Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.
Deciding what counts in your net worth
Two people with identical finances can report net worth figures that differ by a third, simply because one includes the car, the pension and the furniture and the other does not. Writing down your inclusion rules before you count anything stops the figure drifting every time you feel optimistic, and makes each quarter comparable with the last.
First tasks
- Write a two-column list of asset types to include and to leave out
- Decide whether pensions and the home go in the headline figure
- Choose how joint accounts and joint debts will be counted
- Save the rules as the first page of your tracker with today's date
Inventory of every account and asset
Most people underestimate how many places their money sits: an old savings account opened for a bonus rate, a share scheme from a previous employer, premium bonds, a deposit held by a landlord. A complete inventory, built from bank feeds, email searches and paperwork, is the raw material every later snapshot depends on.
First tasks
- List every account you can remember from your banking apps tonight
- Search your email for words like statement, balance and annual summary
- Add property, vehicles, deposits and money owed to you
- Tag each line with its owner and a shortened account reference
Liabilities register with balances and rates
Debts are the half of the balance sheet people prefer not to look at, and the ones left off are usually the expensive ones: a buy now pay later plan, an overdraft that never quite clears, a car finance balloon payment. A register with every balance, rate and end date makes the net worth figure honest and shows which debts are shrinking it fastest.
First tasks
- Write down every debt you can think of, however small
- Look up the current balance and interest rate on each lender's app
- Note any balloon payment or interest-only capital due at the end
- Enter the total owed on the liabilities tab
