Should I lend my sister money?

[ua_guy]

Thank you for all who have replied. A lot of you seem to think that I should sit down with her and help her budget if she is willing to do that, but I'm not sure that I'm the right person to do it. I do okay with my money and I have been suggesting that she put aside money for a situation like this, but I'm not a financial expert. I'm not sure that I feel comfortable telling her what she should do with her money when I'm not all that confident with what I do with my money. I know that I'm better than her at managing money, but I am by no means an expert. So, I don't think it's realistic for me to help her with her budgeting. In that case, what should I do?

You need not be an expert. You can certainly get to that level if you wish.

But sometimes learning how to "budget" is as simple as sitting down once a month, or every time a paycheck comes in, and start writing on a piece of scrap paper, and tucking it away so you can compare month over month. All a budget is, is:

INCOME - EXPENSES = SAVINGS.

If the savings number is negative, then expenses need to be reduced, or income needs to be increased! Simple as that.

[omgwedead]

You need not be an expert. You can certainly get to that level if you wish.

But sometimes learning how to "budget" is as simple as sitting down once a month, or every time a paycheck comes in, and start writing on a piece of scrap paper, and tucking it away so you can compare month over month. All a budget is, is:

INCOME - EXPENSES = SAVINGS.

If the savings number is negative, then expenses need to be reduced, or income needs to be increased! Simple as that.

*** This.. but instead of scrap paper i use google spreadsheet. It can be an awesome tool if you take some time to learn the basic functions available to you. I use it to calculate my bi-weekly budget and estimate future savings.