Blogging for Change

Your financial dashboard

by Tanisha Warner on
4/19/2011
in Personal Finance , Budgeting and Building Savings

When you think of a financial dashboard, you generally think about financials related to an organization – balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and other business finances documents. These impressive spreadsheets and charts help business owners know when they can afford to open a new location, buy additional products as well as any other operational moves impacting the bottom line. A financial dashboard is a snapshot of an organization’s overall financial wellbeing.

In honor of National Financial Literacy Month, I encourage you to create your own personal financial dashboard. After all, as the household CFO, your job is to manage your family’s budget and spending plan in the same manner as a financial manager overseas the financials for an organization.

If you haven’t assigned a family CFO, that’s the first step in creating a financial dashboard. The family CFO is responsible for:

  • Paying the bills, track all spending, and manage savings accounts.
  • Scheduling family meetings and keeping everyone in the loop on the current financial condition.
  • Making tweaks to the budget and spending plan when appropriate.

Second, you’ll want to gather the following:

  • Household expenses – include everything from your mortgage or rent payments to the average amount spent on groceries.
  • Savings balances – this would all savings accounts such as emergency savings, general savings, and retirement savings.
  • Liabilities – open loans and other financial obligations including credit and charge card balances.
  • Assets – a list of all tangible investments including home values, and available retirement funds.
  • Borrowing Power – available credit, credit score, and debt to income ratio

Before actually laying out the data, you should consider your short and long-term financial goals. Setting and achieving financial goals is one of the primary reasons for having a financial dashboard. The other reasons include simply knowing where you stand financially, and being prepared for any financial setbacks.

Use all the gathered information to develop your financial dashboard. There are tons of templates for building a financial dashboard. You can create a simple spreadsheet that is managed manually or you can purchase or register online for a third-party template that is updated automatically.

No matter the system that you choose, your financial dashboard should give you a clear picture of your current financial situation and wellbeing. The goal of your financial dashboard is to serve the same purpose as a financial dashboard for an organization. You should be able to quickly determine your ability to plan a vacation from year to year, best time to upgrade appliances or purchase a new car. You should also be able to make adjustments to your spending and savings plans as appropriate.

Tanisha (Warner) Smith is a former communications manager at MMI.

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