The typical American household budget division breakdown looks like the list below. For most of the categories a range is shown. A range makes more sense to help you see where your personal budget fits (or doesn't fit.) If your budget doesn't fit the typical American household budget, rejoice! The mean American household budget is jacked up - we carry too much debt and we just don't save enough. We're so worried about our neighbor's new pool, our co-worker's new car and our friend's new designer shoes that we spend more than we earn to try and keep up. But take heart! enumerate the percentages below, correlate your household budget and then read on to find out how you can move yourself into the elite minority of Americans who have mastered where their money goes.
Typical Household Budget Percentages
What Household funds division Breakdown Is Typical?
33-38% Housing (59%-66% of this is on security - mortgage interest, property taxes, repairs, and rent, and other items) 15-19% transportation (up to half of this is vehicle purchase - 2 cars per household average) 13-14% Food Budget (55% at home, 45% away) 0-2% Alcohol 0-3% Tobacco and related products 0-2% Caffeine related products 4-5% On clothing and related services (drycleaning) 4.5 - 6% on out of pocket health Care 9% Personal insurance and Pensions (breakdown: 1% life and other personal insurance, 7.5% social Security, .5% investment 5% Entertainment 2.5% Charitable Contributions 2% Reading and Education 1% Personal Care products and services 2% Miscellaneous 4% credit Card, consumer Loan Interest
If your budget intimately matches the above, here's what you can do to fix that. Do these in order. Do not saunter to the next step until you've addressed the current step:
Stop using your @#!&*! credit cards! Make a down and dirty budget right away! Don't worry about it being right at first...you can exquisite it over time. Just do it! Cut back on your easy to identify, frivolous spending habits (3 dollar lattes, magazines, 450 extra satellite channels, etc.) If you've got some high-priced habits you've wanted to quit for some time, now's the time. For example, if you're a hard-drinkin', chain smokin', coffee drinkin' fool, you can reap a windfall of up to 7% or more of your income! Just cutting back to 2 drinks per day, only drinking coffee from home and quitting the cigarettes will net you a nice amount of extra cash and add years to your life! Refine your budget after eliminating what you can. Reduce your 401K and other speculation payments (if you have any) to the minimum allowable to keep your 401K and/or other speculation accounts open. If your employer has a stock matching plan, keep that in expanding to the minimum to keep your investments accounts open (but only up to the minimum you need to get all the matching money.) You're going to reap a whole lot more return on paying off your debts than you can ever hope to reasonably get from traditional investments. If you're paying into a college fund for your kids - keep doing that - if you're not and you truly want to, hold off until step 6. Refine your budget to reflect the extra wage available, if any. Build an crisis fund equal to 2% of your gross yearly income. It should be a dinky hard to get to (like a detach checking account or mutual fund), but not too difficult (Certificate of Deposit.) Work this into your budget - it's very important. You will not believe the amount of stress that will melt away when you do this. Pay off your debts - all except mortgages. And don't just move your revolving debt into a second or third mortgage - that's bad. Pay them off using a rapid debt paydown system. Pay off any student loans (for time to come reference, these are a bad idea.) Pay off your car(s) too. If you're not upside down on a car loan (your car is worth more than you owe) you can sell it and get a cheaper, paid for car. Throw a small (inexpensive but fun) party for yourself and your loved ones every time you pay off a debt. Take all the money you Were spending to pay off your non-mortgage debt and start putting it into those speculation accounts you put on idle. Make sure you're investing at least 10% of your gross income. If you followed steps 1-4 exactly, you should have lots of breathing room in your budget now. If this is true and you want to spend more than 10%, go ahead, but be sure to recompense yourself too and live a little. Grow your crisis fund to a level you're comfortable with (2 or more months of wage is a good start.) If you have young kids and you want to send them to college, start putting money into a college fund of your option for them, if you haven't already. Throw a bigger party than usual when this is done. Pay off your mortgage and throw your biggest party yet! You can start towards this by refinancing to a particular fixed rate mortgage (your credit should be in pretty good shape having paid off all your other debts.) If it's a 30 year mortgage, pay more than your monthly payment to dramatically lower the amount of interest you give to the bank. If it's a 15 year fixed - wow! That's excellent! When you're totally debt free, normally give away anyone you think you can afford. It's good for the soul!
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