Page 7B. Getting in touch Financially

        Financial Assessment – Part I

    Now we are going to identify where you are financially at the moment.  This isn’t hard but it may take a little work.  If we are going to judiciously use means to accomplish ends, we have to know what those means (resources) amount to.  We are going to establish a base line.  Please bear with me on this.  It’s going to take several weeks to get this all together because we have a limited amount of space each week.

            The first thing we are going to do is estimate our annual current cost of living.  Some of these items will be easy.  You can look in your checkbook, or you may have receipts or credit card statements or bank statements, etc.  Some items will be the same every month but some will vary all over the place.  Some costs occur every day, some weekly, some monthly, some semi-annually, some annually.  Do the best you can as you go through this form and fill in the blanks.  You are going to have to guess at some of this.  That’s OK for now.  Check with other team members and solicit their help in making estimates.

Cost Category                     Amount                   Frequency*                Total Annual Cost

House/Home:

Mortgage or rent…………   $_______                  d-w-m-s-a-o                      $_________ Home owners Insuranc    $_______                  d-w-m-s-a-o                      $_________  Property Taxes……….       $_______                  d-w-m-s-a-o $________ Maintenance…………..       $_______                  d-w-m-s-a-o                      $_________ Furniture/decorating…     $_______                   d-w-m-s-a-o                      $_________

Utilities:

Electricity………………..     $_______                   d-w-m-s-a-o                    $__________

Gas………………………….   $_______                    d-w-m-s-a-o                    $__________

Water/sewer………….      $_______                    d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Garbage……………….       $_______                    d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Phone……………………     $_______                    d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Cell phone……………      $_______                     d-w-m-s-a-o                     $__________

Internet………………..      $_______                     d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Cable…………………..      $_______                      d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Automobile:

Payments……………       $_______                      d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Gas/oil………………..       $_______                      d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Auto Insurance……       $_______                      d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

License/title………..       $_______                       d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Maintenance/repair      $_______                       d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Insurance:

Life……………………….   $_______                        d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Health/med/dental..    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Disability…………….     $_______                          d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Liability………………     $_______                           d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Long Term Care..      $_______                           d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Other………………….    $_______                           d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Medical Expenses:

Doctor………….            $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Dentist…………..           $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Drugs…………….           $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Groceries……………….  $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Food away from home $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Clothing………………….  $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Gifts……………………….. $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Vacation/recreation      $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Entertainment…………  $_______                          d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Hobbies…………………  $_______                          d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Personal Care………     $_______                          d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Subscriptions………..    $_______                          d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Debt:    

Credit Cards………      $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Other loans/notes…     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Laundry/cleaning….     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Taxes: 

Fed Income………….     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

State Income……….      $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

FICA…………………..     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Charitable Contributions

Christian………………     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Secular…………………     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Saving/Investing……..    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

School/Tuition/Supp    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Child care………………    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Alimony/Child Supp     $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Other…………………….    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Other…………………….    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Other…………………….    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

Other…………………….    $_______                         d-w-m-s-a-o                      $__________

GRAND TOTAL…………………………………………………………………………….. $__________

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* Circle the frequency of each expenditure amount shown to the left: d=daily, w=weekly, m=monthly, s=semi annually, a=annually, o=other.

Maybe we should call this a cash flow statement because some of the categories aren’t exactly costs, such as savings and investments.  The grand total as shown here should equal your total gross annual income from all sources.  Don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t.  We will fix that starting next time.