Managing your budget through a crisis

From Fidelity Investments

During this unprecedented time, you may find yourself stressed about managing your day-to-day budget. Taking a few small steps to better understand your expenses and sources of income can go a long way to alleviating stress. 

It’s important to understand how you’re spending today. Once you know that, it’s much easier to make trade-off decisions and figure out ways you can adjust your budget.

• List your essential expenses (housing, food, insurance, transportation, etc.) and your discretionary expenses (takeout meals, subscription services, clothing, etc.).
• Match income sources to your essential expenses and see where you might trim discretionary spending. 

Once you have gathered this information and identified expenses matched to your income, you can document your plan by using this budgeting worksheet.

Looking for additional education on this topic? Watch this online workshop for more information on understanding your spending and setting a budget.

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