How to Do Your Money Date in the Income Machine Tracking System

What Data Goes Where

Your Money Date happens every month. So you need to know where to put your data in the Income Machine Tracking System! This post refers to the Income Machine Tracking System, version 2.3.3, which is under test.

In this guide, I will explain what data goes where and how to put it in as easily and quickly as possible. I won’t talk about doing a flip yet. That will be another post very soon.

Data the System Tracks

Here’s what data the system needs from you:

• Payments

• Contributions and boosters

• Credit line transactions

• Unpaid Balances by category

The Income Machine Tracking System contains data entry on a few tabs:

• Enter payments on the Payments tab

• Enter Contributions and boosters on the Contr_Boost tab

• Enter credit line transactions on the LOC Tracker(s) (LOC Tracker tabs have names like, LOC-RF1, LOC-RF2, where RF are my initials. Sometimes, instead of initials, I use a label for the bank or credit union where I have the credit line. For example, LOC-Ent or LOC-M1Core.

• Enter current balances of Unpaid Balance by category in UPB trackers. UPB tracker tabs have the following names: Liquid_UPB, Illiquid_External_UPB, Illiquid_Internal_UPB, and Illiquid_Leverage_UPB.

Enter Payments

Payments are the easiest to enter if you’ve sorted your payments table correctly.

Since we’re not doing a flip right now, the payments to enter are payments you have already entered before. Even new payments, if you flipped last month, have rows in the table for upcoming payments if you completed your flip procedure.

Sort the Payments data table so that it’s ready for easy data entry.

1. Select the whole Payments data table, including headers at the top and including the comments at the right end of the table. Don’t select any columns to the right of the comments.

2. Click Data -> Sort Range -> Advanced range sorting options

3. Select “Data has header row”

4. Select “Date” and A to Z

5. Click Add another sort column

6. Select then by “StreamID” and A to Z

7. Click then by “Pmt Num” and A to Z

8. Click Sort button

Now you’re done sorting. Navigate to the cell at the end of the blue text in the column Payments Received. You will see that the rows for your next month’s payments to enter are all together. Here’s how to enter payments:

1. Enter payment amounts one by one. Or you could even copy the payments received from last month and paste them in.

2. Then edit any payment amounts that differ from last month (e.g., Prosper payments).

3. Enter the actual dates received for each payment. To enter dates for these payments quickly, you could enter the first date and then just copy down (with the date to copy seleted, Ctrl-Shift-DownArrow, then Ctrl-D).

4. Enter the name of the credit line where you sent each payment in column to LOC. The name of the credit line is the name of the credit line tracker tab in your template. If you use only one credit line, then just copy the name of the credit line from earlier payments. If you use multiple credit lines, then make sure you use the correct credit line tab name for each payment.

5. If you want to enter any comments about a payment, enter those in columns Action (column Z) and Comment (column AA). Data in these columns are not used anywhere else, so you can enter anything you want for your reference.

Your entry of monthly payments received is done!

Double check the payment amounts are right. I always have to edit my Prosper payments because they change every month. Double check the dates for each payment. (To be honest, I just put my payments on the first of the month all the time; however, I have found myself confused later on when I have multiple payments with the same amount and wasn’t sure which payment went where.)

Enter Contributions and Boosters

Most Money Dates, I have one contribution payment and no boosters, so one transaction for this tab. But you can have as many contribution payments split over the month going to one, two, or three different credit lines. You can also have as many boosters going to various credit lines. Track copycat boosters here, too, but I will describe how to add copycat boosters in another post.

Navigate to the tab Contr_Boost. For each contribution or booster, here is the process:

1. Navigate in column Date Received downward to the cell after the last one that has blue text in it.

2. Enter the date received for the payment.

3. Enter “Booster” or “Contribution” as appropriate in column Type.

4. If you want to track any planned amount separate from actual amount, then enter the planned amount in column Planned. (This field is not used anywhere for analysis as of this post, and Income Machine Tracker version 2.3.3 .)

5. Enter the amount of the payment in column Payments Received.

6. If any portion of this payment was borrowed, then enter that amount in the column Payment Leveraged. Most of the time, this is zero, but if you use policy loans for contributions or payments, then enter the borrowed amount of the payment here.

7. In the column to LOC, enter the name of the LOC tracker tab where this payment went. The name of the credit line is the name of the credit line tracker tab in your template. If you use only one credit line, then just copy the name of the credit line from earlier payments. If you use multiple credit lines, then make sure you use the correct credit line tab name for each payment.

8. If you want to enter any comments about a payment, enter those in columns Action (column J) and Comment (column K). Data in these columns are not used anywhere else, so you can enter anything you want for your reference.

9. Repeat this process for all contribution and booster payments you made.

Update LOC Trackers

If you have entered your payments, contributions, and boosters for the current month, then updating your LOC trackers is easy.

1. Copy the rows from the previous month.

2. Paste the rows below the previous month. (I like to add a few blank rows between months of data.)

3. Update the month number in column A. (The month number refers to the month since you started your income amplifier.)

4. Update the dates of your transactions in column C. (Dates of payments, contributions, and boosters are not copied in as of version 2.3.3.)

5. Edit descriptions of transactions if you wish.

6. Update the interest and fees in column E.

7. Add any transfer amounts in column F (but not for flips or payments - those are automated). (Example: If you used your credit line to pay a bill or receive a reimbursement that isn’t an income amplifier transaction - payment, contribution, or booster).

8. The list of active income sources streamIDs should have been copied into column H automatically. All active streamIDs should be there, including streamIDs for payments made to other LOC trackers. Any payments made that were not sent to this LOC tracker show up as zero (since the payment was sent elsewhere. This way you can check that payments were not mistakenly sent to the wrong LOC tracker.)

9. Check that your contribution amount was copied in correctly in column I. If it’s wrong, double check that you entered the correct amount, date, and LOC tracker tab name on the Contr_Boost tab.

10. Verify that the payment amounts for each StreamID are correct. If not, double check on the Payments tab the date, amount, and LOC tracker tab name is correct for each payment entered.

11. If you have boosters, then add a row to this month if there isn’t a row for boosters already. Then copy the formula in column L to the boosters row. Verify that the amount is the sum of all the boosters for the current month sent to this specific credit line.

12. If you have copycat boosters, remember, copycat boosters don’t affect your LOC tracker because copycats are funded from elsewhere.

LOC Tracker Updates for a Flip

If you are doing a flip this month, then add the new income source(s) and streamIDs to the Income_Source_List tab. Then update your LOC tracker as follows:

1. Add a row in the current month and fill in the date and description for your flip.

2. Copy the formula in column G to the row that describes your new flip.

3. Verify that column G shows the correct streamIDs for your flip. StreamIDs for all income sources for the new flip should display.

4. Verify that column J displays the correct flip amounts that you funded from this credit line. Amounts that were funded from other credit lines display on other LOC tracker tabs. The LOC tracker displays the streamID for income sources funded entirely from a different credit line, but the flip amount displays as zero.

Reconciling Your LOC Tracker with a Bank Statement

1. Verify that the balance on your LOC Tracker in column O is the same as the balance on your statement. Mark all the transactions above the balance that matches with an “x”.

2. If you make any changes to earlier data, your balance might not reconcile anymore.

Multiple Credit Lines

If you are using multiple credit lines, then follow the same steps for each of the credit lines you are using.

Update UPB Trackers

For each of the four UPB tracker tabs: Liquid_UPB, Illiquid_External_UPB, Illiquid_Internal_UPB, and Illiquid_Leverage_UPB, enter the current balance from your statement or online accounts.

Liquid_UPB corresponds to balances from incomes sources, like Income Funds. Navigate to that tab and do the following:

1. Enter the balance of your investment holdings in column M.

2. If you keep a cash balance separate from your investment holdings that is specifically for this portion of your UPB, then enter that cash balance in column L.

3. If you keep any other balance separate from your primary investment and cash accounts (called a “hold store” - example, perhaps you transferred some of your UPB to hold it long term somewhere else, like a whole life policy.) Then enter that balance in column N.

Do the same for tab Illiquid_External_UPB, for balances, like Prosper or other external income sources (payments come from a source that’s not you), and that are not liquid (you don’t have access to the assets to liquidate.)

For tabs, Illiquid_Internal_UPB and Illiquid_Leverage_UPB, there shouldn’t be any data entry for balances if you are making your payments as planned. These are internal income sources, so no market volatility. If you are not making payments as planned, then the UPB will be calculated based on the payments you actually make or don’t make. No balance edits are needed. If you keep a cash account balance for making payments that is specific for these categories, then update those balances if you wish.

Money Date Conclusion

Your Money Date process is complete with the steps above.

Let me know any questions you have about your situation.