Household Scenario Workbook

For the method in Household Budget Scenarios: What-If Math Without Financial Advice. Every input needs a source and a date. If you cannot verify a number, mark it “unknown” — never let a model fill the gap for you.

Not for

Investment, tax, debt-strategy, insurance, or pension advice. Anything flagged below needs a qualified, licensed adviser, not this workbook.

Verified figures table

Every row verified against a document or export, not memory: ☐ Yes

Enough history reviewed to find annual and seasonal costs: ☐ Yes

For each periodic cost converted to a monthly figure, record the original amount and period as well as the explicitly labelled monthly assumption. Do not treat a monthly equivalent as the actual bill due in every month.

Scenario 1

• What changes:
• Starting when:
• New monthly total:
• Surplus / shortfall:
• Months current savings would cover a shortfall at this rate:

Scenario 2

• What changes:
• Starting when:
• New monthly total:
• Surplus / shortfall:
• Months current savings would cover a shortfall at this rate:

Sensitivity check

The one assumption that matters most if it moves:

Needs a qualified adviser, not this workbook

List anything involving tax, debt-repayment order, insurance coverage, or retirement/pension contributions — do not attempt to resolve these here.

The three prompts to reuse

1. Model one scenario

Here is our verified monthly household table: [paste table with
source and date columns]. Model one scenario: [describe the single
change]. Keep every other figure exactly as given. Show: new monthly
total, new monthly surplus or shortfall, and how many months our
current savings of [X] would cover a shortfall at this new rate. Do
not suggest what to cut or where the money should come from — just
the arithmetic.

2. Stress-test one assumption

Using the same verified table [paste], show what our monthly total
looks like at three versions of [line item] only: current, a
moderate change, and a larger change — holding every other figure
exactly as given. Do not recommend a course of action; just the
three totals and the resulting surplus or shortfall at each.

3. Flag adviser-required items

From this scenario output [paste], list anything that looks like a
tax question, a debt-repayment order decision, an insurance coverage
choice, or a retirement/pension contribution decision — rather than
ordinary what-if arithmetic. Label each "needs a qualified adviser,
not this workbook." Do not attempt to answer them.

Validation log