Posted on September 24, 2009 - by Adrian Khiat

Keeping track of my Budget

Photo by Jeff Keen

Many people monitor their cashflow by looking at how much cash they have in their POSB account whenever they withdraw money. If their POSB Savings is growing, it probably means positive cashflow. If its not, then they may only complain that they are not earning enough.

This group of people will always feel that their POSB savings don’t seems to grow and whenever the amount gets larger, its time for some big ticket expenses and the POSB savings comes back to a small amount it was originally 1 year ago.

For me, I keep track of my budget by using my monthly Balance Sheet and Cashflow Statement. It is actually a very simple excel spreadsheet which I file under “Adrian’s Money” in My Document folder.

My Balance Sheet

• I only have Cash and Invested Assets in my balance sheet.
• Personal Use assets and CPF are left out of the picture. As I don’t have specific debts except mortgage and I pay all my credit card bills on time, I also leave debts out of the picture.
• I make use my internet banking to check the balances of all my bank accounts and key all the figures in my assets positions every 1st or 2nd of the month.
• I will also log into the SGX and i-fast account to check on my investments. From my balance sheet, I know very clearly if my savings and investments are growing. Read more…

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