📃 Your Money On One Page In 2026

☕ Good morning SenseMakers!

It's the first full business week of 2026. You're back to back meetings, planning cycles are kicking off, and your work dashboard is crisp. Revenue. Pipeline. Headcount. Every metric you need to run your business is right there, clean and current.

Then you think about your personal money.

Browser tabs with five different logins. Tax folders you haven't organized. That spreadsheet you started last year but never updated. Statements scattered across email. RSUs you meant to track. A 529 you think you opened.

You would never run a business this way. But this is how most high income households run their money.

Here's the tension: you earn too much to feel this disorganized. But when it comes to your own financial picture, there's no single source of truth. Every big decision feels like guesswork.

Today, we're fixing that. By the end of this article, you'll know how to build a one page financial operating system for 2026.

🎯 What a One Page Financial Operating System Actually Is

One page does not mean one account. It means one place where you can see what you have, what you owe, what is coming in, what you are working toward, and what needs attention this quarter.

This is not another product. It's a framework that sits at the center of three things:

1. Your tailored goals and values. What you're actually building toward.

2. Six phases of financial planning. Cash flow, tax strategy, retirement, risk management, equity compensation, and estate planning.

3. Life Driven Investing. Money organized by when you'll need it.

Your one page OS is the dashboard that connects all three. It's simple enough that your spouse can understand your entire financial picture in minutes, yet complete enough that you can make confident decisions.

📍 Step One: Anchor in Life Outcomes

Before you list a single balance, write down three or four core outcomes for the next ten years. Real life outcomes that matter to you.

Examples:

• Work optional by mid 50s so we can choose projects, not need them

• Kids launch without student debt

• Travel internationally twice a year without guilt

• Build a legacy through giving and family wealth transfer

Write a single sentence at the top of your page. Make it sound like something a human would actually say.

Dual income tech couple: "We want work to be optional by 52, help our kids launch without debt, and travel internationally twice a year without worrying about it."

Corporate executive with older teens: "We want a clear path to phased retirement by 58, college fully funded, and flexibility to support aging parents if needed."

Business owner thinking about exit: "We want to sell the business within 5 years, maintain our lifestyle without working, and create a foundation for causes we care about."

Everything else on the page flows from that sentence.

💰 Step Two: Map Your Current Money

List what you have in four simple sections:

1. Cash and Short Term Reserves

Emergency fund, high yield savings, money market, checking Total: $____

2. Retirement and Long Term Accounts

401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, HSA Total: $____

3. Taxable and Equity Accounts

Brokerage accounts, unvested RSUs, vested company stock, ESPP, 529, real estate equity Total: $____

4. Debt and Obligations

Mortgage, HELOC, other loans Total: $____

Use ballpark values and round to the nearest $10,000. You're building a dashboard, not filing taxes.

Note concentrated equity positions separately. It's common for executives to have 30% to 50% of net worth in a single stock. That concentration is why this view matters.

⏱️ Step Three: Connect Money to Time

Risk is not volatility. Risk is not having money when you need it. Your one page OS must connect money to time.

Organize into four time bands:

Band 1: Next 1-2 Years

Goals: Emergency fund, known expenses, down payment Accounts: High yield savings, money market Target: $____

Band 2: Next 3-7 Years

Goals: College starting in 5 years, home renovation, sabbatical Accounts: Conservative taxable, 529 accounts Target: $____

Band 3: Next 8-15 Years

Goals: Work optional transition, phased retirement Accounts: Balanced 401(k), diversified taxable Target: $____

Band 4: Beyond 15 Years

Goals: Full retirement, legacy, giving Accounts: Growth 401(k), Roth, long horizon equity Target: $____

This is where clarity emerges. You might discover college costs sitting in aggressive investments that could drop 30% right when you need the money. Or that you have enough for retirement but never saw it clearly because everything was scattered.

Take Maria and James, a senior tech leader and her partner who came to us with 27 different accounts and no idea whether they could step back from work in 8 to 10 years. 

We put everything on one page organized by time bands. Within 30 minutes, they realized they were 80% to their work optional target, but had $200,000 in cash that should have been invested for their 15+ year goals.

✅ Step Four: Build Quarterly Actions

A good one page OS always ends with clear actions for the next 90 days. Limit this to three to five moves.

Examples:

• January: Increase 401(k) contribution to reach 2026 max ($24,500)

• February: Set up 10b5-1 plan to diversify RSUs

• March: Open and fund 529 for each child

• Q1: Review insurance and update beneficiaries

Assign a month and owner to each action. Make sure every action ties back to the life outcome at the top of your page.

🔄 Step Five: Keep It Alive

A one page OS is only useful if it stays current.

Monthly (10 minutes): Quick glance. Update major changes. Check quarterly action progress.

Quarterly (60 minutes): Deeper review. Update balances. Check action completion. Add new actions for next quarter.

Annually (half day): Full refresh. Update life outcomes if priorities changed. Recalibrate numbers. Plan the year ahead.

For couples, make this a recurring money meeting. Start by looking at the one page together and asking: What changed? What did we complete? What needs to be added?

🧠 fMaking Sense of Your Money on One Page

Before: Scattered accounts. Constant worry about whether you're on track. Reactive decisions. Guessing whether you can afford something. Avoiding conversations with your partner because neither of you has the full picture.

After: One page. One plan. You can review your entire financial life in ten minutes and feel calm. Big decisions are grounded in data, not guesswork.

Most people will not build or maintain this system on their own at the level their situation deserves. Not because they can't, but because life is full and this is not their core competency.

At Tailored Wealth, this is what we do. We build professional grade one page financial operating systems using advanced financial planning technology that connects everything: cash flow modeling, tax projections, equity strategies, scenario testing for career changes or business exits.

We're the partner who keeps the system updated and in motion. We sit between you and the complexity. We translate your life goals into clear strategies. And we give you a system that works even when you're busy running your business or leading your team.

You don't need more apps. You need one clear view that respects your time and connects directly to the life you want.

Ready to build your one page financial operating system? Schedule a Wealth Strategy Call and we'll show you how we use advanced financial planning technology to create the clear financial view you've been missing. In one focused conversation, we'll help you move from scattered accounts to one clear system.

The portfolio is not the plan. The portfolio serves the plan. And the plan serves the life you're building.

As always, I hope this helps you to Prioritize Your Version of a Rich Life.

Until next week!

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

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