Budgeting vs Cash Flow Planning

The dreaded “B” word drums up a lot of emotions in people. Often budgets are associated with cost cutting or even financial failure or bankruptcy. However budgets are by businesses and other successful people to establish a spending plan and to map out their financial future. Budgets are a useful starting point in establishing your financial plan but they are narrowly focused and typically only look at your expenses.

I like to establish a cash management plan that looks at your cash flow needs over time that can then be used to establish a strategy to meet your needs. The cash flow management plan will help you tie in your household net worth statement and net worth goals.

Cash Management Planning 101

In my previous article on net worth planning I showed you how to prepare a household net worth statement. The household net worth statement measures the value of what you own and what you owe at a single point in time. On the other hand, the cash flow statement tells you where your cash came from and where it went over a period of time.

Note that net worth can only grow if cash flow is positive or if you have savings. Savings are positive when the annual cash in flows exceed the annual cash out flows. The accumulation of savings is why we use cash management planning as one of the key financial tools.

If your savings over a period are not adequate to achieve your household net worth target, then steps must be taken to correct the situation either by increasing income or reducing expenses. If your adjustments still do not help, you must re-evaluate your net worth goal.

If you are generating savings cash management planning can help you set a higher net worth target and then meet the target with higher savings. On the other hand, If you have inadequate savings techniques you can use to improve your cash flow include:

• Control your current expenses by restraining spending on discretionary purchases such as coffee at the local shop or buying lunch everyday at work.
• Restructuring your debts
  • Consolidating high interest credit card debt
  • Refinance your home to lower interest expenses or payments
  • Discard or discontinue credit cards
  • Defer big ticket purchases
• Reposition assets to improve cash flow by postponing the purchase of:
  • Non-essential consumer goods (i.e. that fur coat)
  • Non-income producing investments like gold, coins, or art
  • Negative cash flow investments in leveraged real estate or other investments requiring long-term periodic payments

Preparing A Cash Flow Statement

The starting point for cash flow planning is the cash flow statement. The statement looks much like a budget and if you have never done a budget before you will need your bank and credit card statements to determine your historical cash receipts and disbursements (I include credit cards because many times people substitute credit cards for cash).

Cash Flow Statement

	TOTAL
INCOME:
Wages and Bonuses
Interest Income
Investment Income
Miscellaneous Income
Income Subtotal
INCOME TAXES WITHHELD:
Federal Income Tax
State and Local Income Tax
Social Security/Medicare Tax
Income Taxes Subtotal
Income Available For Expenses
EXPENSES:
HOME:
Mortgage or Rent
Homeowners/Renters Insurance
Property Taxes
Home Repairs/Maintenance/HOA Dues
Home Improvements
UTILITIES:
Electricity
Water and Sewer
Natural Gas or Oil
Telephone (Land Line, Cell)
FOOD:
Groceries
Eating Out, Lunches, Snacks
FAMILY OBLIGATIONS:
Child Support
Alimony
Day Care, Babysitting
HEALTH AND MEDICAL:
Insurance (medical, dental, vision)
Non-reimbursed Medical Expenses, Copay
Fitness
TRANSPORTATION:
Car Payments
Gasoline/Oil
Auto Repairs/Maintenance/Fees
Auto Insurance
Other Transportation (tolls, bus, subway, taxis)
DEBT PAYMENTS:
Credit Cards
Student Loans
Other Loans
ENTERTAINMENT/RECREATION:
Cable TV/Videos/Movies
Computer Expense
Hobbies
Subscriptions and Dues
Vacations
PETS:
Food
Grooming, Boarding, Vet
CLOTHING:
INVESTMENTS AND SAVINGS:
401(K)or IRA
Stocks/Bonds/Mutual Funds
College Fund
Savings
Emergency Fund
MISCELLANEOUS:
Toiletries, Household Products
Gifts/Donations
Grooming (Hair, Make-up, Other)
Miscellaneous Expense
Total Investments and Expenses
Surplus or Shortage (Spendable income minus total expenses and investments)

Looking At Your Cash Flow Statement

The main objective of cash management planning is to find out how adequate your savings are to meet your net worth objectives. Net worth targets can be refined to include investment, educational and retirement funding objectives. Cash management planning helps achieve these goals systematically.

Cash flow planning helps you identify flexible (i.e. discretionary) expenses and fixed (or non-discretionary) expenses. Also helps you understand your situation and identify any excess spending and control cash outflow to a more desirable level. Note that the flow statement will not cover every single cost. Many of us have very large “other” out flows of cash that are unexplained.

If you have kept a monthly budget and stayed on target you are on the right track. However, the budget is only a part of the equation and the key to long term success is the development of a systematic savings strategy. The savings strategy includes specific plans to generate required savings, systematically direct savings to specific financial goals.

Other Resources

• Simple Budgeting 101 by the Simple Dollar

Suggested Reading

Income taxes are an obstacle for most people to create and preserve the financial well-being they desire. Whether you are a student, a married or single parent, an executive or the owner-manage of a business, this book offers practical and clearly written strategies that can help you keep more of your hard-earned dollars and boost your family's net worth. Tax Planning For You And Your Family is available at chapters.indigo.ca .

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• Weekly Links – Tax Debt And Christmas
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Tagged as: budget, cash planning, net worth, Net Worth Statement