when you bought that bottle of Tylenol! If you are ever audited by the IRS your Quickbooks will be very strong evidence in your favor. Clients who use Quickbooks properly end up with more deductions and less in Accounting Fees because we (Tax Accountants) are not wasting our time searching through Bank Statements for deductions and such. Okay, I will stop talking about taxes now!

I find that when I read things about budgets and finances and discuss it, I get back on track...so this post is especially for me because it will keep me focused through the Holiday Season.

If you have somthing that works for you, share with the rest of us! I am always up for new ideas and strategies.

Thank you to Hal (Steve's Gpa) for sharing his wealth of knowledge on Quickbooks and getting us set up early on in our marriage and for Steve for setting it up and keeping us on track on our financial matters. Although right now he (Steve) is especially focused on our financial matters because he wants to have a baby! I apologize for the wordiness. I had a long day at work and my writing skills are lacking this evening.