The financial funnel

Introduction

If you're like most people, you've probably had a difficult time keeping up with your finances. You may have even been in debt for some time and not realized it. Although it's easy to get sidetracked with spending, saving and investing in the short term, a financial funnel can help you see where your money is going so that you can make better decisions about how best to use it.

The income side: how much money you bring in.

The income side of the funnel is all about how much money you bring in every month. It's not just about your salary, but any other source of income, including a side hustle like blogging or freelance writing.

The first step is to take stock of all the ways you make money and include them in your calculation. This includes taxes (income tax, social security) as well as non-taxable sources like alimony or child support payments from a spouse; retirement funds from work; interest on savings accounts; investments such as stocks or bonds; royalties for books that have been published—the list goes on!

If necessary, add up all types of income over two years before doing so will give an accurate picture of how much money comes into your household each year

The savings side: how much are you saving for retirement, college and other future goals?

You should be saving as much as possible each month, even if it's just a little bit. It's easy to get discouraged when your expenses are higher than the amount of money in your bank account.

But remember: it only takes one time that something unexpected happens and all of a sudden there's no money left in the account! So take care of this now while it's still possible by setting up automatic payments from your checking account or credit card onto an investment account.

Keep an eye on the balance of these accounts so that they don't get too large (or small). If they start trending towards zero or negative value then re-evaluate what kind of lifestyle changes need to be made first before diving back into debt later down the road once again without having anything left over after paying off previous debts first."

The expense side: how much money do you spend every month?

On the expense side of your financial funnel, you need to track what you spend every month. This is important because it will help you understand where your money is going and how much is left over for savings and investments.

You can use a budgeting app or service like Mint or YNAB (you need to pay a monthly subscription fee). These apps allow users to set up budgets based on their income and other sources of income (such as pension), then categorize each expense into categories such as groceries/groceries, gas/gasoline, utilities/utilities bills etc.. They will also let users track how much cash they have in the bank at any given time so that they know exactly where all their hard-earned cash has gone.

The debt pay-down side: How much are you putting toward debt pay-off, such as student loans or car payments?

If you’re in debt and want to get out of it, how much would it cost to pay off your debts completely? That is the question I ask myself every time I see my credit card bill. The answer varies depending on the type of loan and interest rate, but in general it will take me about five years to clear $15k worth of student loans alone (assuming that I don’t make any other purchases during this time).

If we look at what other people are saving for retirement and college costs now vs later in life so they can start planning now while they’re young enough not only work hard but also have time left over once their kids are grown up enough not need their parents around anymore!

The financial funnel is a good way to know where your money is going

The financial funnel is a good way to know where your money is going. It helps you understand what you can afford, set goals for your money and manage it so that debt doesn't get in the way of saving or investing.

If you're starting out with no savings at all, this might seem like more work than it's worth—but if there's something holding you back from reaching your goals (like debt), then using the funnel will help push through those barriers so that when it comes time to save up for something big later down the line, like buying a house or starting a business venture, everything will be ready and waiting for when needed most!

Conclusion

Your financial funnel is a great way to visualize your spending and understand where your money goes. It can help you set goals, save more, and pay down debt.

The key is to track all three parts (income side, expense side and debt pay-off side) of your financial funnel at the same time so that you don’t overlook anything important!