The Prepared Overview Tool

The Prepared Overview Tool is designed for both one-person and two-person households. It gives you a simple way to bring your income, expenses, debts, and monthly cash flow together in one place so you can see where you stand today and, for two-person households, what your future financial picture might look like if one person passes first.

For a one-person household, it works as a straightforward household budget and cash-flow tool. Many people have never gathered all these numbers in one place, and doing so can reveal where the money is going and whether monthly income will keep up with expenses.

For couples, the Tool goes a step further. After showing your household finances today, it lets you look at each possible future separately: what the financial picture may look like if one person passes first, and then if the other passes first. That kind of side-by-side survivor cash-flow analysis is not something you typically find in a household budgeting tool. It brings together the remaining income, the expenses and debt payments that may continue, and the estimated monthly cash flow for the person who remains.

• If one person passes first, what income may remain for the other?

• What household expenses and debt payments may or may not continue?

• What would the overall cash flow situation be afterward?

Seeing both possibilities side by side can uncover a reality that warrants attention, or simply provide reassuring confirmation that the household, present and future, is on solid footing.

The Tool can help you:

• Build a straightforward household budget.

• See current household income, expenses, debts, and monthly cash flow in one place.

• Bring debt balances and monthly payments together for a clearer overall view.

• Estimate each person's financial picture if the other passes first.

• Identify where income may change while expenses or debt payments continue.

• Identify a potential gap before it becomes an immediate problem.

The Prepared Overview Tool can also help you get organized before mortgage counseling. Completing it beforehand gives you one place to work through your household income, expenses, and debts before discussing those subjects with a counselor. The Prepared Overview Tool does not replace required counseling or a lender's financial assessment. Its purpose is simply to help you arrive at a clearer picture of your household finances and the information you may need.

Free to use. No account or sign-in is required.

The Prepared Overview Tool itself does not use tracking or analytics. Prepared does not receive or store the financial information you enter in the Tool.

Open The Prepared Overview Tool

Or scan this QR code to open The Tool on your phone or tablet.

The Prepared Overview Tool is an independent resource developed by Dan DeVere as part of the Prepared: Just in Case project.

It is not a Dignified Home Loans product and does not provide financial, tax, legal, Social Security, or mortgage advice.