do you agree or disagee and what do you like like about the discussion? It is important to prepare a financial budget as a tool to help understand and control incoming and outgoing money. On a personal level, a financial budget can help make important financial decisions like how much to spend on transportation, housing and groceries. An effective financial budget can also help you prepare for the future and identify areas of spend that could use improvement. I like to use a budget to help me keep track of what bills I pay on what paycheck so I have an idea of how much money I will have left after everything is paid. This knowledge helps me plan out my grocery trips and random necessary expenses.

The concept of "time value of money" refers to the idea that money in hand now is worth more than money to be received at a future date. It would be better to receive $$8$ today instead of $$9$ seven years from now, because the value of the dollar will change with time. Money in hand is a guarantee at its current value, and money promised into the future is essentially useless for now and a gamble in the future. When planning for retirement, one should consider the way the value of money changes over time and plan accordingly. If using this concept when planning for retirement, we should plan to save more than we would think we need to account for the value shift that will inevitably happen. People also often entrust their retirement funds to accounts with appreciating benefits to try and match the change in dollar value over time. I currently keep my retirement funds in a medium$-$risk portfolio of stocks and bonds in the hope that time will help my retirement fund grow rather than depreciate.