Are you monitoring and measuring your personal economy?
In the business world, companies have many systems tracking the health and well-being of the business. The company is accountable on many levels including complying with laws, shareholders, customers, employees, and the board of directors. What would happen if the company neglected monitoring and measuring?
The outcome would be legal consequences, poor reputation and a prompt expiration date.
You can’t monitor what you do not measure. What should you be measuring in your own personal economy?
There are a number of tools available to help. I use Quicken to automatically download, categorize and report on my personal economy. I am also an avid spreadsheet consumer for putting the data on trial and making informed decisions.
Can you quickly determine how much you spent on clothing, dining out and recreation last month, last quarter, or over the last 12 months? The actual number of dollars flowing out of your personal economy can be astonishing.
My monitor and measuring system provides a number of key benefits. Reports are the basis of my metrics for managing my personal economy. I know the answer to how much I spend for groceries, dining out, home maintenance, utilities, recreation, and so on. It is one thing to collect data and yet another to make it useful and actionable.
This might seem very elementary, but I’m going to say it anyway. If you struggle each month to pay your bills, have no emergency fund and nearly nothing for savings, do you know why? Do you know how your personal economy is operating?
Measure and monitor your personal economy, make more informed decisions and change the trajectory you are on.