生活英语听力文章 第114期:年终财务审查(1)

 Year-end Financial Review 进行年终财务审查

In my post You Can't Improve What you Don't Measure, I explained why measuring your performance is critical to achieving your goals. 我写过一篇文章，叫《没有评估就没有进步》，我在书中解释了为什么评估自己的行为对实现目标很重要。
Whether in business, sports, school, or any area of life, you can't improve what you don't measure. The same rule applies to your personal finances. 无论是在生意中，运动中，学校里或生活中任一领域，没有评估就没有进步。在个人财务方面也一样。
As we move into the final month of the year, I want to encourage you to take time to review your finances, make refinements 1, and set new goals. 每年年终，我都会建议你花点时间审查一下你的财务，做改进，设立新目标。
If you do this, you'll be more likely to achieve your long-term financial objectives. 如果你这么做了，你更有可能实现长期地财政目标。
You'll feel like you're in control of your money, and you'll enjoy the peace that comes from knowing you have a plan. 你会感觉到对自己财务的控制，你也会享受那种做过计划的从容。
As part of this process you will learn these things: 在这个过程中，你会学到下面这些东西：
Your total net worth. (assets - liabilities = net worth) 你的总净产值（资产-债务=净值）；
The categories in which you were over or under your budget 超过预算或未达到预算；
Where you need to make refinements in your budget 你的预算有哪些地方需要改进；
How your assets performed 你的资金运转情况；
The areas you need to refine in your investment portfolio 2 投资组合中要做的调整；
Let's first take a look at discovering your net worth 发现你的净产值。
The first thing I do in this year-end activity is update my net-worth ledger 3. A simple Excel document lists my assets. 今年年末我做的第一件事就是更新我的净产值账本，我将它们列在一张表格中。
Next to each asset I enter what I believe is the fair market value for that asset. 几乎每项我进入的资产都是公平市值。
Some are easy to determine-such as the value of my stock-market investments; however, other investments-such as my real estate holdings-require an honest assessment 4 of their true value. 其中有些很容易决定--比如说我的股市投资价值；然而其他投资--诸如房地产--就需要对其真实价值进行仔细评估。
Then I list my liabilities. 随后我列出自己的负债表。
At the end of the document, I subtract my liabilities from my assets to determine my year-end net worth. 在文件的末尾，我从总资产中扣除债务，就能得出我一年的净值了。
Whether you make your list of assets and liabilities on a pad of paper or on your computer, your goal is to determine your total net worth. 无论你在纸上还是电脑上做资产和债务统计，你的目标都是决定总净值。
This allows you to see how well you preformed in relationship to your goals and serves as a new baseline upon which to build in the upcoming year. 这能让你看到你在实现目标过程中的表现，也可以作为设立下一年目标的依据。
Let's now take a look at how to examine your budget 审查预算执行情况
Having a personal budget is a critical element in living a financially responsible life. 制定个人预算是对自己财政负责的一个重要方面。
Once it is established, you must have the self-control and discipline not to exceed it. 一旦预算建立，你必须要自律，不能超出预算。
People who don't set and live by a personal budget are unlikely to ever get ahead. 那些生活中不做预算的人是不可能获得成功的。
At the end of each year, I create a final budget report. 每年年末，我都会写一份最终预算报告，列举所有开支状况。
This report lists all the categories such as groceries, gasoline, auto 5 repairs, vacation, charitable giving, mortgage payments, real estate taxes, and so on. 比如购买生活必需品花销，油费，修车费，度假花费，慈善捐赠，按揭，房产税等等这些东西。
To the right of each category are two vertical 6 columns. 每一项的右边垂直划两栏。
The first column shows the amount of money budgeted for a specific category and the second shows the actual amount spent. 第一栏写上特殊花销的总数，第二栏上写真实开支总量。
I use a financial software program called Quicken, which allows me to create this report in a matter of minutes. 我用的一个叫"快格（Quicken）"的财务软件在这方面帮了大忙，有了它我几分钟就能把报告写出来。