I like this video because it shows another group of people who also use budgets to make knowledgeable financial decisions. It is very important for every form of government to make yearly budgets not only to recognize themselves where the spending will go, but to also inform the tax-paying Canadians of where their money is going. It also shows how analyzing budgets, no matter the size, can be an important thing to do. We will further discuss budget analysis later on.

I find this video important to the idea of budgeting as you cannot begin to make your first budget without knowing what it's purpose is. For example, choosing to make a budget to "get rich" is not a sustainable goal. If you instead said you wanted to "cut down on needless expenses and begin allocating it towards a high-interest savings account", this goal provides you with a clearer idea of what you are looking to get out of the experience.

I find this video great as it explains the importance of budgeting through an example, that being a young teen getting advice from his father about how to make larger purchases in the future (i.e., cars, home etc...). I think the video is very relatable as, when I was a young teenager, I had the same kind of aspirations as the one in the video and also struggled with understanding how saving and budgeting could help me reach those goals. I also love how it is an illustrated video so it can be a great for visual learners. The video also has some comedic factor in it which makes it more engaging.

The great thing about this video is that it shows how budgets can be taken a step further so you can better manage your spending and investments. You can use the concept of variance analysis to compare a standard and actual budget. The standard budget could be the amount of money you expect to spend in a given period of time and the actual budget could be what you actually spend in that same time period. The difference will result in either a positive or negative variance, which means you either spent more (negative) or less (positive) than you expected. This can help you not only spend less overall, but also point out the places where you spend the most money (i.e., restaurants, games etc...).

I find this website to be very informative and it could help those who have never considered making a budget before. I think that steps 2 (begin tracking your expenses) and 6 (sticking to your budget) are the most important. Step 2 explains the 50-20-30 rule, which means you put 50% of your after-tax income towards needs, 20% towards savings, and 30% towards wants. I found this rule to help me out with step 6, as it provided me with quantifiable benchmarks for where my income should be going. Sometimes the hardest part is making budgeting a habit and getting over this hurdle will prove your commitment to correctly allocating your income.

What I find important from this website is each point's commonality, which is that budgets are a great starting point. Whether you are looking to get out of debt, increase your credit rating, or cut down on spending, finding a good place to start can be difficult. Budgets are a simple way to start reaching your financial goals or begin making better habits in your life.

• 31% of Canadians believe they have too much debt.

• 1/6 Canadians have monthly spending that exceeds their income.

With high interest rates, the cost of living has gone up alongside it. I included this website because I feel that there is no better time than now to begin making budgets. At the very least, it will take a few years before we can ever see the costs go down to where they were pre Covid-19. So, it is extremely important for all Canadians to do what they can to ride out this financial storm. It would benefit some to understand what percentage of their income is going to wants so they can better allocate their funds to the needs that have gotten so expensnive.

• Spend less on eating out,

• Invest their spare cashflow; and,

• Use coupons to cut necessary spending costs.

What I wanted to bring up with this website is the idea that many millionaires are made and not born. They used budgets to better allocate their funds towards smart investments, rather than over spending on their present wants. This website shows just one of many groups of people who find budgets beneficial and we will see how others use it coming up.

I included this image as I feel it is a great summary photo of the video and website previously discussed. While there are many specifics and nuances regarding budgets, it is also important to go back to the basics and this image demonstrates that.

What I like so much about it is the fact that it was done in Excel. As you would insert your income and expenses, the graph would change and immediately provide you with both your surplus or deficit and total savings compared to prior months. From there, you can consider why there have been any significant increases or decreases to net income or savings and what the best strategies are for yourself to keep each month in the positive.