Are you wanting to keep track of your budget but don’t know where to start? A budget Excel template is a great option for easily tracking your budget without getting bogged down in the details of more complicated tools. Whether you are saving for your next vacation or getting a handle on your monthly expenses, using a budget template is a smart way to reach your goals. What Makes a Good Budget Template? Everyone starts off budgeting with good intentions, but a budget only works if you stick to it. I’m sure you’ve heard the survey results and personal finance statistics that say only 41% of people follow a budget. One of the essential qualities of a great budget template is that it is easy to use. As an unreformed spreadsheet nerd, I tend to make things more complicated than they need to be, tracking and categorizing every transaction’s smallest detail. But when it comes time to sit down and actually go over the data, I am reluctant because it will take me time. It’s a myth that budgeting has to take multiple hours every month. Find a template that allows you the flexibility to adjust to fit your budget and lifestyle needs. You’re probably better off tracking only 9 or 10 budget categories rather than 30 or 40. You can always split it out later if you find you need more granularity into a particular line item. With simplicity in mind, what follows are some of my favorite recommended budget templates (in Excel or otherwise). Monthly Budget Template First, I have to talk about my own Monthly Budget Template. This simple and free PDF lets you track your income and expenses in minutes, set realistic financial goals that actually stick, break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and see exactly where you can save more each month. How to get the Monthly Budget Template: Just click here and download it! 5 Best Free Budget Excel Templates Google Docs Budget Spreadsheets If you have a Google account (and who doesn’t?), you can search the Google Docs template gallery for pre-made budget spreadsheets. There’s a lot to like about keeping your budget in a Google Sheet: Easily accessed from anywhere you have an internet connection Simple, clean template Comes with pre-built budget categories, but you can also customize it to meet your needs There are currently two different budget templates, one for a monthly budget and one for an annual budget. Both track your income and expenses and give you some pretty charts and graphs of your cash inflow and outflow using pre-set formulas. For me, I’d pick the annual budget, so I would only have to keep track of a single file for the year. But if you want a little more detailed look into your finances, you could go with the monthly option. How to Get the Budget Template: Go to docs.google.com and choose “Sheets.” Then you can browse the template library. Here is the monthly budget and the annual

A retired actuary name Ken Steiner has a article today, 8/4/2026, titled Social Security’s Short-Term Crisis,  published on Advisor Perspectives. I like Mr. Steiner’s thinking on breaking the funding or reduction of the future social security shortfall problem into short and long components.  His discussion of one alternative is a three-year COLA freeze starting around 2033. If you are part of the grandfathered group who is receiving a current social security benefit you may want […]