Let's start by defining a "Budget Analysis". This is simply
a breakdown of your budget (income, bills & expenses) showing
how much money you have coming in and how much you have going
out. It will show how your budget category percentages compare
with what is recoginized as the ideal percentages. The most
important aspect of the Budget Analysis is the recomendations
for improvement.

The first part of your analysis will list your income and
breakdown your bills and expenses by category. At Budget
Stretcher I use only four categories, Housing, Other Bills,
Household Expenses, and Savings. The three expense categories
allow 30% of your take home for each category with 10% going to
savings.

Next, your expenses percentages will be compared to the ideal
percentages that will show you what areas of your budget
need improvement. The percentages above are simply targets.
If you exceed the recommended percentage in one category but you
do not exceed 100% of your take home pay for all categories,
then you would not normally have a problem.

The recommendations for improvement are based on sound financial
practices. There isn't anything complicated about this, it is
pretty much 2+2=4. However, there are some tricks that can be
recommended to help make the figures add up a little easier. As
an example, if you have say 40% of your income going to the
Other Bills category because of credit cards, it may be
recommended that you try consolidating your credit cards to
lower your payments. This can be done by either a consolidation
loan, home equity loan or by using an existing credit card to
pay off all of the others.

I would recommend a Budget Analysis for anyone that is having
problems with paying their bills or anyone that consistantly
pays their bills late. Also, if you have problems organizing
your bills or would like to reduce your debt, a budget analysis
may be helpful.

The next step is follow-up. No matter how thorough your budget
analysis, you are going to have questions along the way. It is
important that whoever is doing your budget analysis are
available to answer these questions for as long as you need the
help.

A Budget Analysis is not the answer to all of your problems. It
is going to take time, organization and discipline to get your
finances in order but it can point you in the right direction.


About the Author
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor
of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their
personal finances.