DISQUS

Consumerism Commentary: Personal Balance Sheet, October 2009

  • nickel · 2 weeks ago
    So you requested a change of filing status (or whatever) effective last year? How did you get around the deadline issue?
  • Flexo · 2 weeks ago
    The IRS may try to charge a penalty for a late filing, but haven't yet. According to the accountant, we can respond to the IRS if they charge a penalty and most likely have it waived. We shall see.
  • Chris Hasenpflug · 2 weeks ago
    flexo, always been impressed with these templates you display. I assume you automate this output from Quicken reports somehow? Would be very interested in those templates. Quicken just doesn't produce the right reports, and I'd like to do more but it's gotta be "easy."
  • Flexo · 2 weeks ago
    Thanks! It's mostly automated. I customized one of Quicken's Net Worth reports, export it to text, import it to my Excel template, and do some quick changes that could probably be accomplished with a macro, then copy the spreadsheet into Photoshop, and export it as a GIF. Ok, so it's not very automated at all.
  • Chris Hasenpflug · 2 weeks ago
    any chance you share the Excel templates in the future?
  • Flexo · 2 weeks ago
    I've posted a basic template before. Here it is.
  • John · 2 weeks ago
    Sorry, forgive me for being naive as I'm new to this but how come the Assets do not equal the Liability?
  • Flexo · 2 weeks ago
    No problem. Assets are things like bank accounts and investments, things you own. Liabilities are credit card balances and loans, things you owe. There's no reason the two should equal each other. The formula is Assets - Liabilities = Net Worth.

    What I post is a "modified net worth" because I leave out some assets like household items and some liabilities like future tax payments. But this way, the numbers are more meaningful to me.
  • Michael Harr @ TodayForward · 2 weeks ago
    @Flexo - have you considered adding a net worth-to-expenses multiple to your spreadsheet? While net worth tracking is really useful, identifying your net worth-to-expenses multiple is even more so. As an example, your net worth has grown by 86.5% yoy, but have your expenses changed in the interim? Just curious because it's a lot easier to see when you'll be able to retire with nwte.
  • Jonathan · 2 weeks ago
    Are you still publishing your monthly income statements?
  • Flexo · 2 weeks ago
    I stopped publishing the income statements last month.
  • Flexo · 2 weeks ago
    That sounds like an interesting approach. It's not one of the financial ratios I normally think of.
  • Michael Harr @ TodayForward · 2 weeks ago
    In case you need it...here's a post on net worth-to-expenses http://bit.ly/ktmwM