How to Track Your Path to FI in 2026 (Step-by-Step Guide)

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.5 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ready to take control of your finances in 2026? Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench are breaking down one of the most powerful tools for financial success: the personal financial statement. Think of it as your complete financial snapshot—tracking your net worth, cash flow, assets, and liabilities all in one place. The best part? They're giving you a free comprehensive spreadsheet to make it ridiculously easy. This Episode Covers: What a personal financial statement is and why it's essential for reaching your 2026 FI goals How to calculate your net worth and track it over time Step-by-step instructions for filling out your financial statement spreadsheet Organizing your assets and liabilities in one powerful location Using cash flow analysis to understand where your money goes Tips for serious financial planning with your completed statement Access to the free comprehensive spreadsheet template at BiggerPocketsMoney.com/resources Mindy and Scott's recommended budgeting software, Monarch Money (use code 'Pockets' for 50% off Your First Year) Whether you're just starting out or ready to level up your money game, this episode gives you the foundation you need. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most people set financial goals without knowing where they stand.
0:03.2	Today, we're going to show you how to build a personal financial statement from scratch,
0:07.5	your complete financial snapshot in one place.
0:10.4	Net worth, cash flow, assets, liabilities, everything you need to make 2026 your best financial year yet.
0:22.1	Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.
0:25.2	My name is Mindy Jensen, and with me as always is my spreadsheet nerd co-host, Scott Trench.
0:30.0	Mindy opening this show with a statement.
0:32.6	I sort of do there, yeah.
0:33.9	Well, anyways, as we look into the new year, that's when we start to think about our goals for next year. And today we're going to share one of the resources that we've created here at biggerpocketsmoney.com. This can be found and downloaded for free at biggerpocketsmoney.com slash resources, where we'll be uploading a large number of files over the next year. So just remember that one, biggerpocketsmoney.com slash resources. We're going to upload a bunch of free stuff there. You don't need to give us your email address to download
0:57.4	these. These are just free. We made it intentionally free without requiring an email address because
1:01.7	we want these in the hands of more people just to help as make people as possible. But you are,
1:05.8	of course, welcome to join our email list anytime on the website. And we specifically invite you to join our 31-day
1:13.1	DIY personal finance challenge, which Mindy drove and created here. I made this particular spreadsheet,
1:20.5	but Mindy has driven that 31-day financial planning challenge. It's awesome. I have not completed
1:25.4	all of it. I look forward to it because it's going to make me better with with my money and I'm supposed to be good at it and host this podcast with her.
1:30.7	Scott, I want to say that day one of the 31 day challenge is to fill out your personal financial
1:37.7	statement. So if you have already signed up for the challenge, this day is going to be a doozy.
1:43.1	However, this is the foundation for the entire
1:46.4	challenge. So it's really important that you have all of your numbers all in one spot that you
1:52.1	can keep coming back to. If you are signed up for the 31 day challenge, you can get a head
1:56.8	start by going to biggerpocketsmoney.com slash resources and downloading the personal financial
2:02.7	statement so that you can put all of your numbers in place. And then you really only have one
	...

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