After 2023, when the economy was marked by rising inflation, which triggered a general increase in interest rates and the prices of basic goods such as oil, the Spanish family economy faces expectations and uncertainty in 2024. Will the shopping cart continue to rise? Will house prices stabilize? Will salaries increase?
This unstable economic situation with a certain inflationary tendency has direct effects on people’s economies. In this sense, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission, recognizes that in the last two years (2022-2023) the saving capacity of Spaniards has significantly decreased and is at levels similar to before the pandemic.
Nowadays, the management of personal finances is quite demanding and, on this assumption, necessary promote financial education that enables citizens to understand the best way to sustainably manage their finances. Toni Cárdenas, manager and analyst at Caja Ingenieros, points out that “industry The financial institution has a responsibility to transfer some of the principles of financial education to society teach on Impose and on take decision that support AND welfare economic and social“.
50% of income must be allocated to primary needs
Properly managing and managing personal finances is the first step to achieving a certain level of financial health. Specifically, managing expenses is the most important point, but it is one of the most difficult issues. With this in mind, Caja Ingenieros, a cooperative entity providing credit and financial services and insurance, points out that The 50/30/20 rule is one of the easiest methods to help save 20% of your annual income.
This methodology is based on a strict control of income and expenditure and states exactly what percentage should be allocated to each question. To do this, the first step is to divide expenses into three categories and percentages: Primary needs must represent 50% of income, 30% of whims and 20% must be allocated to savings.. One of the keys to this method is the reversal of the basic principles of finance, which, as Cárdenas assures, “It allows on and people know What is the real money that should be allocated to fixed expenses such as housing, food, water bills? or children’s school“. This means that thanks to the 50/20/30 rule, it is possible to know exactly what percentage of income should be allocated to basic living expenses.
According to this rule 30% of the salary can be allocated to daily or specific expenses that are expendable and which are largely related to issues of free time. In this area of spending, it is also very important to consider the value of responsible consumption.
“All of our purchases and transactions have a social and environmental impact that we must consider“explains the expert. As a result, making conscious purchases and avoiding those that are impulsive and unnecessary contributes positively to the preservation of the personal economy and prevents increasing the impact that financial transactions generate on the planet.
Finally, thanks to this distribution of expenses, it is possible to achieve savings of 20% of the annual net salary. “Knowing the real savings one will have allows one to have Greater financial planning and realistic goal setting about future movements or investment opportunities” recognized by Caja Ingenieros. In this regard, the Entity, whose purpose is to humanize finance, offers close, personalized and quality attention that contributes to the care of the financial health of its more than 215,000 members.