- Budgeting
- Cash Management
- Consumer and Mortgage Loans
- Debt and Debt Reduction
- Time Value of Money 1: Present and Future Value
- Time Value of Money 2: Inflation, Real Returns, Annuities, and Amortized Loans
- Insurance 1: Basics
- Insurance 2: Life Insurance
- Insurance 3: Health, Long-term Care, and Disability Insurance
- Insurance 4: Auto, Homeowners, and Liability Insurance
- The Home Decision
- The Auto Decision
- Family 1: Money and Marriage
- Family 2: Teaching Children Financial Responsibility
- Family 3: Financing Children’s Education and Missions
- Investments A: Key Lessons of Investing
- Investments B: Key Lessons of Investing
Introduction
Once you have a correct perspective on wealth, have begun your Personal Financial Plan, and have set your personal goals, the next step is to determine how you are going to attain your goals. Although some goals require only discipline and time, many goals also require careful financial planning. For these goals, it is essential to determine what is financially required to help you attain them.
The purpose of this section is to help you measure your financial health and then help you create a plan, or a budget, to improve it. Before you can determine what you must do to get where you want to go, you must first determine where you are currently. To determine your current financial status, you must learn how to prepare various financial statements and learn what they represent. Once you identify where you are financially from your financial statements, and where you want to be from your goals, you can develop a plan for accomplishing your goals.
Once you have completed this section of this series, you should be able to do the following:
- Develop and implement a budget.
- Calculate your net worth using a personal balance sheet.
- Develop a personal income statement and use it to analyze your spending.
