{"id":2665,"date":"2017-01-04T15:40:13","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T14:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/?p=2665"},"modified":"2017-01-04T15:40:13","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T14:40:13","slug":"plan-ahead-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/plan-ahead-in-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan ahead in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time to sink our teeth into 2017. Financially and otherwise. Perhaps only sink your teeth into 2017 literally if you have a very tasteful calendar or thoroughly enjoy <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cellulose\">cellulose<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few very simple things you can do to plan ahead, avoid unpleasant financial surprises and can thus afford to eat things tastier than paper throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>1. Add all regular expenses you can predict in 2017<\/h3>\n<p>Fill in as many expenses as you can in advance. No worries if you don\u2019t have the exact right amount yet. Add an expense with the approximate amount and set a reminder, so you don\u2019t forget to edit in the exact amount later on.<\/p>\n<p>Think about which expenses repeat regularly, be it every month, once a year or every few weeks. If they repeat in the same period every time, add them as repeating expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>transport costs (car registration, regular car maintenance, public transport fees)<\/li>\n<li>rent, house maintenance<\/li>\n<li>loans, mortgages, car payments<\/li>\n<li>utilities (heating, electricity, internet)<\/li>\n<li>content subscriptions (streaming, cable, music, web services, publications)<\/li>\n<li>education fees<\/li>\n<li>gym, leisure activities, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.urbandictionary.com\/define.php?term=seal%20clubbing\">seal clubbing club<\/a> membership fees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>2. Add budgets for your variable spending<\/h3>\n<p>There\u2019s also spending that\u2019s harder to predict as it\u2019s more irregular and subject to your current whim, making it a lot more difficult to plan in advance. Things like going for coffee, eating out in restaurants, impulsively buying a herd of reindeer, deciding to work on your own nuclear fusion reactor\u2026<\/p>\n<p>While the latter two might be just me, I\u2019m sure you can find plenty of examples where your impulsive spending can take you overboard.<\/p>\n<p>Those areas are perfect for setting up budgets for the variable spending you want to keep in check. It\u2019s easy to do, just set a budget to track an individual category or tag to make sure those areas don\u2019t get out of control.<\/p>\n<p>A few examples of such budgets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Monthly budgets for <strong>Food &amp; Drinks<\/strong>, or perhaps just \u201c<strong>restaurants<\/strong>\u201d, \u201c<strong>alcohol<\/strong>\u201d or \u201c<strong>coffee &amp; tea<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Monthly budget for <strong>Leisure<\/strong> or some of your past time tags in particular<\/li>\n<li>Yearly budget for <strong>Transport<\/strong>, especially for leisurely petrol-heads<\/li>\n<li>Yearly budget for <strong>tobacco<\/strong> can be especially helpful if you\u2019re trying to quit smoking, the large yearly numbers might just shock you enough to stop<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Find out more on How to set up the budgets (<a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-budgets-and-control-your-spending-web-app\/\">Web<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-budgets-and-control-your-spending-android\/\">Android<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-budgets-and-control-your-spending-ios\/\">iOS<\/a>) and How to use the budgets (<a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-use-the-budgets-web-app\/\">Web<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-use-the-budgets-android\/\">Android<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-use-the-budgets-ios\/\">iOS<\/a>) in general.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s good to have those figures under control, let yourself room for some treats once in a while. Being a \u201c<em>bon-vivant<\/em>\u201d might even help you save on your health bills in the long run due to lower stress. ?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2666\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Toshl_2.0_monster_0000_1.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Toshl_2.0_monster_0000_1.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Toshl_2.0_monster_0000_1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Toshl_2.0_monster_0000_1.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Toshl_2.0_monster_0000_1.png?resize=144%2C144&amp;ssl=1 144w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Toshl_2.0_monster_0000_1.png?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>3. Make a financial buffer<\/h3>\n<p>You should have a healthy financial cushion or a financial buffer in other words, so you can weather any storms that might come up. Having <strong>3 months<\/strong> worth of incomes saved up is a good basic start, but try to increase that amount gradually as you go along. Knowing that you can survive for at least <strong>half a year<\/strong> even if you loose your job will make you <strong>breathe a lot more easily<\/strong>. With the full realisation this is often easier said than done, this should be a goal you strive to, so unexpected financial events don\u2019t throw you off your balance.<\/p>\n<p>Making a special financial account in Toshl for this purpose is a good idea, just make sure you have this money actually saved up and can get to it rather quickly if the need arises.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>4. Save in advance<\/h3>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to save for the big stuff in advance. I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t have to remind you about your <strong>big financial goals<\/strong> like buying a <strong>house<\/strong> or an <strong>apartment<\/strong>, buying a <strong>car<\/strong> etc.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fusion_power\">Fusion reactors<\/a>\u00a0also don\u2019t come cheap, but your government is likely already making you save a bit for those collectively. Good call.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget about the smaller, but still quite considerable purchases that come up often. You\u2019ll probably want to take a <strong>holiday<\/strong> <strong>in 2017<\/strong>. If you haven\u2019t yet, the time to start planning for this is now.<\/p>\n<p>Start a new financial account for your \u201c<strong>Holiday savings<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cNew flat\u201d. If you already have something saved up for it, enter an initial balance. Then, add a regularly repeating transfer from your main bank account to your savings account. Setting a reminder here can help you remember to actually put that money on the side every month.<\/p>\n<p>See: How to set up your finances &#8211; including financial accounts (<a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-finances-web-app\/\">Web<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-finances-android\/\">Android<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-finances-ios\/\">iOS<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>5. See what\u2019s ahead with Planning<\/h3>\n<p>We have a new feature for you that will help you better visualise the data that you have just entered and plan ahead in general. It\u2019s called <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/app\/#\/planning\">Planning<\/a>\u00a0and is currently available in Beta testing on <a href=\"http:\/\/toshl.com\">toshl.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Planning will show you a full year\u2019s view of your finances, making it a lot easier to learn from your financial past and plan for the future. You can see the past or <strong>projected balances<\/strong> for each individual month, how your <strong>net worth<\/strong> (sum of all accounts) grows or falls over time, as well as see monthly changes in expenses in incomes. Don\u2019t forget you can also filter by category or tag to see how smaller parts of your spending vary with the seasons.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2659\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/planning_expenses.png?resize=652%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"652\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/planning_expenses.png?w=652&amp;ssl=1 652w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/planning_expenses.png?resize=300%2C276&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You can now see the effect of all your careful expense planning and saving from the previous steps. The columns for each month\u2019s spending should be at least somewhat filled already with your fixed expenses. Naturally, more variable expenses will fill those months as well as time passes. Now you\u2019ll at least have a basic frame of reference to see how much you can afford in discretionary spending once your fixed expenses and saving for the important things have been accounted for.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/review-your-2016-finances-new-planning-feature\/\">check your past spending patterns in 2016<\/a>\u00a0as well, just to make sure you haven\u2019t forgotten something in your yearly financial cycle.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>6. Don\u2019t forget to have fun<\/h3>\n<p>I write \u201chave fun\u201d on my to do list every day, so I don\u2019t forget about it and just remain miserable throughout the day. I\u2019m lying of course, as I\u2019d like to think I\u2019m not a complete moron and do tend to gravitate towards some amusement on my own without constant prodding. The larger point I\u2019m trying to make here, is that these financial planning steps are not an end in themselves. Sure, we need to keep our finances in check, but the aim here is to worry less, not more. With some basic thinking ahead like this, we can keep a lot more relaxed throughout the year and enjoy life to the fullest.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2651\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/toshl_2_widgm_l5_w.png?resize=432%2C523&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"432\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/toshl_2_widgm_l5_w.png?w=432&amp;ssl=1 432w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/toshl_2_widgm_l5_w.png?resize=248%2C300&amp;ssl=1 248w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Here\u2019s to life!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time to sink our teeth into 2017. Financially and otherwise. Perhaps only sink your teeth into 2017 literally if you have a very tasteful calendar or thoroughly enjoy cellulose. There are a few very simple things you can do to plan ahead, avoid unpleasant financial surprises and can thus afford to eat things tastier &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/plan-ahead-in-2017\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17,4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budgeting","category-personal-finance","category-tips-tricks","category-tutorials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9HkH6-GZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2665"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2671,"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions\/2671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}