Why your budget isn’t working (and how to fix it)
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to How Do They Afford That, the podcast that peeks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson. I'm an author and the co-host of the business news podcast, Fear and Greed. As always, I'm with Canna Campbell, financial planner, founder of Sugar Mama TV, the financial literacy platform covering... Like tiptoed over that. Financial literacy platform. It's a tongue twister, right? YouTube, podcasts, Instagram, threads and books like our upcoming book,
Very exciting.
We have written a book. That's right. 12 Months to Financial Freedom. It is coming up in September. If you want to pre-order a copy, you can do so online now. I'll put a link in the show notes as well. But we're very excited for that one to be published in September with Alan and Anwen. 12 Months to Financial Freedom. And on the back, there's a little picture of us, isn't there?
Oh, Calvin Klein shoot.
Oh, yes. Yeah, that was great fun. It's worth it just for that picture. Anyway, hello, Canna. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. I'm a bit wary about today. Budgets.
Yes. How's your budget looking?
It's actually looking good. That sounded convincing. Yeah. Today isn't about how to make a budget. No. We're going to talk about why they don't work, which sounds like we're going to be really negative. But we're going to look at some of the common kind of problems with the budget because I think most people have had a crack at setting a budget, a household budget. Yeah. You know roughly kind of what you're earning and what you're spending, but something doesn't work. The wheels fall off. It gets forgotten. You blow it out, blow it away. I don't know, whatever. You blow up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, it doesn't work. So we're going to fix it today. This isn't about creating the budget in the first place. It's about fixing what isn't working.
Is that fair? Yeah, I think that's reasonable.
Okay, all right. Why do so many people feel like their budget just doesn't actually work?
So this is the problem. You know, they look great on paper, your budget. You know, you've written everything down, maybe even do as I recommend, which is checking your transactions, but they don't actually reflect the reality of your life. You know, they don't account for those irregular expenses, the price increases that we're experiencing on an almost daily basis. The natural human behavior, the habits that we might have, and the reality of our lives. And also the spontaneity that comes as well when special opportunities come out of the blue that we go, wow, I want to do that. That's great. Let's jump on that. Whether it be a weekend away or concert tickets or something like that.
Is it then, is it the numbers aren't working in a budget or is it the behaviour that's behind the budget? Where is the fault or is it, you're going to say it's a bit of both.
You know me too well. Yes. So, of course, the numbers have got to be correct. You know, then it's got to add up. But what's more important, though, is the behavior, but also the attitude as to whether your budget is actually going to work for you. Like, you know, understanding emotional spending, understanding the lifestyle creep. Right. You know, the lack of consistency in checking your budget and transactions. You know, you can't out-budget behaviour or a toxic habit. You've got to sort of work with it and have that awareness and build certain steps around it so that you're in control.
Okay. Then when we are talking about the numbers, you kind of alluded to this before about the fact that, oh, you're not prepared if something good, like a big opportunity comes up. Do people make their budgets too strict? Are they just kind of stripping everything out and kind of it's like a best-case scenario that this is what the budget is going to be, but there is a little unspoken assumption that as long as nothing goes wrong and prices don't ever go up and we never have to pay for anything that we haven't actually accounted for here? Or is it that they get a bit too optimistic about the financial outlook?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–4:25
2
What common problems cause budgets to break down?
4:25–6:44
3
Why do most budgets fail to work effectively?
6:44–10:54
4
How can behavior impact the effectiveness of a budget?
10:54–14:13
5
Are budgets too strict for most people's lifestyles?
14:13–22:06