I grew up in a family that didn't know anything about how to handle money. My parents earned very little and there was little money to go around. Because they didn't know about money, I didn't learn about money.
A few years into college it really hit me that my student debts meant I was worth less than $0, and that I had no idea what to do. After a bit of research I learned that companies and rich people track their finances with financial statements.
Your financial statements are your balance sheet (which tracks your assets and liabilities) and your cashflow statement (which tracks your income and expenses). They're very simple, yet very very powerful. I can instantly see what I own, how much it is all worth, what my liabilities are, what I can do to minimise my liabilities and maximise my assets, I can see where my money is coming from and going to and maximise my earnings.
By keeping these statements I have slowly taken myself from being worth less than nothing, to being worth over $60k and growing. I'm now more financially safe and secure than my parents ever were. Companies and rich people keep getting richer, and this is how they do it, by watching their financial statements.
I'm a software engineer, and a few years ago I replaced spreadsheets with an app I've built. I've never let anyone else use it, but I've recently put it online to see if anyone is interested in using it.
Please check it out at https://getgizbar.com/ it is all completely free.
Financial statements really do show you the big picture and almost force you to make the right decisions. I hope my work can help others as much as it's helped me.
Submitted May 24, 2017 at 09:09AM by chewyraver http://ift.tt/2qVXuQp
