Starting my investment plan

[John Barkenhagen]

I am new to this community and working on getting into a position to start investing soon.

I have a very analytical mind, and want to compare some options/paths for when I have the funds to start investing.

What are some good excel/numbers spreadsheets for going through the life cycle of a deal or business plan. 

I have seen some good apps to show you quickly if a deal might work but I am looking for something that can also help me see where things might go wrong, not just 3 green check marks. (DealCheck).

But I also would like to see how this builds out and help plan when my next buy could happen.

I also know this might sound like I am diving too deep into the weeds, unfortunately that is a habit that I have not broken yet.

Thank you in advanced for your responses.

JP Barkenhagen

[Ty Ash]

Hi @John Barkenhagen (JP)!

Welcome to the community! I think that you'll find that you're not alone here on BP in loving numbers haha. @Aaron Lancaster, that's a very cool resource, I'll have to pick up the book. I have two thoughts here that are maybe a prequel to answering your question of "how do I run the full lifecycle of an investment to find out if it will work or not".

1) Make sure you're working on your total financial picture, not just investing (and you may have done this already). Many have said that the BP Money Podcast is almost the prequel to the investing podcast. I think that Scott Trench's book Set for Life has a good framework and they always focus on the four levers you can control in your personal finances. Earn More, Spend Less, Build a Business, Invest in Assets (Real Estate fits into the last two levers).

2) I'm a big believer in the idea that the management of any deal is the key factor in your success as long as the deal was bought correctly initially. Obviously that's the scary part because if you fail, it's probably not as much the investment you chose if you ran the numbers but your own lack of knowledge, network, or experience. You'll have to start somewhere and you need to pick something that you believe in and are potentially passionate about. If you like an asset class you'll be more likely to learn more about it, talk about, and want to buy more of it over the long run.

Hope that this helps without directly answering your question! Best of luck and here for you if you have more questions as you dive in further!