Clarity. Understanding. Intentionality.

Being more disciplined by automating a series of regular monthly deposits,  that “fund” your living expenses, your desired gifts, and saving towards  longer term goals is one of the most valuable things we can do. By doing this,  we have the peace of mind and satisfaction that foundationally, we are making  progress on our highest priorities first, before allowing ourselves to utilize our  excess for things that in the bigger picture we would not give our highest  priority to. Without an approach like this, our progress is more likely to be  inconsistent and insufficient for what we care about most, and we most  often will trade the best for the good or worse yet the best for something  much less. Automating is the single best thing we can do, as it helps us to  act without a regular decision. It just happens in the background. And over  time, we are at our destination or living the life we truly desire, without trying.  It just happens because we’ve put the system in place to make as certain as  possible that it will happen.

Once each month or once each quarter, one of the two spouses should take  the lead at updating the data and then the two spouses should sit down to  review and discuss. Has anything changed? Are you making the regular  progress you’d hoped and expected? Do you both understand where  everything is and what everything is worth? Are you surprised by anything, in  terms of regular amounts you are allocating to living, giving, or saving? Is  there anything you regret or want to rethink? These kinds of regular conversations foster a common understanding and a sense of oneness. Both  spouses on the same page is a great place to start building a life and a legacy  like you would hope to. If it plays out the way you’d hoped over time, you can  together celebrate the joy of your success, together. Better together.

To some extent, it may feel less free at first. Then again, eating right and  forcing yourself to eat and drink with greater discipline always does too at  first. The question to ask, I suppose, is what freedom means to you. Is it living  in the here and now alone, without any regard for the future? If so, go for it.  Live it up. Just know that it’s very likely your later years may be the exact  opposite of free. Years from now, you may wonder what could have been if  you hadn’t wasted so much in those earlier years. Spend some more thought  and be more careful and intentional now and you will be able to live  more generously for yourself and others, now and in the future. True freedom  resides in better controlling and stewarding your many blessings, including  your money. It does not have to feel like you are being bound up or held back  by a budget. If you find the inherent purpose and vision driving you to do it,  you will instead be empowered and able to do more and be able to respond  more because of your discipline, balance, and self-control.

Yes. Once you delete the sample information within the gold boxes in the  Assets and Liabilities sections, the interest rates will disappear. As you  enter your own information, a default rate will be automatically entered  based on the asset or liability type selected. You can then override this rate  by simply entering the actual rate in the rate column to the right.

Savings goals are designed to be used for specific accounts dedicated to  specific objectives within 0-10 years. You will be able to select and prioritize  these goals as well as what account you would like to allocate funds to it and  the tool will solve for the savings needed to reach that goal by the date that  you specify and whether or not you have sufficient funds available for it  based on annual surplus cash flows. Wealth Accumulation is designed for  long-term savings like retirement and legacy. It does not solve for how much  funding will be needed for longer term objectives like this, but simply gives a  snapshot as to how much will be available at specified points in time.  Complex, long-term goals like these are beyond the scope of this tool, but  much of the data contained herein can serve as the basis designing a comprehensive financial plan with an experienced financial advisor or  wealth manager.

We recommend a two account system, one for regular monthly income,  spending, and giving and another for irregular or discretionary income,  spending, and giving like hobby, second job, or bonus income, vacations,  Christmas, large one-time donations, etc. If you have surplus monthly  income and a non-monthly annual deficit, the tool will calculate how much  of your monthly surplus you would need to allocate to your non-monthly  account and budget to meet both targets for the year before calculating  funds available for Savings Goals or Wealth Accumulation. If you prefer to  manage a single monthly budget from a single account, you can simply  calculate everything as monthly and not enter any non-monthly annual  income, spending, or giving items.