Develop a personal budget.

Development of a personal budget should include

• recognizing the importance of saving
• using a budgeting ratio model, such as 50-30-20
• writing a statement of short-, medium-, and long-term financial goals
• creating a plan for managing one’s money over a short period of time
• outlining a long-term plan for managing money
• creating an emergency fund.

Budget should allow for discretionary income (e.g., what is available after paying for essentials) and take into account the impact of cost-of-living increases and inflation.