After spending years in corporate environment creating project proposals, I developed skills to create 1 page executive summaries. Executives have to make a hundreds of decisions each and every day. Executives are not experts in all subject matters. They are paid to make decisions. If you want to get any type of project up and running in corporate America, you better get good at summarizing data and presenting it to a decision maker.

If you’re struggling to get your spouse on board with the finances, treat your spouse like you would an executive at your workplace. You always respect their time. You spend time gathering data and preparing for a presentation. You would never disrespect your leaders at the workplace. I can promise you this. Your free spirit spouse DOES want a say in the decision making process. If you treat them like an executive, you will be able to lead them. In our coaching sessions, we teach people to develop three single page executive summaries for an effective talk about family finances.

Family Goals Sheet (Debt Snowball, Savings Plan, etc) – This sheet answers the question: What are we trying to accomplish?
Cash Flow Plan (telling your income where to go and what to do) – This sheet answers the questions: How are we going to accomplish our goals with this paycheck?
Net Worth Statement (One page statement is a snapshot in time of your family finances. What-you-own minus what-you-owe = Net Worth). This sheet answers the question: How are we doing?

Its important to note. These are single page summaries. You can bring three sheets of paper to a meeting – tops. Most executives I worked with prefer a single page executive summary. They want to review your findings quickly, provide direction and move on to the next topic.

This post is kicking off a series of posts on Executive Summaries for Personal Finance. Stay tuned for more tips and techniques as to how to develop and use these documents.

20 Minute Budget: Create One Page Executive Summaries

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