Mar 2001 Volume 82 Number 3 "serving the protectors"
Budgeting – a life-long skill

The Police Credit Union’s founding fathers recognized the importance of budgeting. Eddie Trotter put in many long hours as the credit union’s budgeting officer helping early members organize their commitments. Today, we have far more sophisticated means of accessing our funds and paying our bills, but the need to establish a workable system to do this is as crucial now as it was 30 years ago.

How do you get started?

Planning a workable budget takes time and patience, whether you are doing so as a single person with few commitments or for a family. Set aside a time when there will be few interruptions. If possible, gather copies of or information about the major bills you have paid in the previous year. This will allow you to make a realistic assessment of costs, taking into account seasonal adjustments. Make a list of regular commitments such as mortgage payments or rent, personal loans, credit card bills, monthly insurance payments, and health insurance. What education or car maintenance expenses do you expect to have? Perhaps there are regular medical bills that need to be considered.

Once you have gathered as much information as possible about your commitments, you will need to collate it to arrive at a fortnightly amount to set aside.

Collating the information

The Police Credit Union offers a number of methods to help you achieve this. First, by accessing the “helpful information” button on the PCU web page, you will find an on-line budget planner. If you have a PC but do not have access to the Internet, call into a PCU branch or phone our response centre and we can provide the budget planner on a floppy disc. If neither avenue is available to you, our branches or response centre can provide budget-planning booklets.

Using these guides, collate the information you have gathered and calculate the fortnightly amount required to cover your expenses. The planner will not only provide this outcome for you but will also provide you with an overview of when to expect major expenses during the year.

Putting aside the funds

One of many advantages a credit union membership has is that it allows you to have a number of accounts under the one membership number. This makes it a very easy task to split your payroll into compartments. You can direct the figure you have committed to bill paying into an account that is separate from your general household funds. You can take your budgeting one step further and put money aside for Christmas in a Christmas Club and perhaps use a “seven-day call account” to save for a holiday or some other special event.

Whatever method you use, planning your budget helps you gain control and so reduces the stress of meeting commitments. It will help you set goals that you can expect to achieve.

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