Today is the start of Financial Planning Week 2013; a national campaign organised each year by the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP), its members and supporters to raise awareness amongst the general public of the importance of Financial Planning.
As Financial Planning Week gets underway, the IFP has published the findings of a survey conducted by YouGov.
The survey discovered that 38% of Brits have already worked out what they will be spending this Christmas and will definitely stick to their spending plans.
A further 18% are confident they can afford to spend what they like this Christmas.
However, 20% of those surveyed only have a vague budget in mind and probably won’t stick to it. 9% have no idea what Christmas will cost and plan to worry about it afterwards.
Budgeting is an important part of Financial Planning.
Knowing what you will spend each month and sticking to that plan is important to avoid getting into debt. It is also important to ensure you can allocate sufficient financial resources to the future.
Christmas is often an expensive time of the year for many families, so knowing what you are going to spend is a better approach than blowing the bank and then dealing with the consequences in the New Year.
Avoiding a post-Christmas hangover, as challenging as it might seem, is possible.
Good Financial Planning follows similar principles to budgeting for an affordable Christmas.
Setting realistic priorities, knowing your financial capacity and sticking to an affordable plan will make the difference between financial success and failure.
