Personal Financial Statement

Some people will find this part unnecessary and tedious, but I would say this is the most critical. Not knowing your financial Ins and Outs, is like saying I don’t care if it is raining outside or snowing. You will find suddenly your money will just disappear. You won’t know where it went. So this step is worth the hassle to evaluate where you are at. And of course it is the right attitude towards money.

I have attached a sample of a Financial Statement here in Money Traits. The amount in this Statement is for illustration purpose and there is a brief description next to the amount.

The top column speaks about expenditures. This can vary from person to person, I have listed down some common ones. Of course if you have kids, the list is longer. Do remember that this Statement is on monthly basis, if you have some annual commitments, you should divide them into 12 so that you can fill into this statement.

Do remember to make allowance for yourself, that is Savings and money for Investment.

At the bottom, you should put in your incomes. This are monthly income for your full-time work and other sort of income that you may have.

Now right at the bottom, you will find if you have a positive or negative cashflow per month. If you are in the negative region, you should be careful and work on the category which you can still minimize. For instance, you can control your Shopping, Handphone usage, or entertainment.

If you are at the positive, you can choose to store and save up the money for rainy days. Update this list each time you come to different phases of life (marriage, kids, retirement…)

Personally I find this helpful, when I started work , I started this habit of keeping a Financial Statement list. And whenever I consider purchasing a car or house or any other commitments, I am able to immediately see if I am in the +ve or –ve.

So hope you enjoy preparing your own Financial Statement.