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Hi Taylor
- My friend was telling me about how much her financial calendar
helped her save more money, but she did a really bad job explaining
exactly what a financial calendar was. Can you help me out by explaining
this? - Sierra
Hi Sierra - Happily! Financial calendar is one of those
terms that's both specific and vague at the same time. Essentially,
it helps you build a schedule and timetable for all things monetary.
And that means… what, exactly?
Just like everyone
has their own system for daily scheduling and to-do lists, you can
make a financial calendar that's specific to your personal goals
and habits. Budgeting is a good example. Do you need to assess your
spending on a weekly schedule or are you organized enough to track
things on a monthly basis? Whatever you choose, that's an aspect
of your financial calendar.
Another big component of your money schedule is how it helps you
with taxes. First and foremost, you can schedule when you're actually
going to file, giving yourself some planning time in case you expect
to owe a significant amount to the IRS. Your financial calendar
can also help you plan pre-tax payments which can be very beneficial,
and it can assist with general receipt and expense management. If
you have quarterly reminders to organize your tax information, you'll
probably have more success than if you try to get everything figured
out in March.
If you get an annual bonus, your financial calendar can help you
plan ahead for how you might spend that money. Similarly, planning
a year in advance will show you whether or not your current investment
strategy will deliver the maximum contribution to your retirement
account.
A financial calendar is just another means for planning ahead. It
might as well be called a financial planner, but that title is already
taken by people like me. If you have a friend who's raving about
how useful it's been, she most likely started tracking her spending
and earning for the first time and finally feels in control. If
you don't pay close attention to what your money does, sitting down
with a calendar and focusing exclusively on financial matters can
be really helpful.
Lots of people choose to make specific financial plans for each
month, which can make the process a little more involved and potentially
a little more fun. If you really want to dive in, I suggest mapping
out your expenses and earning goals for a full year. If nothing
else, it will help you get a better idea of how well you understand
your own finances.
Hopefully this helps, Sierra. Enjoy setting up that calendar!
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