Tips to review finances - a beneficial tradition

Making a tradition out of reviewing your finances can yield positive results.

09:15 27 May 2013

Cheese makers have been warned about their participation in the Gloucester cheese rolling that dates back to the 19th century, and that they could potentially be considered liable if anyone were to get hurt.

 

The event has become so popular that about 15,000 people tried to compete on the hill which is only really situated for about 5,000 people. It is clear that people enjoy the tradition and want to continue the celebration.

 

Checking your finances probably isn’t nearly as fun as chasing a wheel of cheese down a steep hill, but it’s probably a bit safer.

 

Here are a few ways to make checking your finances a beneficial tradition:

 

• Monthly—you can check your finances on a monthly basis to some extent, especially with the advent of technology like online banking. If you still have cheques you may need to balance a cheque book at the end of the month. This also helps you make sure that you are staying within your monthly budget.

 

• Revamp—you might want to check your finances on a quarterly basis, or some other timeframe that works for you, to ensure that you don’t need to make any changes to your budgeting or savings plans.

 

• Annually—this is a great time to review finances. If you time it so that you do this in the beginning of April or end of March, you’ll be able to make sure that you’ve given the amounts you wanted to for savings accounts and other things.

 

• Long-term—if you set a certain timeframe for examining your finances, such as five or ten year plans you won’t need to worry much about them in the meantime and you’ll have a set schedule for when to review your finances.

 

• Adjustments—if you come out better than expected with your finances when you review, you might want to put a little more money in the spending allowance or do something nice as a way to reward your efforts. You can also make any other necessary adjustments to your finances to reach your goals.