評論
打印
Year-end financial review
年終財務審查
In my post You Can’t Improve What you Don’t Measure, I explained why measuring your performance is critical to achieving your goals. Whether in business, sports, school, or any area of life, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. The same rule applies to your personal finances.
我寫過一篇文章，叫《沒有評估就沒有進步》，我在書中解釋了為什么評估自己的行為對實現目標很重要。無論是在生意中，運動中，學校里或生活中任一領域，沒有評估就沒有進步。在個人財務方面也一樣。
As we move into the final month of the year, I want to encourage you to take time to review your finances, make refinements, and set new goals. If you do this, you’ll be more likely to achieve your long-term financial objectives. You’ll feel like you’re in control of your money, and you’ll enjoy the peace that comes from knowing you have a plan. As part of this process you will learn these things:
每年年終，我都會建議你花點時間審查一下你的財務，做改進，設立新目標。如果你這么做了，你更有可能實現長期地財政目標。你會感覺到對自己財務的控制，你也會享受那種做過計劃的從容。在這個過程中，你會學到下面這些東西：
Your total net worth. (assets – liabilities = net worth)
你的總凈產值（資產-債務=凈值）；
The categories in which you were over or under your budget
超過預算或未達到預算；
Where you need to make refinements in your budget
你的預算有哪些地方需要改進；
How your assets performed
你的資金運轉情況；
The areas you need to refine in your investment portfolio
投資組合中要做的調整；
Discovering your net worth
發現你的凈產值。
The first thing I do in this year-end activity is update my net-worth ledger. A simple Excel document lists my assets. Next to each asset I enter what I believe is the fair market value for that asset. Some are easy to determine—such as the value of my stock-market investments; however, other investments—such as my real estate holdings—require an honest assessment of their true value. Then I list my liabilities. At the end of the document, I subtract my liabilities from my assets to determine my year-end net worth.
今年年末我做的第一件事就是更新我的凈產值賬本，我將它們列在一張表格中。幾乎每項我進入的資產都是公平市值。其中有些很容易決定——比如說我的股市投資價值；然而其他投資——諸如房地產——就需要對其真實價值進行仔細評估。隨后我列出自己的負債表。在文件的末尾，我從總資產中扣除債務，就能得出我一年的凈值了。
Whether you make your list of assets and liabilities on a pad of paper or on your computer, your goal is to determine your total net worth. This allows you to see how well you preformed in relationship to your goals and serves as a new baseline upon which to build in the upcoming year.
無論你在紙上還是電腦上做資產和債務統計，你的目標都是決定總凈值。這能讓你看到你在實現目標過程中的表現，也可以作為設立下一年目標的依據。
Having a personal budget is a critical element in living a financially responsible life. Once it is established, you must have the self-control and discipline not to exceed it. People who don’t set and live by a personal budget are unlikely to ever get ahead.
制定個人預算是對自己財政負責的一個重要方面。一旦預算建立，你必須要自律，不能超出預算。那些生活中不做預算的人是不可能獲得成功的。
At the end of each year, I create a final budget report. This report lists all the categories such as groceries, gasoline, auto repairs, vacation, charitable giving, mortgage payments, real estate taxes, and so on. To the right of each category are two vertical columns. The first column shows the amount of money budgeted for a specific category and the second shows the actual amount spent. I use a financial software program called Quicken, which allows me to create this report in a matter of minutes.
每年年末，我都會寫一份最終預算報告，列舉所有開支狀況。比如購買生活必需品花銷，油費，修車費，度假花費，慈善捐贈，按揭，房產稅等等這些東西。每一項的右邊垂直劃兩欄。第一欄寫上特殊花銷的總數，第二欄上寫真實開支總量。我用的一個叫“快格（Quicken）”的財務軟件在這方面幫了大忙，有了它我幾分鐘就能把報告寫出來。
