Last updated: 2026 assumptions reviewed. Assumptions & sources
Tools & Resources

One-Page Financial Plan Builder

Seven buckets. Honest numbers. One printable page that says what you have decided to do with your money. Takes about five minutes once you have your bank app open.

Your Numbers

Pull up your last three months of bank statements and use the real averages, not the numbers you wish were true. The plan begins with what is actually happening.

$
Net, not gross. The number that actually lands in your account. If it varies, average the last three months.
The Seven Buckets (monthly)
$
Mortgage or rent, property tax, home insurance, utilities, regular maintenance.
$
Groceries plus restaurants and takeout. The real number, not the aspirational one.
$
Car payment, insurance, fuel, parking, transit. Combine both vehicles if you have two.
$
Credit cards, student loans, lines of credit. Exclude the mortgage; that lives in Housing.
$
Church giving and regular charitable contributions. In the plan, not after it.
$
TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, emergency fund building, workplace pension contributions.
$
Clothing, subscriptions, hobbies, kids' activities, gifts, the random Saturday at Canadian Tire. One number is enough.
For Your Savings Order
$
Money set aside for a job loss, health event, or major repair. Not your chequing balance.
If yes, the FHSA joins your savings order.
One goal, not five. It goes at the bottom of your plan.

Does It Fit Inside Your Income?

Take-Home
$0
Buckets Total
$0
Margin
$0
Giving
0%

How This Works

A plan has a number at the top and decisions underneath it. You bring the honest numbers; this page assembles them into something you can print, sign, and tape inside a cupboard door.

1. Look
Average your last three months of statements for each bucket.
2. Decide
Compare the total to your income. Decide where the margin goes, or what has to move.
3. Print
One page. Signed. Reviewed quarterly so it keeps matching real life.

Honest numbers, or it is fiction

Write what you actually spend, not what you wish you spent. If the food number is $900, write $900. You cannot make honest decisions from a number you invented.

Read the Full Guide

Why one page is the point, why giving goes in the plan rather than after it, and how the Canadian accounts fit together.

How to Build a One-Page Financial Plan →