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Q: I hear a lot about wants vs. needs. What does this mean?
When you set up a budget or a spending plan, part of your process should be to prioritize your spending. You have a limited amount of money to spend each month and you need to make sure that, first and foremost, what you have covers everything you need to live. These are your "needs" and usually include housing, utilities, food and clothing. Once your needs are taken care of, any remaining money can go to unnecessary “wants.” Wants are those items that are nice to have but not required to live and usually include cable TV, DVDs, restaurant meals and cell phones with many features, among others. You need to be careful not to confuse wants and needs. For example, you need a place to live, but you don't need a 5,000-square-foot home. A home is a need; the extremely large home is a want. When people refer to wants vs. needs they mean that, if money is tight, needs have to come first when you spend your money and wants should only be bought once all the needs are taken care of.
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