Here is a description of the guide from Accounting Principles website, "This valuable tool provides you with the most up-to-date accounting and finance salaries for your local job market and around the country. It also features the latest job descriptions and industry insights from the experts in accounting and finance staffing. It’s everything you need to successfully hire and retain the very best number-crunching professionals."

Accountants Predicted to Make More Money in 2017

The guide, released on Sept. 6, also indicates that several types of finance positions, including accounting and auditing, are expected to outpace overall occupations in job growth and pay by 2024. Citing job numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the guide indicates that financial analysts, financial examiners, accountants and auditors, and financial planners (described as personal financial advisers by the BLS) show the strongest growth.

The guide breaks down the jobs numbers by several categories from the bureau’s 2016-17 occupational outlook. The category of business and financial professionals is the first. The BLS indicates that while jobs within this category are expected to keep pace with the 8 percent expected growth of all occupations by 2024, the median annual wage in May 2015 of $65,710 far exceeded the median $36,200 for all occupations.

And within that big category are several subsets of finance positions that are expected to do quite well. Here’s a closer look:

Accountants and Auditors

“A stronger regulatory environment is driving the demand for more accountants and auditors,” the BLS states.The 1.33 million accountants and auditors in 2014 are expected to grow 11 percent by 2024, to 1.47 million. The median pay in 2015 was $67,190.

Financial Examiners

An expected 10 percent growth by 2024 will add 3,700 jobs to the 38,200 as of 2014. Median pay in 2015 was $78,010.

Financial Analyst

The 277,600 in 2014 are expected to see 32,300 (12 percent growth) additional colleagues by 2024. Median pay in 2015 was $80,310.

Financial Planners/Personal Financial Advisers

The BLS describes this group as those advising on investments, insurance, mortgages, college savings, estate planning, taxes, and retirement. With 249,400 in 2014, the group is expected to grow 30 percent by 2024. Median pay in 2015 was $89,160.

The growth in these categories means that competition for jobs will become more fierce. “Candidates, especially those with specialized skills, can pick and choose their jobs,” Accounting Principals President David Alexander said in a foreword to the guide. “Because of this, it’s now more important than ever for employers to offer quite a bit in order to hire and retain top talent.”

You can get your free copy of Reality Check here.

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Let's face it, when it comes to personal finance, most of us hate budgeting. We are not talking about regular budgeting for mortgage payments, car payments, utility bills, etc, but the budgeting of personal, variable income, like the money we spend on groceries and entertainment, for instance.

You may have tried every spreadsheet there is for tracking variable income and they all have you feeling like you've wasted your time and shot your nerves. You may then discover that the less you stress about the tiny details, the more open you are to increasing your income, saving more money and nailing your financial goals. With that being said, here is a non-traditional suggestion for budgeting variable income.

Use Ballpark Figures

Just because you find that stressing over how much money you spent on groceries is not beneficial to your finances (or your sanity) doesn’t mean you need to be oblivious of how much money you're spending.

You know how much you're roughly spending on food and entertainment each month. The number may not be exact each month but you have a rough estimate that helps you plan.

Take Your Savings off the Top

The next step in the non-traditional way of budgeting personal, variable income is to take your savings off the top.

Once your regular bills, like mortgage and car payments, are paid, before you allot any money for food and entertainment, pay yourself first.

Because you've taken care of your savings first you simplify the process and don’t feel any guilt associated with spending some of your money.

Stop Stressing So Much.

Something strange happens when you give up the stress of trying to budget variable income. When you trust yourself and the processes of life, you will actually find you have a better attention span and time and as a result you make more money.

This will  not be a coincidence. As soon as you stop focusing on minute details and worrying about not having enough, your mind is able to better focus on how to make more money. Sometimes it really is easier to make more money than it is to nickel and dime every little detail of your financial life.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, we need to have a balance of managing money and enjoying money. If you find that more traditional forms of budgeting variable income are causing too much stress and self-sabotage, start to focus on feeling better first. Once you do that, your mind will clear and learning how to handle variable income becomes a piece of cake.

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Most of the blog posts we write here at MoneyThumb are geared toward accountants, CPAs and bookkeepers, but even those of you are in this field must take care of your own personal finances, and often the personal finances of clients. So today our post is all about personal finance and tips from around the web to help you better handle and manage personal finances.

But first, if you have been searching for a way to keep track of your personal finance portfolio, you should check out MoneyThumb's Portfolio Tracker Pro. Portfolio Tracker Pro helps you manage your financial picture with sophisticated performance management tools, true ROI calculation and an asset allocation re-balancing calculator while also letting you create multiple portfolios, calculate yearly ROI and compare their performance.

Now, on to what we consider the most helpful and relevant links from across the web that will help you with personal finances.

Daily Finance has this great article, 7 Things Financially Successful People Refuse to Do. Of the seven tips my favorite is this one: They refuse to let their current knowledge be enough. This is so true, especially in our modern world where things change so quickly. We must keep up with current trends and keep learning, always.

Forbes Investing section has this helpful article from Fidelity Voice about saving for retirement. Some really awesome tips to help make your retirement much more stable.

Investopedia offers some very helpful tips for personal finance success. One tip that truly stands out for me is this one: Create a Retirement Roadmap. Good stuff there.

Huffington Post Business has this article, 3 Bluntly Simple Personal Finance Tips that Work Miracles. A tall order, and you may be surprised at what it contains. Be sure to read this one.

If you only read one of the article offered in this post, read this one, 26 Personal Finance Tips from Famous People, offered by Life Hack. It is all about quotes concerning personal finance and I am sure you will find a jewel you can apply to your own personal finances. This one is my favorite: “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” -Eleanor Roosevelt.

This great article from Quicken, Conquer Your Fear of Investing, has some very helpful tips for young investors, or those who have always been afraid of investing. It is in a question and answer format, with the most pertinent questions and the answers to follow. Good stuff.

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