Free Financial Planning Templates (2024)

Whether you’re starting a business or looking for ways to grow an existing company, creating and following a financial plan can help ensure success. An effective plan can inform business decisions, provide documentation for investors and other stakeholders, and serve as a guide to help you reach objectives. Some businesses may choose to work with financial consultants or use software to manage financials, but for some teams, templates offer an easy method to begin strategic planning. Below, you’ll find multiple free financial planning templates for both business and personal use.

These free templates are designed for users with a wide range of experience levels, and offer professional quality along with simplicity. You’ll find templates for goal planning, financial projections, budget planning, retirement calculations, and more.

Business Financial Planning Templates

Business Budget Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (1)

Download Business Budget Template

Excel | Smartsheet

This business budget template provides a mix of detailed spreadsheets and graphical data reports. You can estimate expenses, track actual expenditures, and view variances, all of which are summarized by month and visually represented in charts. This information allows you to create a comprehensive business financial plan template.

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Project Budget Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (3)

Download Project Budget Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Designed for projects, this template allows you to list costs for each task. Depending on the type of project, you may include hourly services that contract employees provide, equipment costs, or other expenses. Create an estimated budget and then compare actual expenses to help with financial planning on future projects.

12-Month Sales Forecast Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (4)

Download 12-Month Sales Forecast Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Use this sales forecast template to create financial projections for individual products on a monthly and annual basis. You can also track sales performance over time and compare figures from previous years. Color-coded cells make it easy to view data for each month, and the template calculates monthly and annual totals.

Event Budget Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (5)

Download Event Budget Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Whether you’re planning a conference, company party, fundraiser, or wedding, any tool that helps organize your event planning process can reduce stress and aid in creating a successful event. This budget template lists the many expenses involved in an event, from venue rentals to programming and advertising. It also compiles the data you enter into visual charts so that you can quickly get an idea of your event budget allocation.

Financial Management Plan - Word

Free Financial Planning Templates (6)

Download Financial Management Plan

Word | Smartsheet

Create a financial strategic action plan with this Word template. You’ll find a basic outline to follow, including sections for an overview of your business or project, assumptions, risks, financial management methods, and more. Once you have created a comprehensive financial plan, use it as a living document, just like you would a business plan. You should review and update financial templates regularly in order to assess progress, provide accountability and accuracy, and ensure that it continues to meet your needs.

Financial Dashboard Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (7)

‌ Download Financial Dashboard Template - Excel

This template provides a summary report of financial data with a dashboard view, which makes it easy to compile and quickly review information. You’ll get a combination of bar charts, a pie chart, and a graph to compare statistics over time. Use the template to measure product performance, view sales data, and chart annual revenues or other financial information.

Startup Expenses Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (8)

‌ Download Startup Expenses Template - Excel

If you’re starting a business, this template can help you identify potential funding sources as well as necessary expenses to get your venture up and running. Similar to a budget template, you can track both estimated and actual costs, and make adjustments as needed. Identifying startup expenses can support your business planning process and help ensure that you have adequate financial resources to reach your goals.

Break-Even Analysis Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (9)

Download Break-Even Analysis Template

Excel | Smartsheet

A break-even analysis shows when a business will meet all of its expenses and begin to reach financial profitability. To do this analysis, enter your fixed and variable expenses into the template and the pre-set formulas will calculate how much revenue a business needs to break even.

Financial Report Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (10)

Download Financial Report Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Create an annual financial report for your business that shows key metrics in an easy-to-read format. Getting a financial overview allows you to track performance over a given time period, and a summary report simplifies communication with stakeholders. You can easily print and share this Excel template as a PDF document.

Marketing Budget Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (11)

‌ Download Marketing Budget Template - Excel

Create a comprehensive marketing budget plan with monthly, quarterly, and annual views on one template. In the first column, you’ll find a list of marketing expenses that include public relations, social media, advertising, online content, and more. There is also a section for listing specific marketing campaigns so that you can estimate and compare costs for each.

Personal Financial Planning Templates

One-Page Financial Plan Template

Free Financial Planning Templates (12)

Download One-Page Financial Plan Template

Excel|PDF

Individuals can also benefit from strategic financial plans. This one-page template allows you to create a personal financial plan that is concise yet comprehensive. Determine your current financial situation, create an action plan for reaching goals, and use the plan to track implementation and progress. If needed, you can include numbers for life insurance or estate planning.

Family Budget Planner Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (13)

‌ Download Family Budget Planner Template - Excel

Families can use this planner to track household expenses and create a monthly balanced budget. You’ll find a list of common expenses including housing, transportation, healthcare, and entertainment, but you can also edit these categories to align with your specific monthly costs. The template also includes a section for savings to help you plan for retirement, create an emergency fund, and track investments.

Financial Goals Worksheet

Free Financial Planning Templates (14)

Download Financial Goals Worksheet

Excel| Word |PDF

Goals are only dreams unless you take steps to achieve them. Use this worksheet to clarify your top goals, identify potential roadblocks, and list actions you can take to overcome obstacles and reach your desired outcome. Goal planning can help prioritize objectives, create a realistic timeline, and provide accountability.

Personal Monthly Budget - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (15)

‌ Download Personal Monthly Budget - Excel

This monthly financial planner template provides a detailed budget along with a visual summary of your data. It includes sections for listing all sources of income, different savings accounts, and all of the expenses required to meet basic needs and support your lifestyle. You can use this template to plan for each month as well as to track earnings and expenditures over time.

Investment Planning Template

Free Financial Planning Templates (16)

Download Investment Planning Template

Word|PDF

Use this template to analyze your financial situation, assess your investment strategies, and determine investment goals. This worksheet can help clarify where to make changes in your current strategies and identify your comfort level with different approaches to investing. Even if you don’t have any investments, this template can provide a starting point for thinking about and planning your goals.

Retirement Planning Worksheet - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (17)

‌ Download Retirement Planning Worksheet - Excel

This template serves as a retirement calculator and budget worksheet that you can use to plan for retirement while accounting for inflation. If you are already retired, use the template to create a weekly, monthly, or annual budget based on your current income and expenses. You may want to consult with a financial planner to ensure that you are maximizing your income and saving sufficiently for retirement, but this template provides a basic financial planning and management tool that can help kickstart the conversation.

Personal Financial Statement - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (18)

‌ Download Personal Financial Statement - Excel

Determine your personal net worth with this simple yet detailed template. Enter your assets and liabilities - from cash and retirement savings to credit card debt and mortgages - and the template will automatically calculate your net worth. These details provide a quick look at your current financial standing. If you’re starting a business and seeking funding from lenders or investors, you may need to provide the information you collect in this template.

Simple Financial Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (19)

‌ Download Simple Financial Template - Excel

If you want to create a streamlined budget, use this simple financial template to see the difference between your income and expenses. Sections are provided for an itemized list of each, and a pie chart displays the balance between the two. This template may be helpful for individuals who are building a budget for the first time, or for those without complicated finances who just want to see how much they spend each month.

College Student Budget Template - Excel

Free Financial Planning Templates (20)

‌ Download College Student Budget Template - Excel

This template includes a list of potential expenses for college students. Use the details it reveals to determine how to pay for each item or where to cut costs. It also allows you to create a budget for each semester, weighing income against expenses to ensure that you have adequate funds. By creating a balanced budget, college students can focus on school responsibilities rather than worrying about finances, and also ensure that spending money is available for entertainment and wellness needs.

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Free Financial Planning Templates (2024)

FAQs

How do I write my own financial plan? ›

Here's a summary
  1. Step 1 – Determine your incomings. It's critical to know how much money you earn. ...
  2. Step 2 – Determine your outgoings. “The truth is what are you spending?” This involves identifying all of your living costs including: ...
  3. Step 3 – Define financial independence. ...
  4. Step 4 – Create a budget and an investment plan.
6 Apr 2018

Does Excel have financial templates? ›

Use finance templates for Excel to compare mortgage types, assess the pros and cons of switching investments, or to calculate whether a new car is in your future. Small business owners can use financial templates for a number of financial tasks, from creating yearly income statements to forecasting their cash flow.

What are the 7 areas that should be included in every financial plan? ›

8 Components of a Good Financial Plan
  • Financial goals. ...
  • Net worth statement. ...
  • Budget and cash flow planning. ...
  • Debt management plan. ...
  • Retirement plan. ...
  • Emergency funds. ...
  • Insurance coverage. ...
  • Estate plan.

What is the 50 30 20 rule with money? ›

Key Takeaways. The rule states that you should spend up to 50% of your after-tax income on needs and obligations that you must-have or must-do. The remaining half should be split up between 20% savings and debt repayment and 30% to everything else that you might want.

What is the 50 30 20 Finance rule? ›

The basic rule of thumb is to divide your monthly after-tax income into three spending categories: 50% for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings or paying off debt.

What are the 3 rules of thumb of financial planning? ›

If I had only one sheet of paper and could only write down three rules of thumb for starting, building, and keeping a family fortune while living a happy, fulfilling, peaceful life, these would be my choices: I) Save half of what you make, II) Invest in a 60/40 portfolio III) Live by the 4% rule!

What are the four main 4 types of financial planning? ›

There are four different types of financial planning models, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
  • Individual planner. The most basic type of financial planning model is the individual planner. ...
  • Central planning. ...
  • Supportive planning. ...
  • Consumer-driven.
12 Nov 2018

What are the 4 areas financial planning? ›

The Five Main Areas of Financial Planning
  • Protection. Just as you implement risk management strategies to protect your investments, you should have strategies in place to protect yourself. ...
  • Estate Planning Strategies. ...
  • Retirement Planning. ...
  • Investment Planning. ...
  • Tax Planning.

How do you create a simple financial spreadsheet? ›

To create a budget spreadsheet, start by opening a new spreadsheet and creating columns for things like amounts, due dates, and paid dates. Then, create cells to record your income sources, like your monthly pay, followed by cells to record expenses, such as food and housing.

How do I organize my finances spreadsheet? ›

The best way to organize a budget spreadsheet is by shading each summary section between your major groups. As you can see here the first section of the budget pertains to bills, including household utilities and fixed bills. Another section is devoted to credit cards.

What are the five key questions financial planning must answer? ›

The key questions financial planning must answer are: What specific assets must the firm obtain in order to achieve its goals?, How much additional financing will the firm need to acquire these assets?, How much financing will the firm be able to generate internally (through additional earnings), and how much must it ...

What is the format of financial plan? ›

A financial plan paints a comprehensive picture of your current finances, your financial goals and any strategies you've set to achieve those goals. Good financial planning should include details about your cash flow, savings, debt, investments, insurance and any other elements of your financial life.

What are the 3 major areas of financial management? ›

Finance consists of three interrelated areas: (1) money and credit markets, which deals with the securities markets and financial institutions; (2) investments, which focuses on the decisions made by both individuals and institutional investors; and (3) financial management, which involves decisions made within the ...

Is saving 1000 a month good? ›

If you start saving $1000 a month at age 20 will grow to $1.6 million when you retire in 47 years. For people starting saving at that age, the monthly payments add up to $560,000: the early start combined with the estimated 4% over the years means that their investments skyrocketed nearly $1.

What are Dave Ramsey's rules? ›

Dave Ramsey's 7 Budgeting Baby Steps
  • Step 1: Start an Emergency Fund. ...
  • Step 2: Focus on Debts. ...
  • Step 3: Complete Your Emergency Fund. ...
  • Step 4: Save for Retirement. ...
  • Step 5: Save for College Funds. ...
  • Step 6: Pay Off Your House. ...
  • Step 7: Build Wealth.
4 Aug 2022

How much does Dave Ramsey say you should save? ›

Dave Ramsey: 6 months of expenses in an emergency fund

In spring 2022, personal finance expert Dave Ramsey said his general rule of thumb for emergency savings is now roughly six months of income. In his blog, he writes, “The more stable your income and household are, the less you need in your emergency fund.

What is the 72 rule in finance? ›

Do you know the Rule of 72? It's an easy way to calculate just how long it's going to take for your money to double. Just take the number 72 and divide it by the interest rate you hope to earn. That number gives you the approximate number of years it will take for your investment to double.

What is the 75 rule in finance? ›

In order to maintain diversified management status, the 75-5-10 rule describes an industry acknowledged policy in which 75% of portfolio allocation has to be with different issuers (inclusive of cash); a cap of 5% of assets can be invested into a single company; and no more than 10% of any company's voting stock would ...

What is the 60 40 rule in finance? ›

The strategy allocates 60% to stocks and 40% to bonds — a traditional portfolio that carries a moderate level of risk. More generally, “60/40” is a shorthand for the broader theme of investment diversification.

What is the rule of 69 in finance? ›

The Rule of 69 is used to estimate the amount of time it will take for an investment to double, assuming continuously compounded interest. The calculation is to divide 69 by the rate of return for an investment and then add 0.35 to the result.

What is the 70/30 10 Rule money? ›

THE 70% BUDGET RULE

You take your monthly take-home income and divide it by 70%, 20%, and 10%. You divvy up the percentages as so: 70% is for monthly expenses (anything you spend money on). 20% goes into savings, unless you have pressing debt (see below for my definition), in which case it goes toward debt first.

What is the 40 30 rule? ›

He explained that success in ski racing, or most sports for that matter, was only 40% physical training. The other 60% was mental. And of that, the first 30% was technical skill and experience. The second 30% was the willingness to take risks.

What are the four C's of financial activities? ›

The finance activities at health services organizations may be summarized by the four Cs: costs, cash, capital, and control (see “Critical Concept: The Four Cs”). The measurement and minimization of costs are vital activities to the financial success of all healthcare organizations.

What are the 5 steps in the financial planning process? ›

Plan your financial future in 5 steps
  1. Step 1: Assess your financial foothold. ...
  2. Step 2: Define your financial goals. ...
  3. Step 3: Research financial strategies. ...
  4. Step 4: Put your financial plan into action. ...
  5. Step 5: Monitor and evolve your financial plan.

What are the two key elements in financial planning? ›

One of the most critical aspects of financial planning is understanding your cash flow and the connection between your current assets and debts. If you spend more than you make, it will be impossible to reach the goals you've set. Another essential part of financial planning is risk management.

What are the 6 key areas of personal financial planning? ›

Six Areas of Financial Planning
  • Cash reserve levels.
  • Cash reserve strategies.
  • Debt management.
  • Cash flow management.
  • Net worth.
  • Discretionary income.
  • Expected large inflow/outflow.
  • Lines of credit.

What are the 5 features of effective financial planning? ›

And now, we will discuss each of the 5 aspects in further detail:
  • #Number 1: Saving.
  • #Number 2: Investing.
  • #Number 3: Financial protection.
  • #Number 4: Tax Saving.
  • #Number 5: Retirement planning:

What are the six steps of personal financial planning? ›

Financial Planning Process
  • 1) Identify your Financial Situation. ...
  • 2) Determine Financial Goals. ...
  • 3) Identify Alternatives for Investment. ...
  • 4) Evaluate Alternatives. ...
  • 5) Put Together a Financial Plan and Implement. ...
  • 6) Review, Re-evaluate and Monitor The Plan.

What are the seven 7 components within a financial plan? ›

What makes up a financial plan? Your financial plan should include seven key elements (which we will cover in more detail below): your profit and loss statement, operating income, cash flow statement, balance sheet, revenue projection, personnel plan, as well as your business ratios and break-even analysis.

What are the 5 steps in the financial planning process? ›

Plan your financial future in 5 steps
  1. Step 1: Assess your financial foothold. ...
  2. Step 2: Define your financial goals. ...
  3. Step 3: Research financial strategies. ...
  4. Step 4: Put your financial plan into action. ...
  5. Step 5: Monitor and evolve your financial plan.

What is a financial plan template? ›

Financial plan template

These projections will help you plan your growth and obtain the financing you need. They can also be used as a tool for monitoring your finances, allowing you to measure your progress and quickly react if there is a sign of trouble.

What are the 4 financial plans? ›

The main elements of a financial plan include a retirement strategy, a risk management plan, a long-term investment plan, a tax reduction strategy, and an estate plan.

What is the rule of 7 in finance? ›

We saw in the previous section that investing in the S&P 500 has historically allowed investors to double their money about every six or seven years. Your initial $1,000 investment will grow to $2,000 by year 7, $4,000 by year 14, and $6,000 by year 18.

What are the 4 guidelines for setting financial goals? ›

4 Simple Guidelines to Follow When Setting Your Financial Goals
  • Make sure your goals are somewhere between aggressive and realistic. Remember that once you set a goal, the point is to hit it. ...
  • Understand your expenses first. ...
  • Tell the truth. ...
  • Keep emotions out of it.
19 May 2021

What are the 10 key elements that make up all the financial statements? ›

The 10 elements of financial statements, according to FASB
  • Assets;
  • Liabilities;
  • Equity (net assets);
  • Revenues;
  • Expenses;
  • Gains;
  • Losses;
  • Investments by owners;
16 Jul 2020

What are the 3 rules of thumb of financial planning? ›

If I had only one sheet of paper and could only write down three rules of thumb for starting, building, and keeping a family fortune while living a happy, fulfilling, peaceful life, these would be my choices: I) Save half of what you make, II) Invest in a 60/40 portfolio III) Live by the 4% rule!

What are the 3 S's for financial planning? ›

3 S of financial planning are Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) and Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP).

What are the five key questions financial planning must answer? ›

The key questions financial planning must answer are: What specific assets must the firm obtain in order to achieve its goals?, How much additional financing will the firm need to acquire these assets?, How much financing will the firm be able to generate internally (through additional earnings), and how much must it ...

How do you start a financial plan for a beginner? ›

10 Rules for Beginners to Follow While Doing Financial Planning
  1. Manage your Money: ...
  2. Regulate Your Expenses Wisely: ...
  3. Maintain a Personal Balance Sheet: ...
  4. Handling Surplus Cash Judiciously: ...
  5. Design Your Personal Investment Portfolio: ...
  6. Planning for Retirement: ...
  7. Manage your Debt Wisely: ...
  8. Get your Risks Covered:

What are the 6 areas of financial planning? ›

Six Areas of Financial Planning
  • Cash reserve levels.
  • Cash reserve strategies.
  • Debt management.
  • Cash flow management.
  • Net worth.
  • Discretionary income.
  • Expected large inflow/outflow.
  • Lines of credit.

What are the six basic financial statements? ›

There are four main financial statements. They are: (1) balance sheets; (2) income statements; (3) cash flow statements; and (4) statements of shareholders' equity. Balance sheets show what a company owns and what it owes at a fixed point in time.

What is Dave Ramsey's plan? ›

Ramsey says to line up your consumer debts “by balance, smallest to largest,” and attack the smallest debt first by paying off as much of it as possible, while making minimum payments on the rest.

How do you write a 5 year financial plan? ›

How to Build Your Five-Year Financial Plan in Five Easy Steps
  1. Step 1: Define Your Goals.
  2. Step 2: Assess Your Current Financial Situation.
  3. Step 3: Outline What You Need to Do to Reach Your Goals.
  4. Step 4: Implement Your Plan.
  5. Step 5: Monitor Your Progress and Update Your Plan as Necessary.

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