Choosing a financial planning worksheet may be the first step toward getting a budget in order. Whether to manage personal expenses, plan for investments, or calculate profits for a business, a financial planning worksheet can help organize and present data in a way that is easy to review and understand. There are many different worksheets that can aid in organizing expenses and turning the mystery of where money goes into a productive strategy for the future.
A basic financial planning worksheet can be made at home with a simple spreadsheet data program, or even a pen and paper. For personal financial planning, it is important to track income and expenditures. Create a simple spreadsheet that measures expenses in simple categories, such as food, electricity bill, rent, entertainment, gas, insurance, and credit card bill. Then track each months expenditures by entering payment totals into this category. Subtract this from total income per month, and the spreadsheet will serve as an account of monthly expenditures.
With a calculator handy, this is easy to do by hand, but many computers come with basic spreadsheet programs that can easily handle the math. It is also easy to find a ready-made financial planning worksheet by simply looking online. Many worksheets are available for free downloading, and can make an excellent alternative to creating a worksheet template at home.
Financial planning software can also generate a financial planning worksheet that may be used for a variety of calculations. Even basic versions are able to quickly take an expense record and convert it into percentage of income for a comprehensive look at expenditures. For people with savings and investment accounts, there are worksheets that can create lists of probable earnings based on interest rates and even market performance. These more advanced features are excellent for people with an investment portfolio.
A financial planning worksheet can also help create debt payment plans that can be easily understood. By entering factors like total debt, interest rate, and amount of each payment, a worksheet can quickly provide results that explain how long it will take to pay off a debt, and how much the total cost will be when considering interest. This can be very useful for people with multiple debts; finding out which ones will result in the highest total cost can help determine which debts to put extra money or higher payments toward. Using a financial planning worksheet for debt management can be a good way to stay on the wagon as far as debts are concerned, and help with long-term planning for future finances.