Tracking Monthly Expenses: The First Step to financial stability

Can we ever attain financial stability? Especially as everything just ‘choke’ with inflations here and there. Can we ever get to that point where we say, ‘I’m okay financially so I guess I can deal if I never have to work for the next 6-12 months?’ With questions like this, financial stability is undoubtedly a […]

Can we ever attain financial stability? Especially as everything just ‘choke’ with inflations here and there. Can we ever get to that point where we say, ‘I’m okay financially so I guess I can deal if I never have to work for the next 6-12 months?’ With questions like this, financial stability is undoubtedly a goal that we all strive to achieve and the reason is not far-fetched. For starters, It certainly provides us with the freedom to pursue our dreams, plan for the future, and live a stress-free life. To be honest, that alone suffices. But there’s more.

However, achieving financial stability requires discipline, awareness, and most importantly, a clear understanding of your expenses. Tracking your monthly expenses is the first step towards gaining control of your finances and setting yourself on the path to financial freedom. And without adequate financial education, many individuals would be oblivious of this.

How to Track Monthly Expenses?

1. Start by creating a budget for the month. Your budget helps you set limits to your spending for various bills & expenses. Downloading your bank financial statement may help, and you can also start by listing your sources of income and then start allocating the funds necessary for expenses, from food & transportation to savings & loan repayment, etc.

2. To successfully track your expenses, you need to record every single expense. Yes, documenting every detail of your spending is the way to go. You can achieve this by writing it out on an e-note or a physical sheet…or you could use gomoney’s enriched transactions where tracking your spending is seamless…literally. By providing detailed insights into when and how your money was spent, gomoney empowers you to stay in control of your finances. With enriched transactions, you can effortlessly see essential details that give you a comprehensive view of your financial activities. In other words, you can take charge of your money like never before from the comfort of your mobile phone.

3. Group your expenses into categories, like household expenses, transportation, entertainment, bills, etc. With this, you know exactly where your money is going.

4. Spend time reviewing your expenses at the end of each month. Review and compare them to your budget. Do a bit of analysis to identify areas of overspending and underspending. so you know what needs improvement in the next month.

5. Make sure you include savings in your budget. This is a no-brainer if we are being honest. There are always things to save up for, from your basic needs like wardrobe change and emergency funds to more secondary needs like your vacation budget and gadget upgrade.

The simple features for making all these happen are all embedded in the gomoney app. You can split bills, save, track, and categorize your expenses and achieve a lot more than you possibly imagine you could financially.

We place emphasis on resourceful habits like tracking your expenses because as a financial institution, we are big on financial stability, and tracking your expenses definitely enables you to achieve this. From setting priorities in expenses and optimizing your budget better, to reducing debt and/or anticipating them long before they surface.

Ultimately, inculcating healthy financial habits which includes setting and achieving those financial goals gives you a sense of fulfilment and builds confidence in you as an individual.