Financial focus on energy and transportation

Reassessing your financial status can help you make sure your funds are used effectively.

08:46 01 July 2013

It looks as though the government is reassessing how its money will be used most effectively, which means for now the attention is on energy and transportation infrastructure. Financial assessment is a process that we all have to go through during out budgeting, and unfortunately it is also an ongoing process.

 

Many of us reassess our financial status on a monthly basis, but it could even be more frequent if you live from payday to payday. Here are just a few ways that you can assess your financial situation and develop an efficient process.

• Planning is essential. After you’ve assessed your financial status a few times you’ll have a good idea of what you need to know, and the different finances you need to pay attention to the most. Once you find out the information that is most pertinent to you on a regular basis, develop a plan such as a list showing what you need to check. A quick reference can be a good motivator, and can make the task seem less daunting.

 

• Make your own system. Everyone is different and we all approach our budgeting a little differently. Some people use software, some let professionals deal with it, and some wait until the end of the month and hope they had enough to cover all the expenses. Figure out what makes checking your financial status easier and do it. Perhaps you need file folders, binders, or boxes to keep everything separate or organized. Maybe you use a color-coding system to easily manage bills.

 

• Keep up to date. No matter what plan you have, or what kind of system you use to approach a reassessment of your financial status, it won’t matter if the information is out of date. If you haven’t updated billing amounts in three months, it’s time to double check things.