Computerised budget help

Kainga Aroha Budget Advisory Service has added a new computerised cash flow spreadsheet to its system and welcomes
two new budget advisors.

Michael Cox and Toni Fortune have joined the budget team in recent weeks and will be an asset to the agency. Both are well known for their work in the community.

The new interactive spreadsheet can be utilised from the Kainga Aroha website. It has preset formulas to allow users to enter their known income and expenses for the coming weeks, and automatically calculates the bank balance for
them over that period.

Budget co-ordinator Bruce Owen says while there are some calculators already on the internet, such as the Government’s
www.sorted.org.nz, they are complex.

“The service felt there was a need for a simple one-page chart which will answer such questions as ‘If I spend $30 extra this week, how will it affect my ability to pay my bills in coming weeks?’,” he says.

The spreadsheets are freely downloadable in either Works or Excel format, or for anyone with a computer, but not online, the service will freely provide a disc of the spreadsheet or install it.

Mr Owen says the service hopes the tool will assist those people struggling with their budget and ensure they don’t make commitments they can’t afford.

Over 50% of all households now have computers and Mr Owen says the service believes it should be helping people by providing ‘the budgeting fence at the top of the cliff rather than waiting until the ambulance is needed at the bottom’.