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FIXXFIN

Tutorial

Planning your finances has never been easier.

Information

Here you will find some general information about the software and legal information about the use and distribution of FIXXFIN.

To have the best user experience, you should follow the 3 steps below. Then all the tabs will be displayed in full screen and you will have a better overview. The differences occur because each user and computer has individual settings, such as screen resolution and text scaling.

Please also have a look at the different fields and their colors. If a field turns red during your input, then the value or the input is incorrect. Please correct your entries until the field either turns green or at least is no longer red.

General Data

First, choose whether you want to do the financial planning alone or together with your partner.

Then fill in the 5 other fields and give your information about the desired inflation, year of data entry and runtime of the charts.

Here, the percentage value of inflation determines the rate of inflation in the future. This means that all your expenses will increase by exactly this value per year. Please note that your income is not affected by this.

For the software to work properly, you must enter the year of your data entry.

Now you can choose the runtime of the graphs. To do this, simply select up to which age you would like to have the graphs displayed.

Annual Income and Expenses

This tab is structured as follows. In the chart on the top left you can see the sum of all your annual income and expenses, debts, real estate value and investment. Please note that there are two Y-axes. The right one is for the real estate value and the value of your financial investments. You can also find this graph exactly like this in the following tabs.

The other chart in the upper right corner always shows the data you entered in this tab.

Annual income and expenses, do not mean your interest/dividends, 401(k) or similar, just as indicated in the budget book.

Please read and follow the instructions in the software. It is very important that you set your income to zero in the year when you stop working. Otherwise, your income will continue to be recorded even if you have already reached retirement age.

First enter the data from the budget book for last year. Please take into account both your income and expenses for yourself and your partner. If you expect a regular salary increase, you can enter this in the change field.

Your expenses will automatically increase by the value you have selected in the General tab. You can correct the value for your expenses if necessary. You can also enter negative values.

If you want to change values in a few years, select Yes at Change 1. As soon as all fields are filled correctly, you can see this reflected in the graph. You have the possibility to make many changes so that you can plan as accurately as possible, whether sabbatical, part-time work or retirement at the age of 55.

Your income from interest/dividends, Real Estate, 401(k) or similar, is not affected.

Your Investments

This section is probably the heart of the software. Here you can manage different investments, invest and disinvest differently or determine the distribution of investments. Also consider the tax for dividends/interest and profits. Create a financial cushion to have some financial security in case of shortages. To do so, select up to six different financial investments and determine their distribution and increase in value.

First, you need to get an overview of your current financial situation. Note down the amounts of all your accounts, deposits, crypto wallets and so on with your financial status from the end of last year and enter them into FIXXFIN.

The following steps and points are important:

  1. Select the desired distribution of investments. You can change your entry at any time afterwards. Please read the explanation in the software.
  2. Now select whether you want to take tax into account.
  3. The Total Investment field indicates how much money you had invested at the end of last year and is used for verification purposes.
  4. In the field total allocation portfolio you can check if you have split your assets 100%. If the field is green, then everything is fine. If it is red, then you need to check your entries in the investments.
  5. The next thing is to build up a financial cushion. This should be in total about 3-6 months expenses. Enter the current amount, the desired amount, change in percent and yield, if any.
  6. If you currently have no funds, enter your current debt here and the interest rate you are currently paying on it.
  7. Now select the first investment and fill in the information. Then, if necessary, select the next investment and so on. The desired share of the portfolio must always be 100%, only in this way you can choose between the distribution by percentage or by priority and the calculation will work properly.
    • a) Select – yes, if you want to use this investment.
    • b) Type – Example data below depending on this
    • c) Priority – read the note in the software
    • d) Value – Indicate the value at the end of last year.
    • e) Desired share – Select what share this investment should have in the portfolio.
    • f) Appreciation & Interest/Dividends – Estimate the performance of their portfolio. see sample data.
    • g) Investment limit – If you want to limit an investment, please enter it here
    • h) Checking the inputs

After you have entered everything, you can see how your funds are distributed at any time in the graph below the entry of the investments. Just select the corresponding year and you will see the distribution in the graph on the right.

Budget Book

This is about determining your current and future income and expenses. The main thing is to find out how you spend your money. Only when you have all your expenses in black and white, you can see what your cost drivers are and where you can save money. You can find more information in my article about the budget book.

First of all, you have to choose the year for which you want to make your entries. I recommend you to start with last year. Find all your bank statements, receipts and notes and try to enter your data as accurately as possible. Please record the income and expenses for both yourself and your partner. This is probably the longest and most tedious part of data entry at FIXXFIN.

Some fields are marked dark gray. These data are calculated by other inputs and are only shown here for overview. If you have a 401 (k), then you must enter those data later in the corresponding tab, so that the expenses will not be calculated twice.

Once you have entered all your income and expenses, the totals will be color highlighted. You can then enter your annual income and expenses in the Annual Income and Expenses tab.

You have the possibility to create further budget books. For example, select the year 2030 in the next budget book below and try to estimate how you imagine your income and expenses. Here you will then see that income from social security benefits, 401(k), real estate and interest/dividends will be calculated automatically from your other entries. This will help you with your planning.

Social Security Benefits

Additionally, you can enter all of your Social Security Benefits information.

The data entered here is used exclusively for the calculation of the Social Security Pension and will not be used for any other purpose. If you adjust the data in the annual income/expenses, then please also change here in the pension and vice versa.

Please follow the steps below.

  1. Indicate when you first received a salary and the corresponding wage.
  2. Indicate how the salary has changed in years thereafter in percentages
  3. Now just enter the desired retirement age. Please read the note in the software.
  4. If you want to take tax into account, then they also enter the tax rate.
  5. Now you can add several salary changes. Enter the year and the gross salary.
  6. Please check your entries in the diagram here as well.

401 (k) Retirement Plan

Here you can enter the data for your existing or future 401 (k). For example, you can choose whether you want to receive the pension as a single payment or monthly. You can also set the savings rate to zero.

The best thing to do first is to find documents and the statement from last year. You will need the data so that you can make all the necessary entries.

Go through all the necessary fields point by point and fill in everything. As soon as all data are entered, you can see them in the diagram. Use it to check your entries for correctness and plausibility.

Under Change you can adjust your savings rate upwards or downwards, if necessary, or also adjust the dynamics and increase in value in the future. Select yes in the selection field and enter the new values and the year when the change will take effect.

For further assistance on 401(k) please check out one of the relevant websites.

As mentioned before, expenses for 401 (k) are calculated separately and are not to be included in the tab Annual Income and Expenses.

Real Estate & Properties

This does not mean your privately used property, but real estate and properties for rent and lease. Your setting options are almost unlimited, so you can play through a lot of different options.

For example, you can test whether and when you can afford a property. Then check what minimum rent you need to achieve to make your investment profitable. Sometimes it is also better to sell a property if it is not so profitable. You can simulate all this and much more.

Well, you can finance the property or pay for it out of your reserves. You can also increase your rental income and expenses on a percentage basis. Moreover, you can sell the property and even consider the tax.

Of course, you can own more than one property. Just select property 2 further down the page.

  1. Select whether tax should be taken into account for your income.
  2. Enter the purchase price, real estate value and the date. In addition, you should indicate the increase in value.
  3. Now enter your annual expenses, such as non-allocable costs, management fees and, most importantly, your own reserves.
  4. We continue with your rental income (basic rent).
  5. Choose how you want to finance the property, already financed it or if it is already paid off.
  6. If you wish, you can now select whether you want to sell the property. To do this, select the appropriate fields.
  7. Check your entries in the two diagrams on the right and change your entries if necessary.

Additional Income

Enter expected income here, such as inheritances, gifts or other income. This income is automatically allocated to your investments and then invested according to your instructions. You can find more information under the section Investment.

Please read the notes on tax liability and tax rate. Follow the corresponding link in the software for more information. Please inform yourself additionally on the corresponding websites and ask a tax advisor.

In just a few steps, you can record your income. Fill in the fields Name, Year, Amount and Taxable. If taxes are to be paid, select the appropriate rate. You can see and check your entries in the diagram at the top right.

Additional Expenses

Similar to the additional income, you enter expenses here that cannot be included in the annual expenses. This can be, for example, a house, car, motor home, vacation home, sailboat or similar.

If you want to move into the house, please do not forget to adjust your annual expenses, since you will no longer be paying rent.

First select “yes” and give the expense a name. Enter the price and the year of purchase. If you do not want to finance it, then the cost will be covered by your investments and savings.

If you do not have enough reserves, you will run into debt at that time. For more information, see Investment.

In addition, you have the option of financing these expenses over a certain period of time with or without your own contribution from your financial investments. Please check your entries in the illustration at the top right.

If you want to see if you can afford your dreams and desires, just enter them here and see what happens.

Diagrams

Now you have entered all data and now it is time to evaluate them. For this purpose, you already have various diagrams in the respective pages. On the one hand, these are very small and may not show what you are interested in. That’s why you have the possibility to design a custom graph.

  1. Select the start and end year.
  2. Data series 1 is shown in yellow and refers to the right yellow Y-axis.
  3. The other data series are shown in different colors (see legend) and refer to the left Y-axis.

Further below you will find 4 more predefined diagrams. The runtime is the same as for the other diagrams. The following things are represented thereby.

  1. Income – Expenses – Investments – Real estate Value – Debts
  2. Overview annual income / expenses
  3. Overview expenses
  4. Overview income

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