I built the following list of questions approximately 5 years ago. I also believe they ought to be answered at least annually, so one has a holistic picture of their current finances, and course correct if necessary.
- What are our income sources?
- What are our expenses?
- What liquid assets do we own?
- What long-term assets do we own?
- What are our current liabilities?
- What are our long-term liabilities?
- What percentage of our income are we spending on living expenses?
- What percentage of our income are we spending on maintaining liabilities?
- What percentage of our income are we saving?
- What percentage of our income are we investing?
- What percentage of our income are we donating?
- What does our financial safety net look like?
- What is our return on assets?
- What is our return on equity?
- What opportunities do we see in the short-term that we can take advantage of?
- What opportunities do we see in the long-term that we can take advantage of?
- What can we do to prepare ourselves to take advantage of these opportunities?
- What risks we foresee in the short-term that will affect us financially?
- What are the long-term risks we foresee that will affect our financial future?
- What can we do today to minimize or eliminate these risks?