If you want to make smarter decisions when it comes to your finances, you may consider using money management worksheets. A money management spreadsheet or worksheet is an important document you can use for budgeting, assessing your current financial situation, and more. In this article, we’ll learn more about such worksheets along with money management tips to help you out.
Contents
- 1 Money Management Worksheets
- 2 Why do you need a money management worksheet?
- 3 The importance of managing your money
- 4 Financial Planning Worksheets
- 5 Information to include on your money management worksheets
- 6 Money Management Spreadsheets
- 7 Some types of money management worksheets
- 8 Guidelines when you’re working with money management worksheets
Money Management Worksheets
Why do you need a money management worksheet?
The main reason why you need money management worksheets is so that you can manage your finances better. With such a worksheet, you can set financial goals, find out your net worth, keep track of your cash flow, and keep an eye on your expenses. In doing this, you can improve your financial health in the long-run.
You can use a money or financial planning worksheet to examine your financial history and come up with a plan for your future savings and spending. You can use it to find out how much you can afford to spend and how much you should save every month in order to achieve your financial goals.
The importance of managing your money
When you create money management worksheets correctly, you can benefit from them a lot. This template serves as a highly accurate tool for you to analyze your money management patters. There are two main reasons why managing your money is very important:
To find out if you’re spending more than what you’re earning
If you notice that you’re not able to save but you have a lot of debts, this means that you’re overspending. But before you can solve this issue, you must find out exactly how big of a problem you’re dealing with. Debts and other financial issues often stem from overspending.
But if you use a money management spreadsheet to keep track of your finances, then there’s a reduced likelihood of your overspending. This will give you a better idea of all the financial resources at your disposal which, in turn, helps you avoid overspending.
To find out what you can afford to spend
After creating money management worksheets, you’ll have a better idea of how much you have and where you spend your money. Then you can create a financial planning worksheet where you modify your spending patterns by prioritizing the things you need to spend on. This helps you stick to your budget better.
It’s not a difficult task to create and use a money management spreadsheet. You can download a template or create one on your own using the word processing software of your choice. After creating your template, save the blank version. Before you start inputting values, make sure to save the template under a different file name.
Financial Planning Worksheets
Information to include on your money management worksheets
Most people don’t even know where their money goes. No matter how much they earn, it always seems like the money isn’t enough. More often than not, the problem isn’t because they aren’t earning enough. It’s more of these people not managing their finances well.
Money management is an important aspect of life. If you want to set financial goals and see yourself achieve them, then you must learn how to manage your money properly. To help you with this, using money management worksheets or financial planning worksheet is key. For these worksheets, make sure to include the following information:
- Your financial goals. These refer to specific things you plan to spend on or what you want to do with the money you earn within a specific time period. Setting short-term goals mean you must achieve them within a year, mid-term goals mean that you must achieve them within five years, and long-term goals mean that you must achieve them over a period of five years or more.
- Your net worth. If you want to assess the progress you’re making as you work towards achieving your goals, you must first find out your net worth. This refers to the difference between your assets and your liabilities. If you want to stay on track financially, find out your net worth at least once a year.
- Your essential expenses. These refer to the expenses which you must pay regularly like insurances, household expenses, tuition, and others. Make sure to include these in your money management worksheets so you know that part of your income goes into these expenses.
- Your monthly income. Make a list of all your net and gross income from all of your sources. From those which you receive from your job to those which you don’t receive regularly, you must include all of these figures. To get the value of your monthly income, divide the total by 12.
- Your unsecured debts. Make a list of all your debts. Also, include the interest rates, total owed balances, minimum payment required, and the name of the creditors. These debts include personal loans, credit card charges, outstanding medical bills, installment loans, and more.
Money Management Spreadsheets
Some types of money management worksheets
The more you learn about your finances, the more you can manage them effectively. In turn, you can make smarter choices when it comes to your money. There are different types of money management spreadsheet you can use depending on what you want to keep track of or what you want to achieve. These include:
Basic budgeting worksheet
The idea behind this worksheet is that you assign something for each dollar you earn. As money comes in, you allocate each dollar as needed. If you need to make adjustments, simply change the values around. If you’re new to money management, this could be the perfect type of worksheet for you.
Debt snowball worksheet
This is the perfect worksheet for those who want to get out of debt. With it, you can prioritize all of the debts you owe. It helps you determine which debts to save up for first so that you can pay them off bit by bit.
Future expenses worksheet
A lot of people confuse big purchases with emergency expenses. For instance, if you have a car which breaks down and you need to purchase a new one, does this qualify as an emergency? Or should you have already planned this expense a few years back?
Use this worksheet to plan your future expenses although you don’t know what they are yet. Set aside an amount from your income to make sure that you have a nest egg to take money from when you need to make huge expenses in the future.
Health plan worksheet
A lot of people want to start paying for health plans but choosing the right one can be extremely challenging. But when you use a worksheet to list all of the financial details, this makes the task of choosing the best plan a lot easier. Ask around about the different types of health plans and their premiums.
Input these values in the worksheet to help you determine which plan makes the most sense for your current financial situation. That way, you can make a wiser choice for the health plan to avail of for your future.
Net worth worksheet
We’ve established the importance of keeping track of your net worth. Doing this gives you an accurate picture of your financial situation. Using this type of worksheet can motivate you, especially when you see your numbers increasing as the years go by. You can also use this worksheet to calculate the quarterly value of your net worth.
Personal capital retirement worksheet
At the current rate at which you save, how many more years do you need to save up until you’re able to retire? If you want to find this out, then you may want to use this worksheet. Use it to estimate how much time you need until you have enough money for all of your expenses for the rest of your life.
Savings worksheet
We’ve all been in that place where we always put off investing because we feel that we don’t have enough right now. But when you use this worksheet, it shows you how much this delay costs you in the long-run. If you want to learn how to save more effectively, then this worksheet is ideal for you.
Guidelines when you’re working with money management worksheets
When it comes to money or financial planning worksheet, you must reevaluate these plans regularly, especially if you experience a major shift in your financial needs and wants. Keep in mind that money management is all about learning how to prioritize. To help you use these worksheets more effectively, here are some guidelines:
- Housing. Whether you’re a homeowner or not, don’t spend over 35% of your net income on your housing expenses. These expenses include taxes, insurances, maintenance, rent or mortgage, and utilities.
- Savings. The best way to save is to set aside at least 10% of your income as long as you’re working. Also, make sure that you have at least three months of income in a separate account to serve as your emergency fund.
- Transportation. Don’t spend over 15% of your net income on your transportation which may include parking, gasoline, car payments, insurance, maintenance, and licenses.
- Debts. Don’t spend over 15% of your net income on debts like credit cards, medical debts, loans, and so on.