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Carly Hunter:

You can gain more control over your finances so that your money helps create the life you want, now and in the future, for you and your family. A key way of achieving these important goals — create a budget and follow it. It's not as hard as you may think. Just follow the four steps I describe in this video, and don't hesitate to ask your financial advisor for help. Step 1, add up your income before taxes.

As an advisor, the first thing I do is help our clients make a list. You'll identify all of your sources of income, how much you expect to receive, and when. Your sources may include — a paycheck, cash gifts from family, distributions from a trust, or income from investments. There's good news about gifts later in this video. Of course, your sources of income may change over time. That's why we suggest you look at only this year.

Then put a recurring alert on your calendar so that every January you can review your budget. Step 2, deduct the amount you'll pay in taxes. Identifying your sources of income is important, but the most useful number is the amount you'll actually have to spend. Look at how much is deducted from your paycheck.

Are you taking the right number of deductions? This is something you may want to review with your financial advisor and update with your employer. Depending on your assets, you'll want to figure out what other taxes you'll be paying this year. If you own a home, there'll be property taxes.

If you have investments outside of retirement accounts, that is not any kind of IRA or 401(k) plan, you'll likely need to pay taxes on any dividends and any sales. If you have a trust, income taxes might be due on distributions you receive. Now, about that good news I promised earlier, you won't need to pay any tax on gifts of cash or other assets received from family. Step 3, figure out where else you're spending money.

The income you have after taxes will fund your lifestyle. To help identify all of your expenses, ask yourself, what are my needs? What are my wants? And what are my goals?

Create a list of your monthly expenses. Put each expense in one of these three categories. Under needs, list all of your essentials, such as housing, transportation, groceries, and utilities. Also in this category, put expenses for health care and property insurance, as well as payments for any debts.

Your wants are your more flexible costs. How much are you spending on entertainment and dining out? How much on clothing, gym memberships, travel? Anything else?

And your goals category — put items such as your emergency cash reserve, retirement plan, investments, charitable giving, and savings for big-ticket purchases you may want to make later. A general rule and good starting point for budgets is 50% of your income should go to needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings. Lastly, track your spending going forward and automate everything. Banking and budgeting apps make it pretty easy to track your expenses.

Every month, you can see if you're spending more or less than you planned. To take it one step further, I'd encourage you to use automation to make your life easier. On your banking app, set up recurring transfers so that your paycheck flows into different accounts. Send the amount needed for your known expenses to one account.

This is where you'll set up auto pays for your rent or mortgage, utilities, and any subscriptions you may have. Next, send a fixed portion to go into a high-yield savings account or an investment account. The rest can be directed into an account for your discretionary spending. This is where you can spend free and clear and know you're on plan.

Sunday brunch? Yes, please. When setting up these accounts, keep in mind our guideline we mentioned earlier — 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings. And remember, no matter how young you are, we strongly advise that you have your employer automatically deduct for retirement savings. Don't think that's important? Think again and watch our video, "What Is a 401(k)?"

So let's quickly review how to take charge of your finances. Tally your income for the year. Deduct what you'll pay in taxes. Identify how you spend your money.

And track your spending and automate what you can. Of course, this is easy to say and harder to do. People tend to attach a lot of emotion to money and spending. If you're a Bessemer client, don't hesitate to reach out to your advisor for help.

You can get a handle on your spending and create a budget that works for you.

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