Where Does All My Money Go? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Perhaps the million-dollar question every time you run out of money is: “Where does all my money go?”

After working so hard earning you might always face the situation where you would be left wondering how did all your money have gone so quickly.

In an infographic by CreditDonkey, it shows what typical Americans make and spend in a month and how they pay their bills. You may view a similar infographic where do Filipinos spend their money here.

The analysis suggests that many people are most likely spending more than they earn each month. It also shows steady movement away from cash and checks toward plastic and electronic payment instruments, which can result in unfamiliar or unchecked fees and interest charges that can increase overspending and indebtedness. Managing your spending and payments will help track those expenditures.

The analysis shows:

The median American monthly income in recent years is about $4,000, 80 percent of which is usually needed to cover regular monthly expenses for groceries, housing, gasoline, insurance and the like for average families, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.

Nearly 6 percent of all consumer spending in the U.S. is presently used to pay for communication services such as cell phone charges, Internet hookups, cable or satellite television and basic utilities such as water, electricity and natural gas.

Even though more than 80 percent of typical household income can be roughly accounted for by regular expenses and communication services, lower- to middle-income Americans say they also use their credit cards to charge about $58 a day for things other than regular bills or major purchases, which adds up to $1,740 a month – or more than 40 percent of monthly income – according to Gallup’s daily survey of consumer spending.

The overall U.S. personal savings rate – total savings as a percentage of total disposable income – was above 3 percent at the end of 2011. This is a significant increase from a rate of .2 percent in December 2007 at the start of the economic recession, but still a low figure. These figures include savings data from the wealthy, middle-class, and poor. Because the wealthy rarely spend all of their disposable income, a low overall savings rate means many people are spending more than they earn and are living in debt.

The average consumer makes about 64.5 payments a month, with only 28.1 percent of those made for regular bills and 64.1 percent of them for in-person retail or service transactions.

Thirty of those monthly payments are made with plastic – debit or credit cards – compared to 27 made with cash or paper checks. The remaining payments are made with electronic payment instruments (such as online banking and electronic transfer) and prepaid cards (such as subway cards and money orders).

Manage Your Spending and Payments

Although it may seem overwhelming, it is possible to track how you are spending your money and to manage your payments. These guidelines will help you do that:

Make a budget for regular spending on food, housing, utilities, telecommunications (cell phone, cable and wireless service) and gasoline.

Never use the category “credit card payment” or “PayPal” in your monthly budget. Instead, identify the expenses (for example, use groceries, gasoline, rent, clothing) and their costs per month.

Review all credit card and bank statements when you receive them and compare interest rates and fees from month to month. If you tend to carry a balance, consider using low interest credit cards.

Overcome the shopping monster in you. Do not buy things in haste. Identify your needs and prioritize them over your wants. Or else, you’ll end up sacrificing the former over the latter.