Personal Wealth Snapshot For Your Family

Do you ever think about your personal wealth? I think about it more as I get older. In my opinion, ignorance is not bliss. I prefer to know where I am at and use that information to make financial goals for myself. I created a Personal Wealth Snapshot so at any given moment I can see where we are at, how far we have come and what we have to work on. This is different than a budget because I am not breaking down my expenses or charting out my income. I would describe my snapshot as “the big picture”

What Goes On My Personal Wealth Snapshot?

Well, this is really up to you! Here is a list of things I include on mine:

• Our current income
• Our current fixed expenses (house payment, debt payments, phone bills etc)
• A list of our assets (emergency fund, retirement, home equity and owned vehicles)
• A list of our debts (including minimum monthly payment, interest rate and balance)

Your snapshot may contain more and it may contain less. Mine started out with less and I have built it over time. I have also color-coded it, but that happens to be my personality type. You surely do not need to!

How Often Should I Update?

We are in the process of paying off debt, so I choose to update our snapshot two times per month when we pay our bills. It keeps me motivated to see our progress. This could be overkill for some folks, and that is okay. I would recommend updating it at least quarterly, but set a rhythm that works well for you. In my opinion the most important thing is that you have one.

How Do I Make One?

I happen to like Excel. I am familiar with the software and I like that I can set up my snapshot to total certain columns or rows. You could keep your snapshot simply in a notebook or if you prefer doing your math by hand, a simple Word document will work.

There are also many apps out there, although they might not have the exact features you want. However, they are getting fancier every time I look at one! And just so you know, my Personal Wealth Snapshot started out as a debt snapshot. I just named it optimistically!