You’re working long hours to bring home the bucks, yet for some reason, your credit card bills never shrink, debts don’t decrease, and you actually find yourself slightly worse off than the month before. What’s going on?

Time to grasp the inflow and outflow of your money:
Cash flow statement.

1. determine your monthly income (tally the following)

net take home pay
tips, commission, bonuses, overtime
second job
alimony, child support, social security
income from rental property
(some people chose to add income from trust accounts and dividends from investments)

TOTAL MONTHLY INCOME: ______

2. determine your monthly expenses (tally the following)

taxes (federal income, state, FICA, property)

housing

• mortgage or rent
• utilities
• homeowner/renter insurance
• internet, phone, tv
• home repairs

auto

• loan/lease
• gas
• repairs and service
• insurance
• parking/tolls
• mass transit

Food

• groceries
• restaurant
• snacks, liquor, morning coffee

insurance/medical

• life insurance
• health insurance
• other insurance
• doctor visits
• medications

household

• home items (like decorations and furniture)
• lawn and garden
• cleaning service or supply
• security system
• clothing
• cosmetics
• hair care
• pets
• vet bills
• club memberships
• vacations
• education
• entertainment
• hobbies
• books/magazines/newspapers
• gifts
• computer/technology

misc

• credit card payments/interest
• loan payments
• child support and alimony
• stamps
• church/charity contributions

total expenses: _____

**We never remember how each penny has been spent. Sometimes, I look at the credit card bill and think, “What did I buy?” Therefore, many financial planners suggest multiplying expenses by 1.1 (110%) to account for the missing money we can’t seem to keep track of. The point is that for every dollar we spend, we also spend 10 cents that we can’t quite account for in our cash flow statements.

TOTAL EXPENSES x 1.1: ______

_____________________________________________

3. Compare the difference
Total income – total expenses = net cash flow

The net cash flow is remaining money you can spend, save, or invest. On top of that, you’ve now inventoried your money. Is the money going to restaurants a bit high? How about entertainment? Here is a chance to start tweaking and saving.

Dreams of dollar signs flash in our eyes. Before you start dreaming money, money, money, evaluate your current financial situation. Last night, I updated my net worth and jumped for joy. I’m hoping you can do the same:

Your net worth is what you have (or owe)’your personal bottom-line. You basically want to determine if the things you own (assets) exceed your outstanding debts (liabilities). Banks want to know this stuff when you apply for a loan, and you might want to know these numbers for yourself. Pull out statements, online accounts, and other current sources to calculate updated totals for each applicable item. I use excel for quick math.

1. ASSETS: what you own

• Checking accounts
• Savings accounts
• Stocks and bonds

(Continue reading this article…)

It was about a year ago that Katie and I started Aridni, and in the last year we have had some all kinds of articles. Some good ones, some Great ones, and of course some lousy ones. Today I want to highlight what I think have been some of the years best articles for each month in 2006.

1. January – Investing: When can you start? How can you start?

One of the earlier articles from Aridni to help get you going in the stock market. What are the issues and skills you need to be aware of and possess?

2. February – I’ve got a Big Sky Booya coming at ya!

Watching Jim Cramer is like jumping into the stock market. It isn’t easy for the novice, but here are some tips to getting started.

3. March – “Acey said ten percent.” – Why less is more.

I still really like this ideology about investing less to learn more.

4. April – Weekend Homework: Define “Value”

What is important to you? How are your actions stacking up to what you hold important?

5. May – Marketing with MySpace

While this approach works out well in theory, it’s a lot harder than my article makes it look. I’ve been trying things out and will certainly post some new ideas about it.

6. June – How you might destroy $1,000,000 dollars or more today.

Do you keep track of your ideas? Tomas Edison didn’t either, until got fed up with losing to many. From then on Tom and ‘the boys’ filled up thousands of notebooks with all kinds of ideas and discoveries.

7. July – Expand your business with “The Three C’s”

What’s the best way for you to set raise the capital needed to increase the output of your business?

8. August – An employee finds a second job. An entrepreneur finds an opportunity.

Katie takes a moment to ask just what exactly is she working towards.

September – Have you ever considered that you are not good enough? With Billions of people in the world, you might not be good enough. By no means does it mean that those who are won’t be willing to work with you.

9. October – Is real estate calling you?

This is an article Katie wrote about some of here experiences and thoughts after spending some time in the real estate market.

10. November – On hiatus for the month!

A little break before it’s back to the grindstone.

11. December – Step back from the obsession with $

Katie gives us some reflections about money and the desire for wealth. What is money, and how does it work?

Katie found some of her favorite posts from the past year and put them in an article called Seeking Goals and Reaching Objectives – THIS YEAR

I hope that we can provide another great year of ideas and inspiration. And as always, feel free to leave a comment or even send a message with our Contact form

As a kid, I thought that people had two choices for financing their homes: 30 year or 15 year amortizations (meaning an equal payment every month until the loan is paid). And how often do you ever hear of any other financing options?

You have gobs of choices.

Todd has been asking me questions about property financing, and while I’m no expert yet, the two of us have talked about some things you might like to know. Therefore, we’re taking a break from weekend homework; it’s summer after all. Every Friday will feature “financial Friday” articles where I share my knowledge and findings.

Next week, we’ll kick things off with a discussion on assuming sellers’ loans.