Personal Finance
Better Finances for a Better You
Topic: "Budget Tracking"
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information about your money.
Budgeting
Budgeting with gift cards or prepaid cards can help you avoid accidental overspending, prepay for expenses and take advantage of store-specific perks, such as discounts and points.
How to Budget Using Gift Cards and Prepaid Cards By Emily Starbuck Gerson →Budgeting
10 Expenses Most Likely To Drain Your Checking Account Each Month by Ashley Donohoe
- Unnecessary Groceries
- Fake Emergencies
- Restaurant Trips
- Costly Vacation Plans
- Expensive Plans and Subscriptions
- Retail Therapy and Impulse Purchases
- Lavish Nights Out
- “Latest and Greatest” Purchases
- Pampering Services
- Checking Account Fees
Budgeting
Finding the balance between your needs, wants and savings can be difficult. Forbes highlights seven simple steps for creating and managing a successful monthly budget.
How To Budget In 7 Simple Steps →Word of the week
Gift Card
A gift card is a prepaid card used to pay for purchases. You can use gift cards at a single retailer or at a group of retailers, such as a chain or shopping mall. Generally, gift cards come with money already on them. Gift cards can be a physical card or an electronic card.
Prepaid Cards vs. Gift Cards: What's the Difference? →Budgeting
Budgeting with gift cards or prepaid cards can help you avoid accidental overspending, prepay for expenses and take advantage of store-specific perks, such as discounts and points.
How to Budget Using Gift Cards and Prepaid Cards →Budgeting
Trying to get your spending under control? Just like with dieting, it can help to add some structure by following a plan. There are just about as many approaches to handling your daily finances as there are to counting calories.
The WSJ Tested 5 of the Best Budgeting Methods. Here’s what they found →Budgeting
The zero-based budget Sometimes called a zero-sum budget, is when your total income, minus your expenses, equals zero.
Zero-based budgeting: What it is and how it can help you hit your money goals →Did you know?
According to Google Trends on November 8th 2023, searches for "cost of groceries" were at an all time high.
Learn about how to start monitoring your food spending with Neontra →Budgeting
How to succeed at budgeting - A guide to 4 budget planning methods:
- 60% solution – keep essential expenses around 60 per cent to avoid overspending.
- Zero-sum budgeting – subtract expenses from your pay, and you should end up with zero.
- Reverse budgeting – put the focus on savings (you pay yourself first).
- The 50/30/20 rule – probably one of the most popular budget methods.
Word of the week
The 30% Rule
How much should you pay in rent? As a general rule, housing should be no more than 30% of your total monthly income, including utilities. The 30% rule is based on how much you can reasonably spend and have money left over for everyday expenses like food, clothes and transportation.
Neontra auto-categorizes your expenses so you can quickly see how your budget is tracking →Neontra on TikTok
We believe financial planning should be simple, engaging and understandable for everyone. View Neontra on TikTok where we help simplify the complex world of personal finance.
Join 339k viewers of this Neontra TikTok →Budgeting
Creating a budget in college can help you understand where your money goes each month, which is a good first step to take when you’re learning to manage your finances.
5 Tips for Saving Money and Budgeting in College →Budgeting
What is envelope budgeting?
On a piece of paper, make a list of your expenditure categories. Include typical necessities like food, clothing, personal care products, pet care, and family outings.
- Set aside a specific sum of money for each area
- Each category's name should be written on its own envelope
- Use only the money in each envelope for the corresponding category
- Bring your groceries envelope to the grocery store and your entertainment envelope to the movie theatre
- Once the category envelope is empty stop spending
Budgeting
Finance thinkfluencers vs economists
It turns out that there's a large gulf between the advice given by the authors of popular finance books and academic economists.
Budgeting
In a 50/30/20 budget you should aim to spend your net income in this way: - 50% on your essential needs - 30% on your non-essential expenses - 20% on savings contributions/debt repayments
Neontra auto-categorizes your expenses so you can quickly see how your 50/30/20 budget is tracking →Budgeting
One in four Canadians are unable to cover an unexpected expense of $500, according to StatsCan.
Budget planning can help you live a better financial life and save for unexpected expenses →Budgeting
Making a budget can help you: - set spending limits - find ways to pay down your debts - reduce costs and save more - live within your means - reduce stress - have more money for things that are important to you - feel in control of your money
Start building a better future with a budget today →Did you know?
The average price for electricity in Canada is around 17.4¢/kWh. If your apartment or house is averagely consuming around 1000kWh, your electric bill will be roughly $174. The average cost of utilities in Canada is $304.75 per month.
Learn how your spending compares to national averages with our NEOs →Did you know?
Canadian gasoline prices dropped year over year for the second consecutive month in March (-13.8%), the largest yearly decline since July 2020.
Statistics Canada has an interactive tool that allows you to explore your personal rate of inflation, based on the goods and services you consume →Budgeting
Making a budget can help you balance your income with your savings and expenses. It guides your spending to help you reach your financial goals.
Why make a budget →Infographic of the week
How much more are groceries costing you this year?
Mapped: Which Countries Have the Highest Inflation?
See how Canada compares to the rest of the world →← Curating the web to find the most interesting and helpful information about your money.