Who is the author of The One-Page Financial Plan?

The author of The One-Page Financial Plan is Carl Richards.

Money & Investments

The One-Page Financial Plan Book Summary - The One-Page Financial Plan Book explained in key points

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The One-Page Financial Plan summary

Name: The One-Page Financial Plan
Rating: 4 (226 reviews)
Author: Carl Richards

Carl Richards

A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money

4 (226 ratings)

12 mins

Brief summary

The One-Page Financial Plan by Carl Richards is a practical guide that helps you create and implement a personalized financial plan by simplifying complex concepts and providing actionable steps to achieve financial freedom and security.

Topics

Wealth Success

Table of Contents

The One-Page Financial Plan
Summary of 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Save money with a personal financial plan.

Even if you’re not a dollar-crazed investor or a gambler, you probably think about money more than you’d like to admit. There’s rent to pay, kids to feed and suddenly your car needs an expensive repair. And at the end of the month there is nothing left over to do the things you want to do.

What you need is a financial plan tailored to your life and needs. It might sound scary or boring, but, as these blinks will show you, making your own personal financial plan will not only take the stress out of your life, it can also be a lot of fun. And when you notice that a few simple changes will free up money to do the things that you truly value, you’ll find it easy to stick to the program and make even more changes.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how to turn budgeting into a game;
why you should give your Amazon shopping cart a break; and
why you shouldn’t rely on CNBC for investment advice.

First you have to discover why money is important to you.

The foundation of every successful financial plan is the answer to a simple question: Why is money really important for me? Take a moment and think about this question before reading on, and write down your answer at the top of a piece of paper. You’ll need it later.

Asking why money is important to you helps you to define what you value, which in turn will help you develop a financial plan that fits your individual needs.

As an example, think about the last time you went to the doctor. Your doctor doesn’t give every patient the same medication. They first need to ask what’s wrong in order to determine a fitting treatment.

The same goes for financial plans. Knowing why you value money will aid in the examination of your financial situation. Only then can you develop a “treatment” that will work for you.

Someone who wants to save money to travel the world and someone who wants to have a secured pension will likely have financial plans that look totally different from one another. Whereas one might want to invest in an RV, the other might want to invest in a good pension fund.

Knowing why you value money also helps you assess whether the way you spend your time reflects your values. Imagine that you value money because it gives you the financial freedom to spend more time with your family.

Now imagine that you run an independent business and spend all weekend on Twitter trying to increase your followers to grow your personal brand. You spend so much time on Twitter that you interrupt dinnertime conversations with your family to reply to tweets and check your followers. Are you really living according to your values?

Now that you’ve determined why money is important to you, it’s time to formulate some goals to guide your financial future.

Guess what your goals are and fine-tune to reach them.

Think back 20 years: would you ever have predicted that free apps like Skype or WhatsApp would cause your phone bills to plummet? The future is unpredictable. Your financial plan, and the goals that support it, should be flexible enough to cope with this unpredictability.

The first step in developing your goals is accepting that it’s not always possible to predict the future. You can think of financial planning like planning your vacation. Even though you set some goals, like places to see or things to do, you should leave some room for the unexpected. For example, you can’t enjoy a bike ride and a picnic if there’s a storm outside. Why not alter your plan and visit a museum instead?

Assess your current financial situation by making a simple balance sheet.

Your values and goals serve as your guide no matter where you want to be financially. However, before you can actually make any decisions about where to take action, you first have to understand your current situation.

Having a clear understanding of your assets and liabilities will help you take the necessary steps to reach your goals.

Track what you spend using budgeting.

In essence, budgeting is about taking a good look at how you spend money and making adjustments in order to achieve your financial goals. To budget well, it’s crucial that you understand where you’re spending and whether your spending is in line with your goals and your values.

Many of us think that budgeting and tracking expenses is tedious and boring, more like a punishment for those who lack discipline than a tool of the financially successful. In reality, financial success is only really possible if you budget well, tracking how you spend your money, measuring that against your goals and values and adjusting accordingly.

Save as much as you can and view paying off debts as a form of investment.

Contrary to popular wisdom, rules of thumb like saving such-and-such a percentage of your income each month aren’t all that useful in achieving your financial goals. In the same way that your financial plan is personal, your savings plan should be too. The goal should be to save as much as you possibly can – an amount that will depend on your unique situation.

Once you’ve determined how much you can save, you can make life a lot simpler by automating the process. Let’s say you can afford to save $300 a month. By automating the transaction, you get to spend less time thinking about whether to spend or save. You might eventually forget about it altogether, and be pleasantly surprised that your savings have grown years later.

Make your investments like a scientist and diversify.

There are innumerable businesses, initiatives and institutions that promise a return on investment if you fork out some money. So how should you know where to invest? Should you follow the advice of your friends, family or authoritative-sounding finance people on CNBC?

You could, but then you’d be speculating and not really investing, i.e., making investment decisions with your gut rather than your head. To make the best investments, you need to look at investment as a science.

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What is The One-Page Financial Plan about?

The One-Page Financial Plan (2015) makes budgeting easy: once you know why money matters to you, it’s just a matter of making sure you’ve got enough to do what you want with it, whether it’s creating a stable income or saving for the future. This simple planning solution will give you all the tools, tips and tricks you need to realize your financial dreams.

The One-Page Financial Plan Review

The One-Page Financial Plan (2015) by Carl Richards is a must-read for anyone looking to take control of their finances and create a clear financial roadmap. Here's why this book is worth your time:

Richards offers practical, actionable advice on how to simplify your financial goals and align them with your values.
The book combines real-life examples and case studies to illustrate key concepts, making it relatable and applicable to readers' own situations.
Its engaging storytelling keeps readers hooked from start to finish, ensuring that learning about personal finance is anything but boring.

Who should read The One-Page Financial Plan?

Anybody who needs help planning for their financial future
Anyone who wants to save money
People who think budgeting is dull and boring

About the Author

Carl Richards is a leading financial advisor and contributor to Yahoo Finance as well as a weekly columnist at the New York Times. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed The Behavior Gap.

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Money & Investments

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