Create a budget for 2024 now - and get your finances under control

No matter what your financial situation is, a budget is always a good idea, because without one, you won’t have a clear picture of your financial situation—your income and your expenses.

We recommend that everyone—both individuals and businesses—create a budget; however, in this section, we’ll focus on personal budgeting, with a special emphasis on those whose financial situation can be challenging at times. This group in particular can benefit greatly from having a budget—and sticking to it.

Personal Budget Template

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What is a budget?

A budget is an overview of one’s financial income and expenses. In personal finances, income typically consists of wages, government assistance, child benefits, and other sources of income. Expenses often include the fixed and variable costs associated with daily life, such as rent and bank loans, as well as food, subscriptions, and similar items.

A budget can be complex, but at its core, it can also be as simple as a few fields in an Excel spreadsheet—it’s entirely up to you—and whatever makes sense.

Why do I need to create a budget?

You should create a budget to get an overview of your income and expenses, and even though most people probably have a general idea of their monthly income, very few actually know their expenses.

With a budget, you'll know when your electricity bill, child support, or regular car expenses are deducted—and how much.

By keeping track of your income—and especially your expenses—you can manage your finances much more effectively and stay on top of when various bills are due. This allows you to budget your expenses much more effectively.

How do I create a budget?

You should create a budget to get an overview of your finances and, in turn, an understanding of your basic income—but especially what you actually spend your money on—and how much.

We recommend that you create a budget in Excel, and you may want to use our budget template here as a starting point.

The budget template is a good starting point for the vast majority of individuals, regardless of their financial situation.

Who can use a budget?

Everyone can benefit greatly from a budget—both businesses and individuals—as well as their external advisors, banks, and lenders.

If you are an individual looking to take out a loan from a bank, you will often be asked about your budget so that the bank can get a sense of your financial situation.

How to Get Started on Creating a Budget

If you're an individual, use our budget template as a starting point.

Next, log in to your online banking account, where all your expenses—every single month, going back a year—are listed.

Based on your online banking transactions, you can enter recurring expenses into your budget—some are fixed, others are variable, but enter them in the month to which they apply.

This will quickly help you gain a better overview of your finances—and thus also an overview of what each expense item costs, and therefore which ones you might be able to cut back on—or perhaps even eliminate entirely.

Remember that whenever you have a new expense, you need to add it to the budget.