Basic financial tools include personal or business instruments used to manage, track, and analyze money, such as budgeting apps (e.g., Mint, YNAB), accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero), banking products (checking/savings accounts, credit cards), and analytical reports like cash flow statements and balance sheets. These tools, ranging from simple spreadsheets to complex software, are essential for tracking income, expenses, and improving financial decisions.
Free Financial Planning Tools
The Common Financial Tool (CFT) is used to assess household income and expenditure with a view to setting a contribution across all statutory debt solutions. It uses benchmark expenditure levels known as trigger figures to assess reasonable levels of expenditure via the Common Financial Statement (CFS).
Here are four financial planning tools you can start using right now to strengthen your financial future.
Excel is the industry-standard spreadsheet software for financial analysis. Its grid-based structure, organized into rows and columns, allows financial professionals to manage and manipulate complex financial data.
Spending a few minutes each week to maintain your cash management program can help you to keep track of how you spend your money and pursue your financial goals. Any good cash management system revolves around the four As – Accounting, Analysis, Allocation, and Adjustment.
The 7 Ps are principles of productive purpose, personality, productivity, phased disbursement, proper utilization, payment, and protection, which guide banks to only lend for income-generating activities, consider borrower trustworthiness, maximize resource productivity, disburse loans gradually, ensure proper use of ...
In this chapter we have explored five principles that underlie all financial decisions:
Financial instruments are assets that can be traded or exchanged. Some examples of financial instruments include stock shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bonds, certificates of deposit (CDs), mutual funds, loans, and derivatives contracts.
A comprehensive learning program that provides basic information and tools to help adults manage their personal finances and gain the confidence they need to make better financial decisions.
The types of financial instruments are debentures and bonds, receivables, cash deposits, bank balances, swaps, caps, futures, shares, bills of exchange, forwards, FRA or forward rate agreement, and more.
Basic financial instruments are defined as one of the following: cash. a debt instrument (such as accounts receivable and payable) commitment to receive a loan that satisfy certain criteria. investments in non-convertible preference shares, and non puttable ordinary shares.
The 50/30/20 rule is a simple budgeting guideline that suggests allocating your after-tax income: 50% to Needs (essentials like housing, groceries, utilities), 30% to Wants (discretionary spending like dining out, hobbies, shopping), and 20% to Savings & Debt Repayment (emergency funds, retirement, paying off loans). This method helps create balance, ensuring needs are met, some fun is included, and financial goals are prioritized.
Financial analysis tools are software and methodologies that help businesses evaluate their financial health and performance. These tools aid in making informed decisions by analyzing financial data from various statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.
Each lender has its own method for analyzing a borrower's creditworthiness. Most lenders use the five Cs—character, capacity, capital, collateral, and conditions—when analyzing individual or business credit applications.
Seven common types of loans include Personal Loans, Auto Loans, Student Loans, Mortgage Loans, Home Equity Loans, Payday Loans, and Debt Consolidation Loans, each serving different financial needs, from major purchases like cars and homes to consolidating debt or managing unexpected expenses.
It covers the definition, need, and classification of agricultural credit, and provides a detailed analysis of the 4 R's (Repayment capacity, Returns, Risk- bearing ability, Riskiness) and the 3 C's (Character, Capacity, Capital) of credit.
Instead, it's better to assume your family and friends are prepared to finance you with money they might lose. Pointing this out will help you to avoid conflict at a later date. In this blog, we look at some of the pros and cons of starting a business with money from the 3Fs: family, friends and fools.
Regardless of income or wealth, number of investments, or amount of credit card debt, everyone's financial state fits into a common, fundamental framework, that we call the Four Pillars of Personal Finance. Everyone has four basic components in their financial structure: assets, debts, income, and expenses.
Excel's Golden Rule is a design principle for creating dynamic, easy-to-manage spreadsheets: If an input (like a sales figure or tax rate) might change, put it in its own labeled cell and reference it in formulas; if it's a constant (like days in a year), you can hardcode it directly into the formula. This avoids "hardcoding" numbers into formulas, making updates simple (change the cell value, and all formulas update automatically) and improving model clarity and error prevention.
10 Finance Skills