{"id":68038,"date":"2025-09-16T18:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/68038\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T18:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:06:07","slug":"i-am-concerned-im-70-a-widow-and-have-6700-a-month-to-spend-my-car-is-paid-for-and-i-spend-1200-a-month-on-tithes-ive-never-in-my-life-had-a-budget-who-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/68038\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I am concerned.\u2019 I\u2019m 70, a widow and have $6,700 a month to spend. My car is paid for, and I spend $1,200 a month on tithes. I\u2019ve never in my life had a budget. Who can help?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/strong> \u201cl am concerned about a budget. I am 70 years old and a widow. I currently have $6,700 to work with monthly. My spending every month is $1,200 paying my tithes. I have three subscriptions to Viki, Amazon and Costco. My 2016 Honda is paid for, I just need to start balancing my spending and I\u2019ve never had a budget to direct me. I\u2019m not sure where to begin other than writing this letter. Where should I look for help and how much will it cost?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer: <\/strong>It\u2019s smart you\u2019re thinking about a budget now \u2014 and you may want to have a financial planner assist you with that and other financial questions (you can use this free tool to get matched with a fiduciary financial planner<\/a>, from our partner SmartAsset, as well as tools like CFP Board and NAPFA).<\/p>\n

Statistically speaking, a woman who is 70 years old today is expected to live about another 17 years. \u201cYour location, health, family history plus other variables will impact that number,\u201d says Deborah W. Ellis, a certified financial planner at Ellis Wealth Planning. \u201cI usually like to plan until 100, unless there are extenuating circumstances as there\u2019s nothing worse than to plan to live to 90, run out of money and live longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have an issue with your financial planner or looking for a new one? Email questions or concerns to picks@marketwatch.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As far as making a budget, Ellis recommends looking at your interests, goals and hopes for your next phase of life. \u201cWill you need a new car? Will you need funds for healthcare? Where are you living? Will you need to move and pay more for housing and utilities? If you\u2019re interested in setting up a spending plan, prioritize your values, goals, dreams and wishes,\u201d says Ellis. \u201cLook at your current income, expenses, investments and savings. Evaluate whether more is coming in than going out or vice versa. See if your spending aligns with your values, goals and wishes and if it doesn\u2019t, look into how you can adjust that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another important consideration to make during this process is inflation, adds Ellis. \u201cWith 3% inflation, everything doubles in approximately 24 years. You might not see prices double in your lifetime, but they can increase every year. If you\u2019re spending less than your $6,700 a month, are you saving and investing what you don\u2019t need so that you can keep up with inflation? A budget should be more than the spending limits for certain categories. It should be a spending plan that includes paying yourself first so you can save and invest to be able to make changes in the future as the economy and world environment changes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Indeed, you may be able to DIY a budget \u2014 but you will need to have a detailed understanding of your income, expenses and spending. There are several apps that can help you track your expenses and budget automatically, some of which are free. \u201cI don\u2019t recommend those because free options typically sell your information to credit card companies rather than serving you directly,\u201d says Alonso Rodriguez Segarra, a CFP and CEO at Advise Financial. \u201cYou\u2019ll receive thousands of offers, some of which are very good and the temptation to use the card is powerful. For this reason, it\u2019s much better to look for a company where you pay for this service. Many financial planners prefer Monarch, a platform we pay about $10 a month for, but there are multiple options available.\u201d<\/p>\n

If this seems too complex, consider opening an online checking account that doesn\u2019t charge for leaving the account balance at zero. \u201cApply the digital envelope method. This involves depositing money into a specific category,\u201d says Segarra. \u201cSuppose you want to eat out at restaurants without feeling guilty, you can deposit an amount into this account at the beginning of the month and spend it on restaurants. At the end of the month, you can check if you have any money left over or if you\u2019re running low and only have enough to visit a less expensive restaurant. This approach allows you to manage your finances without feeling constrained.\u201d (Other categories you might consider allocating funds to include car insurance, car maintenance, healthcare costs and an emergency fund. Having at least a few months\u2019 worth of expenses saved up in case something unexpected arises will help you stay debt free and usher you through what might otherwise be a difficult financial time.)<\/p>\n

If the $1,200 a month in tithes is money you\u2019re paying directly to the church, you might consider reducing that amount, if you feel comfortable, as you\u2019re currently handing over about 18% of your monthly income, which is more than the typical 10% most people give. If you were to reduce your tithes to 10%, or $670 per month, you could put the remaining $530 per month into an emergency savings fund in either a high-yield savings or money market account.<\/p>\n

What about a financial adviser?<\/p>\n

The other best place to start is with a financial planner, says Joe Favorito, a CFP and firm principal at Landmark Wealth Management. \u201cI would suggest you either work with a financial adviser or work on a more detailed budget for yourself that looks at all of your bills and discretionary spending,\u201d says Favorito. \u201cCreating a budget is not necessarily about restricting yourself but rather getting an understanding of where the money goes and what you could cut out if you needed to,\u201d<\/p>\n

A planner can help you create a clear spending plan, make sure your income is being used in the best way for your goals and values and provide ongoing guidance as things change, says Joey Casolaro, CFP and associate wealth adviser at Highland Financial Planning. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral organizations allow you to search for qualified advisers like XY Planning Network, which connects you with fee-only planners \u2014 many of whom specialize in budgeting and retirement planning; Garrett Planning Network, which offers access to fee-only planners who often work on an hourly or project basis which can be a more affordable way to get started; the CFP Board, which lets you search for CFPs in your area or virtually who meet education, experience and ethics standards; and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, an organization of fee-only fiduciary advisers committed to acting in your best interest,\u201d says Casolaro. You can also use this free tool, from our partner SmartAsset, that can match you with fiduciary financial advisors<\/a>. <\/p>\n

If you go the route of working with a financial planner, know that the costs associated with planners can vary depending on the type of support you\u2019re looking for. \u201cSome work on an hourly basis often starting around $200 to $400 per hour while others offer ongoing planning for a flat annual or monthly fee. Many advisers will discuss your needs in a free introductory call so you can see if it\u2019s a good fit before committing,\u201d says Casolaro.<\/p>\n

Have an issue with your financial planner or looking for a new one? Email questions or concerns to picks@marketwatch.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Questions edited for brevity and clarity. By emailing your questions to The Advicer, you agree to have them published anonymously on MarketWatch; they may appear anonymously in other media and platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: \u201cl am concerned about a budget. I am 70 years old and a widow. I currently have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[2552,79,13782,41565,18,47522,18131,19,41586,3442,41557,17,47521,234,235,2895,19363,41589,41574,41575,41590,41576,26243,10654],"class_list":{"0":"post-68038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-corporate","11":"tag-corporate-industrial-news","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-financial-investment-services","14":"tag-financial-services","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-industrial-news","17":"tag-investing","18":"tag-investing-securities","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-mpsmartasset","21":"tag-personal-finance","22":"tag-personalfinance","23":"tag-retirement-planning","24":"tag-securities","25":"tag-selection-of-top-stories","26":"tag-selection-of-top-stories-trends-analysis","27":"tag-suggested-reading-industry-news","28":"tag-suggested-reading-investing","29":"tag-suggested-reading-investing-securities","30":"tag-synd","31":"tag-trends"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}