Essential Money Tools to Manage Your Finances Every Day
One lesson I learned right after college was that money doesn’t manage itself. You must understand where it goes and why. Here’s where using spreadsheets for budgeting, a checkbook, mortgage, car loans, and credit card debt can be put to work, helping you make better financial decisions. Considering a mortgage refinance? Open the Real Estate spreadsheet, enter a few parameters, get the new payment and savings over the life of the loan, before making a decision. Once the tools are on your computer and easily accessible, you'll be managing your money better. Here are some examples of the spreadsheets available:
The Credit Card Calculator shows the impact of different debt repayment strategies – just enter the amount owed, interest rate, and payment, and see the results.
With the Checkbook Register, you can record transactions and total them in categories to set up your budget. Put the spreadsheet on your desktop for a quick look at your current and future balance as you enter transactions – something your online banking app can’t do.
The Advanced Budget spreadsheet puts your annual finances on 1 page, allowing easy updating throughout the year. Simply enter your income and deductions from your check stub, then balance it with your expenses. Includes tab for car loans and mortgages, and a Federal and State tax estimator to help see the effects of budget decisions on taxes.
The Net Worth spreadsheet allows you to calculate and track your net worth over the years to ensure your liabilities are not increasing financial risk.
Easy to Use Spreadsheets with Instructions and Examples
Each Essential Money Tools spreadsheet begins with a README tab that provides an overview of the tool's setup and usage, as well as a completed example tab that displays the spreadsheet's results once it is finished. The spreadsheets are compatible with Microsoft Excel and the free OpenOffice application.
I've grouped the spreadsheets by book volume, so you can purchase only those needed for your Early, Middle, or Later years or buy them all as a bundle at a discount. There's no subscription or license. Just download them to your desktop or laptop computer.