Do you keep track of all the money you spend each month? Tracking your expenses will help you take control of your financial life.

SPENDING TRAPS

By tracking your monthly expenses, you can identify negative spending habits that you can change to make your money work better for you. You might find you’re paying for services you don’t use, like a streaming service or app you forgot to cancel before the free trial period expired.

FOCUS ON GOALS

If you’re planning to buy a house someday or looking to increase your retirement savings, tracking your expenses will help you reach those goals. You’ll be able to see if your expenses can be lowered or if your spending remains in line with your priorities.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

When you start tracking your expenses, you may worry less about money. Since you’ll know where every dollar is going, you won’t be anxious wondering if you’ll have enough money at the end of the month. You’ll feel more confident, and because you’re keeping track of your spending, you’ll be less likely to make impulse buys.

The general business consensus is that happy employees are more productive. So, are most of today’s employees satisfied with their employment? A Conference Board study conducted in late 2023 seems to give a resounding “yes.”

A CLOSER LOOK

The survey found that 63% of workers are satisfied overall, the highest job satisfaction rating since the survey began in 1987. But this bright report has some dark spots. One is the significant gap in satisfaction between men and women, particularly related to the financial benefits of work, such as wages, benefits, and bonuses.

The survey also noted a never-before discrepancy. Satisfaction decreased across the first 26 questions compared to 2022. Those declines indicate that future job satisfaction overall may be at risk despite the record rating in 2023.

KEEP PACE

While wages and key benefits remain vital to job satisfaction and productivity, respondents focused more on positive work culture and experience than in previous years. This suggests you should prioritize and emphasize factors such as the quality of leadership, career paths, work/life balance, work-from-home and flex options, and workplace culture to drive employee retention, productivity, and job satisfaction. Also, be alert to areas of low satisfaction, such as mental health programs, education/job training, recognition, and workload, and address the gaps in male/female and short tenure/longer tenure satisfaction.

Women remained less satisfied than men in general. This suggests that employers should bolster efforts to provide benefits that better support working women.

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