You're probably reading this question and wondering are you kidding me, I don't think that my finances are sick, maybe a few problems here and there but what does a diagnosis have to do with my personal finances? Well, if you're having a problem with your personal finances and you cannot determine what the problem is then wouldn't it be great if you were able to identify the problem you may be having with your finances? That's right, you would be diagnosing your own problem with your finances up close and personal.
If you're able to diagnose a current problem with your own personal finances this may help you to alleviate further damage to your finances. You're thinking to yourself, yes maybe diagnosing my personal finances may help me but, I'm really not sure about this. Well, let's take a further look to determine if diagnosing your personal finances is something you should consider doing. Interestingly, Janet and Joseph were also a little apprehensive about diagnosing a problem they had with their personal finances too, but, they decided that they would take a stab at investigating the problems they were having with their finances.
Joseph and Janet were having problems meeting their mortgage payment each month along with some of their other household expenses. They just could not understand where all of their money kept going each month. They both had very good jobs, no children and not many bills to pay. Their combined net income is approximately eight thousand dollars a month. It seemed when the first of each month rolled around they struggled to make their monthly mortgage payment of $3,500. They just could not understand why they were living pay check to pay check with the amount of income they were bringing into their household each month.
Joseph and Janet decided they would sit down and diagnose their personal finances. They just could not continue to go on being frustrated and stressed out each and every month about their bills. They decided to use the following tips to diagnose the problems they were having with their personal finances:
Tip One: Write down all of your monthly expenses including the following: mortgage or rental payment, vehicle loan, credit card bills, utility bills, etc... Try to ensure that you include all of the monthly expenses you have to pay. Accuracy is the key here.
Tip Two: Calculate other expenses that you may pay on an annual, bimonthly, semi annual, or quarterly basis which may include bills such as; home or renters insurance, property tax, vehicle insurance, health insurance, etc...
Tip Three: Secure all of your credit card, debit card and store receipts. Calculate these receipts as part of your bills for each month as these particular expenses were incurred.
Tip Four: Look at your bank statement and balance your checkbook. This will be an important factor in helping you to diagnose your personal finance problem. Go over your statement and checkbook register as close as possible.
Tip Five: Tally up all of your income received monthly. This means any money you have received coming into your household each month.
Tip Six: Take a first, second, and maybe a third look at your expenses and income to determine where your financial problem may be. It's somewhere there, all you have to do is locate it. You can do it, just look, seek and you will find. Just keep looking and you should be able to diagnose your personal finance problem. Keep in mind persistence, consistency and perseverance and determination is key here. Just stay focused and you should do just fine in diagnosing your personal finance problem.
After spending several hours going over their expenses and income, Joseph and Janet were elated that they were able to diagnose their personal finance problem. They discovered that Joseph had an awful habit of using his debit visa card on expensive daily lunches while at work and also weekly visits to play golf at his favorite golf course. In addition, Janet also had a fetish with going to her local mall to buy clothes three times a week after she left work. These extra added expenses incurred by Janet and Joseph really added up each month and neither one of them had any idea what they had been doing to themselves financially.
This information discovered by Janet and Joseph enabled them to make the necessary changes in their spending behavior to regain control of their personal finances. This also allowed them to meet their obligations of paying their monthly expenses each month on a timely basis. Joseph and Janet also found they had additional money left over after they paid their monthly bills so they were able to set aside money for their savings account.
Joseph and Janet found this was good time well spent diagnosing their personal finance problem. They are so happy they took action to take control of their personal finances rather sooner than later. So, if you think you may need to diagnose a personal finance problem you may have, go ahead, get started and take action to get back into the driver's seat and control your own personal finances today, you'll be glad that you did.
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