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Leave average behind.
Personal finance is a tough thing for a lot of people.
We aren’t taught it in school. Most people come from families who also don’t teach it. And there seems to be so many levels to understand. It’s overwhelming.
I’d like help make this easier for folks.
I use two sheets to keep track of all of my financials.
- The Cash Flow sheet
- The Net Worth sheet
Both are monthly but they measure different things.
Both are on Google Sheets, which is free.
Cash Flow Sheet
The simple version? All incoming money, all outgoing money, how much we invest.
The more in-depth version is below.
You can create calculations in the sheet just like Excel. Ex. =sum(B24:I24)
This way as I enter salaries, rent, investments, etc. the totals section is populated.
Your sheet will look different based on your needs. But the general idea is you have to know what’s coming and going.
Net Worth Sheet
This is the simple addition of all of our assets (what you see on the investment column above) minus any debts.
Again, use the formulas to do auto-calculations. This way you just plug your numbers and the sheet adds it up for you.
I also add our savings (emergency fund) to this sheet.
I keep track of our credit scores as well.
Yes, there are apps that do this. No, I don’t want to use them.
Money hits different when you input the numbers yourself and you look into your finances yourself.
Average people use apps. Wealthy people input their own numbers and watch their finances carefully.
Hope you found this valuable! Pop back tomorrow for my “Blue Zone Living for Everyday People” article, posting at 6a EST.
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