Cash Flow Planning

Income Issues

Do you need to quantify your regular earned income?
Do you receive variable or irregular income (owner distributions/draws, commissions, a bonus, etc.)?
Do you, or will you, receive unemployment income?
Can you reliably expect to receive regular gifts or other windfalls?
Do you receive rent, royalty, alimony, and/or child support payments?
Do you have income-producing investments?
Are you taking distributions from your portfolio (e.g., regular withdrawals, RMDs, etc.)?
Do you have pension and/or annuity income?
Are you eligible for, or already receiving, Social Security benefits?

Do you need to quantify your fixed expenses?
Do you need to quantify your variable expenses?
Do you have other infrequent, but expected, expenses?
If you own a rental property, do you need to consider expenses related to owning or maintaining it?
Do you fund untracked expenses with cash?
Can you change the frequency of any recurring payments to reduce the total annual expense (paying certain bills annually instead of monthly)?
Do you need to assess your spending patterns and modify your spending habits?

Do you have debts that you are currently repaying?
Do you need to quantify your tax obligations and review your plan to remit payments?
Do you need to review your financial goals?
Do you need to prioritize your financial goals?
Do you need to increase the size of your emergency fund?
Do you have the flexibility to front-load your annual savings early in the year?
Do you need to save for expected large outlays (e.g., new car, new roof, technology updates, options exercise/tax, etc.)?

Do you need to earn additional income?
Do you need to adjust your balance of saving vs. spending?
Do you need to track automatic payments/savings, and/or set up automatic payments/savings?
Do you need to establish a method of regularly monitoring your cash flow?
Would a broader duration (e.g., 12 months) review of your cash flow help to smooth out sporadic income and expenses?
If you monitor and track your own cash flow, does your calculation of outflows fail to equal your actual inflows?
Do you need to project future cash flow?