Budgeting For Dummies

Chapter 16

Using a Budget to Plan for the Future

IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining your financial goals

Identifying investment opportunities

Setting aside money to go to college

Making future fun a priority

Budgeting isn’t just for day-to-day life. It includes accomplishing your future financial goals and dreams. Maybe you want to save more money for retirement in addition to your 401(k), or perhaps you have a kid who’s obsessed with animals and wants to go to veterinary school.

Life is more than your responsibilities, too, so your budget should make sure your fun and happiness are also a financial priority. Budgeting is a marathon, not a sprint, and you need some fun along the way. In this chapter, I show you how to figure out your financial goals, and I provide some investment options and tips to help you plan for the future.

Setting Financial Goals

Your future is more than just preparing for when you grow old. You have other things to do with your time, which costs money. I discuss financial goals briefly in Chapter 2, but here I dive into how setting goals can help you have the future ...