The United States Senate passed a resolution in 2003 officially designating April as Financial Literacy Month. Apparently, the resolution was to promote the importance of understanding your personal financial situation. Most of us don’t take sufficient time to review our financial situation until we are forced to during tax season. We view April as the month our taxes our due.
The timing of Financial Literacy Month is appropriate because we must take inventory of all of our financial matters to file our taxes. It’s not just about getting a refund or not. If you want to understand your financial situation, start by doing two things:
1. Take inventory of all your financial accounts, list the balances. Also, total up all your outstanding debts. Finally, include the values of any property particularly real estate. This will create your basic Net worth statement. Assets minus Debts = Your Total Net Worth
2. Next, go through your spending. Take time and review your credit card and bank statements. If you need a budget worksheet, you can download it using the link below.
If you wonder why you aren’t saving or have a negative net worth per #1 above, it may be because you need to allocate your income better and reduce your expenses.
That is it. Start with those two tasks. Having a healthy net worth and knowing what you are spending is way more important than the time spent researching your next Amazon purchase!