My Individual Financial Worksheet: Fill & Download for Free

The most obvious strategy is to harness the 80/20 principle.You see, there is a non-linear relationship between time and value creation. The amount of time you spend on something does not have a direct relationship to the amount of value you create.Let’s use a financial example. This doesn’t just have to do with financial success — but it is extremely easy to demonstrate this principle using money.For someone making $50,000 a year, if they work twice as a hard, maybe they can double their income to $100,000 a year. Once you start moving up the ladder, this logic really starts to break down. It wouldn’t be possible for the same person to work 10x as hard to make 10x as much ($500k a year), because that would require working 400 hours per week, and the week only has 168 hours!The numbers get crazy when you look at billionaires and titans of industry. According to Wealth-X data from 2013, Warren Buffett made $12.7bn that year which breaks down to $37mm per day and $1.54mm per hour. Now that’s a serious hourly rate.Is Warren Buffet working 254,000 times harder than someone making $50k a year?In fact, Warren Buffett says himself that he spends 80% of his day reading!So what gives? How is this possible? What’s the missing ingredient?The missing piece of the puzzle is LEVERAGE. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and all of these titans of industry are masters of leverage. Achieving more by doing less and focusing on what’s important. Warren Buffet is making 254,000x more per hour because he is more high leverage.The math behind this phenomenon is the 80/20 principle, which pervades huge amounts of our lives describing everything from the distribution of craters on the moon, to the size of files on your hard drive, to rabbit populations, pea pods, and the distribution of wealth of both nations and individuals.Simply put, the 80/20 principle states that a few of your inputs create most of your outputs. A few high leverage activities create the vast majority of the results in your life, and this powerful economic principle, applied many times over, is the math that drives the mammoth differential between Warren Buffets return on time and yours or mine.You can perform an 80/20 analysis (this is a simple and easy template that I use to do my own) on your time, effort, and results and determine what is actually producing the results you want, and what is a waste of time.If you recursively do this again and again, you continue to achieve more leverage on your time. In the professional world, the productivity gains are pretty limitless if you continually apply this principle. Just look at how productive Warren Buffet is!So break out the 80/20 worksheet, look at what few, high value inputs create most of the results you want, and cut out the fluff.If you enjoyed this…I study strategies for evidence based growth. Drop your email here to get my guide on “4 Steps To Making Better Decisions” along with my weekly “Mindset Monday” email and more content like this.

One of my children is a high school senior, in the thick of the college application process, and the other is an undergraduate college sophomore. I’m going to be brave and admit - despite reading previous answers which assert this makes me an atrocious, helicopter parent - I’ve found many aspects of the college search and application process stressful. However, not surprisingly, I disagree with most assumptions other commenters made about the underlying causes of my stress.A. PARENTS are focused on their children attending the top 50 colleges…Wait, you are blaming this “push” entirely on ME?My children’s public middle school had a career and college readiness unit included as part of an 8th grade advisement class. My youngest child came home from school in a panic over this because she had not found her niche quite yet, and therefore had absolutely no idea which careers or universities she was interested in. Yet she was required to fill out a worksheet about her specific future career and college goals as part of a class assignment. I told her I thought the entire unit was ridiculous at that age, and to just write in any answer she could come up with. She took my advice in a way I had not intended and typed “best universities” into Google and that year Harvard was listed first, so that was her answer. While I told her we’d discuss if Harvard was actually a good choice for her closer to 10th grade, I’m NOT the one who asked my children to decide on their “dream” universities before they had a high school GPA, SAT/ACT scores, had participated in high school extracurriculars, and had discussed a budget with their family yet!Before high school started, each daughter and I attended an orientation meeting entitled “The Realities of Rigor” where we learned primarily about two lottery funded scholarships which are available in our state to cover tuition or partial tuition in our state university system for students who earn over a certain GPA in high school. Scholarships are great, not stressful, right? Until we found out that the competition to get into many state universities here has increased so much from these scholarships that, if you want admissions to one of the more coveted ones, a student should plan on taking, and acing, 6–12 AP courses between sophomore and senior year of high school (AP courses not allowed to be taken freshman year at our school.) Apparently, I’m not the only parent who found that meeting just a “tad” bit overwhelming, as this past year an incoming freshman parent asked in an online forum what the meeting was about and other parents replied, “That’s the one that should include an open bar for parents.”Determined not to spend an exorbitant amount of time while school was in session or money on SAT/ACT prep, my oldest daughter packed an ACT study book for the sleep away camp where she worked as a counselor the summer between sophomore and junior year in high school, and took practice tests by flashlight after her campers were in bed. Upon returning home, she took one real ACT test, and was thrilled to have earned her target composite score she had set for herself. By junior year, students and parents were invited to individualized meetings about the college application process with their guidance counselor. Looking at her file, her counselor (who overall is a very nice and helpful woman, so the following was a bit out of character) said, “I see you scored extremely well on your first attempt at the ACT. With further studying, you can take it again and maybe get a perfect score!” To all those commenters who mention those “totally insane, helicopter parents”, I will admit one look at my daughter’s body language after her counselor made that comment and I turned into “one of those parents” in this particular meeting, but NOT in the way that’s assumed in most comments. I exclaimed, “She studied absolutely all summer, is proud of her score, and is done taking these standardized exams.”B. PARENTS are “stressed out” about their children’s college applications… Am I exuding stress, absorbing others’ stress, or reacting to stressors?Coming from a family background which has a history of valuing higher education, we upheld a family tradition of starting a bank account for our children when they were born to cover future educational expenses. Instead of birthday and holiday gifts, our extended family sent checks which were deposited into these accounts. Upon using the online “net price calculators” we discovered this planning for college expenses meant that we would be paying “full price tuition” minus any merit scholarships. Meanwhile, our neighbors decided to spend 100% of their available money gutting and fully renovating their house so it is now a MUCH nicer house (and valued higher) than ours. They then bragged to us about how their son received significant financial aid because the value of one’s house is currently not factored into how “financial need” is calculated. Upon hearing this, I encountered a brief, but rather intense, moment of stress wondering if we were really stupid to have saved for our children’s higher education costs. Although tempting, we did NOT renovate our house utilizing our younger child’s “college” money either.While we had/have a significant amount of money set aside for college expenses, my oldest was/is set on eventually attending medical school. As luck would have it none of our state universities we looked into, covered by the lottery funded merit scholarships our daughter had managed to earn by excelling in the “rigorous” classes, have a hospital on campus nor are they particularly well known for their high rates of medical school acceptances. While true, this point was particularly stressed according to my daughter’s research of rankings on Niche and comments on College Confidential - the most reliable sources out there. (Just in case you are confused at this point and think you should leave me a comment to dispute my understanding of “reliable sources”, please first go back and reread that last part with an extremely sarcastic tone, and for extra emphasis please insert an eye roll when you get to “College Confidential.”) However, my oldest desired to go to a university out-of-state and we understood her rationale. While we had saved, going all the way through medical school is a LONG road, and after discussing budget it was decided that her desire (as opposed to a necessity) meant applying for merit aid in addition to applying to universities. This led to many months of her writing targeted essays while trying to still juggle her “rigorous” course load, extracurriculars, and perhaps actually enjoy part of her senior year. Wait, I just realized I forgot to add I was an “anxious” parent for being nervous my child’s dream plan might not pan out, so I strongly encouraged her to still fill out the application for a state university she really did not desire to attend. While she was ultimately successful in her desired outcome, her stress level was exceedingly high during this time period. My daughter’s high stress level adversely affected her mood, and since nobody really enjoys being around another person who is in a bad mood, made her entire college application process not the most enjoyable period of time our family has spent together.Lucky for us, our younger daughter is interested in English Communications/Journalism and one of our state universities has an outstanding program in that major. Woo hoo, perhaps we can cash in on that lottery funded tuition scholarship the second time around! Except…this daughter happens to thrive in smaller environments with discussion-based classes, and state universities near us are generally HUGE. Am I a horrific, helicopter parent that I find it stressful to weigh tuition costs against what I know is the best academic environment for my particular child?I’ll conclude by discussing the stress caused from falsely believing I had recently been through the college application process with my older student and thus had somehow figured out how this all works. Much like my older child, when my younger daughter obtained close to her targeted standardized test score (within 10 points of her target SAT score) I said “Great job, enough, be done.” The state university with the great program in her major, with the guaranteed merit aid with her GPA, has an Honors Program that offers smaller classes. Our entire family felt that acceptance into this program would be the perfect solution for her - smaller classes, great merit aid, good program in what she is interested in… During the Early Acceptance round the Honors Program admits based on the top % of students applying based only on recalculated GPA, “rigor” of classes (BTW, I completely despise the word RIGOR at this point!), and ACT/SAT score. She missed automatic acceptance into the Honors Program by the 10 points she was shy of her original SAT goal she set for herself, and I was the one who told her NOT to retake the exam to shoot for a higher score. Is it weird to feel stress, because in retrospect, I gave my child incorrect advice on a moving target for admissions? Last year that score would have been sufficient for automatic acceptance into the program.Therefore, Brett Elkins, if you are feeling a bit stressed out I am not going to give you any guilt or grief about it, because I am right there with you. I refuse to lie about that to pretend to be the perfect parent. Now, I do realize that my youngest can learn to adapt to a larger university, if needed. My older daughter may need to take out a few loans if she really becomes a doctor…and even today, the day after my younger daughter submitted yet another application with essays in a last ditch attempt at that state university Honors Program, I can laugh at myself for feeling a bit stressed about this whole process. However, I AM impatiently waiting until April final decisions are released and we can be done and return to a NORMAL life (well, as “normal” as it gets in my household), not focused on college admissions.If your family is also in the middle of the college application process, or soon to be - Best of luck on your journey and don’t forget to laugh at yourself and the process a little along the way; laughing helps relieve stress!

This story is 100% true.From my freshman year of high school until graduation, I had five separate English teachers.During that time, I never received any grade higher than a F on any written assignment in those classes. I passed and graduated entirely on the basis of tests and worksheets.However, if an assignment involved an essay of any length, I would inevitably receive a failing grade.At one point, I was tasked with writing an essay on some aspect of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I neatly compiled the essay in one of those clip binders with a cover bearing a large red A. Inside of the cover, there was a title page with a more thorough title.When the essay was returned, the only mark on it was a big circle around the A on the cover and a note reading “Letters are not titles”.It was clear that she had not even opened it.When confronted, she suddenly claimed proof that the essay was entirely plagiarized. When asked to present that proof (there was none, because it wasn't), she threatened me with detention.That was only one example. At a certain point, I started collecting evidence of the problem by writing multiple versions of assignments. One would be submitted under my name. The other under a classmates.Without fail, through ten separate experiments involving different students, the classmate received an A, while I received a failing grade. On the exact same assignment with the exact same teacher.I submitted my findings to the principal during my senior year. He had me transferred to another class and basically ordered the teacher to give me exemplary grades on all assignments, completed or otherwise.I've been asked a couple of questions about this when I've discussed it before.Do I know why I was targeted in this manner? I do not. The issue involved five different teachers over four grade levels. In no case, when presented with evidence of wrongdoing, were any willing to acknowledge fault or discuss the problem, other than to make baseless accusations of plagiarism or threaten punishmnt.Why did I not switch schools? First of all, problems started when I was fourteen. At that age, teenagers are rarely believed when it comes to complaints about school. My parents did eventually come to my defense, but initially they deferred to the teachers, believing that I was the source of the problem. Also, the only other high school in the area was about 40 minutes away and did not offer transportation services out-of-district. We were not in a financial position to support the extra commuting expenditure.Why did I not sue? Again, I was fourteen and still believed that issues like this could be resolved with a chat and goodwill. In retrospect, we should have sued. Their behavior was well documented and inexcusable.Were there others? Yes, though I do not know the details of their cases, except to the extent that a number of “trouble” students were accepted into a pilot magnate program at the local community college, where they mysteriously ceased to be “trouble” students anymore.The experience did teach me some valuable life lessons. First, hardwork is not always rewarded and should only be offered as long as fair dealing is clear and present.Also, authority figures can be deeply, irredeemablely flawed. Teaching is a noble profession only to the extent that the individual teacher pursues it nobly. The same is true of any individual or profession.Ironically, after graduating from high school, I spent more than 15 years working as a professional journalist publishing many tens of millions of words.Some of those teachers might (and have tried to) claim credit for my excellence in this area. Again, with irony, this is true, though in no part due to their teaching.By my senior year, I had thoroughly realized the rules of this particular game. So, instead of following any assignments in class, I just read what I wanted and wrote what I wanted and ignored the rest. If we were studying Mark Twain, but I happened to be reading George Orwell, then I’d write about George Orwell. Once, during a section on The Great Gatsby, I happened to be reading Shakespeare and decided to teach myself to write in iambic pentameter and submitted an essay in meter on entirely the wrong subject.I mean, why not? The results would be the same either way, so might as well.In any case, my experience of American public schools was of a place mired in problems. I've described the English program. However, these types of issues were systemic and pervasive.For example, consulting with a number of my former classmates (most of whom graduated with honors) after a few years in the working wild, there was general agreement that three quarters or more of students graduating from that school at that time were functionally math illiterate.There was exactly one math teacher who gave a damn and he handled only AP courses. Otherwise, the majority of math education involved quizzes on computers and almost no direct interaction with the teacher beyond scribbling a few formulae (or formulas. Formuli would be the plural if the singular was formulus) on the board.And, to be honest, a part of my study in college focused on philosophy of mathematics. I don't think those teachers actually understood the subject that they were teaching.It became very clear, very quickly in college that there were foundational components missing from the content which we were “taught” in high school math class. I'm not talking about high concept, abstract mathematical principles, but rather simple, basic information.For example, I remember doing quite well in Algebra, which struck me as odd, since I felt very strongly that I understood the subject no better at the end of the year than I had at the beginning.I had basically memorized the order of operations in 8th grade and muddled through 9th grade Algebra (apparently at an A level) without actually managing to learn anything new.Anyway, enough of this. These complaints are old ones and perhaps no longer even relevant. Things change, hopefully for the better.