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The 10-minute money map

6 min read 10 min to do
Educational only

This guide is for general education and is not personalized investment advice. Your situation is unique. Consider talking with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.

You make good money. You know you should be doing more with it. But between work and everything else, nobody has ever sat down with you and looked at the whole picture. That's all this is: 10 minutes, rough numbers, no judgment. You'll finish with every piece of your money in one place, what each piece is for, and a short list of questions worth asking.

here's what yours could look like

4 of 6 buckets you can fully explain

What you have

$177,000

5 accounts, 1 without an amount yet

  • Invested$85,000 · 48%
  • Cash$92,000 · 52%
NowWithin a year$12,000
$12kChecking
Next few years1 to 5 years$20,000
$20kHouse fund
Later5+ years$145,000
$60kSavings$85k401(k)?Old 401(k)
What you oweHollow rings$40,000
$40kStudent loan
Example with made-up numbers. See the big gold circle at the "Later" stop? That's cash you won't need for 5+ years. Your map shows you things like that at a glance.
Build my map

no one's grading this

Before you start

  • Rough numbers are fine. Round to the nearest thousand. You don't need every statement open.
  • "Not sure" is a real answer. It's actually the most useful one. Every "not sure" becomes a question on your list.
  • Doing this with a partner? Sit down together and fill in one map. It's one of the easiest money conversations you'll have.
  • Nothing is saved. The map below lives only on this page. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere, including to me.

how do I feel about money?

Step 1: Your money story (2 minutes)

When someone sits down with me, the first thing I ask isn't what they own. It's how they think about money. The numbers make a lot more sense once you know the person behind them.

You don't need to write these down. Just answer them honestly in your head:

  1. When you think about money, what's the first feeling that comes up?
  2. Is your main goal to grow what you have, or to protect it?
  3. What's the biggest market drop you've lived through with money invested? What did you do?
  4. If your money could do one thing for you, what would it be?

There are no wrong answers. Someone who had money invested in 2008 often feels different about risk than someone who has mostly seen good years. Neither one is wrong. It just helps to know which one you are before you look at the numbers.

what do I actually have?

Step 2: List every bucket (5 minutes)

A "bucket" is any place your money sits, plus anything you owe. When people are busy, money gets scattered. Here's where it tends to hide:

  • Checking and savings, including a high-yield savings account at a second bank
  • Your 401(k) at work, and any old 401(k)s from past jobs
  • IRAs or Roth IRAs you opened at some point
  • An HSA (it often comes with your health plan)
  • A brokerage account or investing app you signed up for once
  • Company stock or an employee stock purchase plan
  • Debts: credit cards, student loans, a car loan, a mortgage

Can't remember everything?

  • Search your email for "statement," "401(k)," or the names of past employers.
  • Check old pay stubs or W-2s for retirement plan contributions.
  • The U.S. Department of Labor has a free Retirement Savings Lost and Found database for finding old workplace plans.
  • Your state's unclaimed property office holds forgotten accounts. MissingMoney.com searches most states at once.

Is it invested, or just sitting in cash?

This is the question most people can't answer, and that's okay. On a statement, words like "cash," "money market," "sweep," or "core position" usually mean cash. Fund names or ticker symbols usually mean it's invested. If you can't tell, mark it "not sure."

One difference to keep in mind: unlike a savings account, invested money can go down in value as well as up.

what's this money for?

Step 3: Give each bucket a job (3 minutes)

For every bucket, answer two questions: what is this money for, and when will I need it? Use your own words. "Emergencies." "A house in a few years." "Future me."

Different accounts can each have a different job and still work toward the same big picture. That's how I look at every client's accounts: not as a pile of separate balances, but as a team.

The timeline matters because cash and investments are good at different jobs. Cash is good at being there when you need it soon. Over long stretches, though, rising prices reduce what cash can buy. Historically, U.S. consumer prices have risen about 3% a year on average since the 1920s (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

That doesn't make cash bad. An emergency fund is a real job for cash. It just means it's worth comparing each bucket's job and timeline with how it's actually held. Your map lays this out as a route, from money you need now to money you need later, so look for a stop where the colors tell a different story than the timeline. That isn't a mistake to fix today. It's a question to write down.

okay, let's do it

Build your map

Add one bucket at a time. Tap a starting point or type your own. A first draft takes about 5 minutes, and your map draws itself as you go.

Prefer your notes app? Copy a blank template
money-map.txt 
MY MONEY MAP
Rough numbers. Round to the nearest thousand. No account numbers.

WHAT I HAVE (one line per bucket)
Bucket | Where | About $ | Invested / Cash / Not sure | What it's for | When I might need it (within a year / 1-5 yrs / 5+ yrs / not sure)
- [Savings | My bank | $20,000 | Cash | Emergencies | Within a year]
-

WHAT I OWE
Debt | About $ | Rough interest rate
-

WHAT'S WORKING
-

MY QUESTIONS (every "not sure" goes here)
-

so how'd I do?

Step 4: Read your map

Look at four things:

  • What's working. If you save every month, have an emergency fund, or contribute to a retirement plan, you're already doing the hard part. Give yourself credit.
  • Your stops. Does any stop look different than you expected? A lot of gold (cash) at "Later," or teal (invested) at "Now"? Neither is automatically wrong. Write down why it's there as a question.
  • Your clarity score. Every bucket you can't fully explain yet is one login or one question away.
  • Your "not sure" list. This is your to-do list. Some answers you can find yourself with one login. Others are worth asking a professional.

If you do talk with a professional, bring your map, and ask two questions every time: "How are you compensated?" and "Will you act as a fiduciary for this advice at all times?"

Then put a reminder on your calendar to redo this a year from now. Comparing this year's map to next year's is one of the simplest ways to see your progress.

the most important part

Pieces vs. a plan

Most people I meet already have the pieces. What they don't have is time to turn them into a plan.

  • The map shows where you stand. It doesn't tell you what to do next, and it isn't meant to.
  • A plan is the work that comes after. Choosing and managing the investments, rebalancing, keeping every account pointed at the same goals, and working alongside your tax professional so everyone's on the same page.
  • And someone in your corner. When the market gets ugly, that's when having someone to call matters most.
  • A plan doesn't remove risk. Markets still go down, and investments can lose value. A plan just means you've decided ahead of time how you'll handle it.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), annual averages 1926 to 2024. U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Retirement Savings Lost and Found database. National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, MissingMoney.com.

Want to talk through your map? Copy it, and reach out here. We'll start from what you found.