Baker over at ManVsDebt, who was inspired by Jim at Bargaineering, inspired me to create my own financial network map. I won’t go into detail on how to create a map, follow the previous links and you will get a better idea about it than I can provide. I used their advice and OpenOffice.org’s Draw application to create my financial network map. The below image is my map followed by an explanation of the map.
Arrows on the map indicate the direction in which funds are moving. Dual arrows indicate a two way transfer path. Our hub of account activity is at the Joint Checking account with our local brick and mortar bank. From there everything is saved and payed. We have an IRA with no active ties as we haven’t been funding it. Other than that the green circles are checking, green rectangles for saving, red for liabilities, orange for bills, and yellow for investments. Any business income, not on here because I haven’t had any, would fund into Kyle’s Checking.
I really liked this exercise in financial planning, it really gives you a great graphical view of your financial situation as well as making it easier to explain to your spouse. If you haven’t done this before I really suggest you sit down and go over your accounts and creat a map, whether you do it on the back of a cocktail napkin while drinking a brew, or at your computer with some fancy software. You will learn and it will help you on your journey to financial prosperity.
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I assume that means ‘money to blow’ and not a seperate entry in your budget solely for buying drugs? If not, that’s.. dedication??
Love this idea.
I certainly didn’t look at it that way… wow… That would be true dedication wouldn’t it. No the use of Blow means Blow money for discretionary spending, definitely not narcotics.
Dangit! FruGal stole my joke about blow!
It is interesting to see how one looks with a combination of joint and separate finances!
Sorry if this is a dumb questions, but I can’t figure out what EIUL stands for?
I’m sure it’ll come to me right after I click this big submit button…
EIUL Stands for Equity Indexed Universal Life. I would explain more but I am quazi bitter about it and will be doing a post on it in the future. Thanks for bringing that up I didn’t realize I forgot to explain.
Very good. You’ve now inspired me to try my own. I can’t wait to make it! 🙂
I like the network map. My wife and I have our finances set up similarly, although we don’t yet have a map. The only suggestion I would have is to have each persons income deposited into their own checking first, and then only transfer a predetermined cost of living amount to the joint checking. That way if you ever separate the other person doesn’t have access to your entire paycheck. This also helps with working overtime and personal spending. Each person can spend there money however they like, yet still contribute to the bills evenly.
Just realized that I’ve been doing these in my own mind, but never thought of them as “drawings”! Now it’s time to put it on paper.
I too encourage everyone to create their own map. I finished my financial map and loved the experience of building it!
I love the fact that I have a solid visual overview of my entire financial picture. I too included my wife & I both in our map, and it worked out great…it is of course a living document that will change & be tweaked over time. Check my map out and feel free to link to it in this post if you’d like.
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