67 lines
No EOL
2.5 KiB
Text
67 lines
No EOL
2.5 KiB
Text
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf949\cocoasubrtf460
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{\fonttbl\f0\fmodern\fcharset0 Courier;}
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{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
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\pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\sl264\slmult1\ql\qnatural\pardirnatural
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\f0\fs28 \cf0 Assets are money that you have, and Liabilities are money that you\
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owe. ``Liabilities'' is just a more inclusive name for Debts.\
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\
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An Asset is typically increased by transferring money from an Income\
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account, such as when you get paid. Here is a typical transaction:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 My Employer\
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Assets:Checking $500.00\
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Income:Salary\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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Money, here, comes from an Income account belonging to ``My\
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Employer'', and is transferred to your checking account. The money is\
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now yours, which makes it an Asset.\
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\
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Liabilities track money owed to others. This can happen when you\
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borrow money to buy something, or if you owe someone money. Here is\
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an example of increasing a MasterCard liability by spending money with\
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it:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/30 Restaurant\
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Expenses:Dining $25.00\
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Liabilities:MasterCard\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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The Dining account balance now shows $25 spent on Dining, and a\
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corresponding $25 owed on the MasterCard---and therefore shown as\
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$-25.00. The MasterCard liability shows up as negative because it\
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offsets the value of your assets.\
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\
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The combined total of your Assets and Liabilities is your net worth.\
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So to see your current net worth, use this command:\
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\
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@example\
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ledger balance ^assets ^liabilities\
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@end example\
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\
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Relatedly, your Income accounts show up negative, because they\
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transfer money @emph\{from\} an account in order to increase your\
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assets. Your Expenses show up positive because that is where the\
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money went to. The combined total of Income and Expenses is your cash\
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flow. A positive cash flow means you are spending more than you make,\
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since income is always a negative figure. To see your current cash\
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flow, use this command:\
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\
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@example\
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ledger balance ^income ^expenses\
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@end example\
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\
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Another common question to ask of your expenses is: How much do I\
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spend each month on X? Ledger provides a simple way of displaying\
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monthly totals for any account. Here is an example that summarizes\
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your monthly automobile expenses:\
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\
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@example\
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ledger -M register expenses:auto\
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@end example\
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\
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This assumes, of course, that you use account names like\
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@samp\{Expenses:Auto:Gas\} and @samp\{Expenses:Auto:Repair\}.} |