MEPX
Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Knowing your cashflow
  2. 2The emergency fund
  3. 3Debt
  4. 4Saving and compounding
  5. 5Housing and large costs
  6. 6Insurance
  7. 7Tax and payslips
  8. 8Long-term saving
  9. 9Fraud and pressure
  10. 10Making it stick

Chapter 1 of 10

Knowing your cashflow

The starting point.

Money in, money out

Everything else depends on knowing what arrives and what leaves. A month of actual figures beats an estimate, because the gap between the two is usually the problem.

  • Separate fixed costs, variable costs and discretionary spending.
  • Subscriptions and small recurring charges are the usual surprise.

Paying yourself first

Move savings out on payday rather than saving what is left. What is left is reliably nothing, which is a fact about people rather than about arithmetic.