Tired of worrying about money? No matter where you are in your financial journey, there are amazing resources that can help you. People always ask me what resources I use to manage money.
Stop worrying about money and use these nine lifesaving resources.
1. Balance Sheet
There are a million websites that just sync your bank account with credit cards. Simply looking at your accounts online isn’t helping you. You need a plan. Financial Statements are what the Fortune 500 companies use. There are three financial statements that I use to manage my money: Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flow, and Monthly Income Statement.
I freakin’ love financial statements. They help you manage your money like a boss!
Your Balance Sheet is a snapshot of exactly where you stand with your money now. It shows the total current value of your assets: everything you own like your home, car, investments, and savings.
A Balance Sheets also shows your total current liabilities: everything you owe on your credit cards, car, “I owe you’s,” student loans, or any type of debt.
This is something I recommend filling in every quarter to see your progress. You can see your assets growing and liabilities shrinking.
2. Statement of Cash Flow
Want to get organized with what money is coming and going out?
The Statement of Cash Flow shows your cash inflow and outflow in a month.
Money can seem totally unpredictable and completely out of your control, but most of what you spend is entirely known, literally fixed, and 100% in your control. I recommend filling in a Statement of Cash Flows once a year to get a feel for your transactions and to look at the total amount each month spent on fixed expenses and for flex or variable expenses.
3. Monthly Income Statement
Tired of getting to the end of the month and wondering where all your money went? Expense tracking apps analyze your spending, after you’ve made a purchase.
Your Monthly Income Statement shows your income and expenses for each month.
With businesses, this statement can also be referred to as a P&L or Profit and Loss statement.
Your Statement of Cash Flow and Income Statement show the same numbers. I use Monthly Income Statements to project my income and expenses ahead for each quarter. Then, monthly I review my plan and fill in my actual income and expenses. The action of projecting numbers and filling in actual numbers keeps me accountable to reach my financial goals.
It’s perfect if you want to get out of the “every-month- expenses-just-pop-up” cycle and get rid of sticker shock for variable expenses.
Related Posts:
- How to Get Focused & Organized with Your Money + Life
- How to Fill in Your Personal Balance Sheet
- WTF!? Where Did my Money Go? Find Out with Your Statement of Cash Flow
4. Debt Calculator
Want to see exactly when you can be debt-free? Getting out of debt is hard. It doesn’t happen overnight or accidentally. It takes making intentional changes and paying extra towards your debt each month. Push to get out of debt within 36 months or less because it’s easier to make sacrifices when there’s an end in sight.
Amazing things happen when you have a plan with a deadline.
Debt calculators show a month-by-month repayment schedule.
You can see how much extra you need to pay to get out of debt by a certain date.
There are different strategies to getting out of debt. You can pay an extra amount of debt to your smallest debt. On the other hand, paying extra towards your highest interest debt will allow you to get out of debt sooner.
5. Investing Calculator
Investing at first can be intimidating with a lot of information thrown at us, all at once. Because of compound interest, the most important step with investing is to get started.
You can see the miracle of compound interest and a year-by-year inflation adjusted projection of how your money will grow with an investing calculator.
Investing calculators will pump you up about investing. It’s exciting to see how investing a little bit each month now, makes a big difference for your future!
6. Financial (day) Planner
This is something I created that includes a Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flow, 12 Monthly Income Statements, Debt Calculator, and Investing Calculator.
The Financial (day) Planner is the ultimate money organizer.
It’s a day planner and financial planner in one that puts a dollar sign to your to-do list.
Day planners help you stay organized with events like appointments, birthdays, or life to-do’s. Financial plans help you to reach goals like investing, saving for a rainy day, getting out of debt, and buying a home.
My Financial (day) Planner helps me to be CFO and have a plan with my life and money all year long. I love it!
7. Brown Bag
According to Mint.com, the average person spends $581 a month of food and drinks.
You can save thousands of dollars a year by brown baggin’ it and taking your lunch to work. It sounds too simple, but it’s true. If you haven’t been able to save money or pay extra towards your debt taking your lunch to work is a lifesaver. A brown bag can be your secret weapon when getting your finances in order. How much are you spending on food each month?
8. Best Money Class Ever
You have big dreams for your future. If you’re like me you want to travel the world, be debt-free, make a difference in the world, buy a home, and invest for your future.
I paid off over $35,000 and saved over $100,000 by age 26. I share my exact strategies in Best Money Class Ever. If you’ve been meaning to get your finances in order, then you NEED this class! You don’t have to figure this money stuff out on your own.
Do you:
- Hope to buy a home, car, or have another big life purchase coming up
- Want pointers with day-to-day spending (those brunches and bachelorette parties are killer!)
- Need to understand investing and how retirement plans work
- Crave a little motivation, community, accountability, and pick-me up with money
Then Best Money Class Ever is for you! Class includes four sessions that are held live in Austin and online. You’ll have access to the videos for a year, a Financial (day) Planner, 200+ page workbook with all my best money tips. Oh yes, and we grab a drink each week.
As you can see there are a lot of tools and resources with managing money. If you google, “favorite tools and resources money,” you’ll get over 500 million pages with tips. There’s a lot out there to sort and sift through. I’ve personally spend YEARS designing and refining the Best Money Class Ever and the Financial (day) Planner. Not to mention the fours year I spent getting a degree in Finance. Stop worrying about money and use these 9 lifesaving resources now.
