The Financial Flowchart is an interactive Sankey diagram designed to clearly visualize personal cash flows. It illustrates at a glance where your income originates, how it merges into your total monthly budget, and how it is distributed across different life categories, individual expense items, and savings goals.
What is a Sankey Diagram?
A Sankey diagram is a flow visualization where the width of nodes and connecting ribbons is proportional to the quantity or monetary value represented. In personal finance, this allows you to immediately see:
- Sources of monthly income,
- Total monthly budget and cash flow balance,
- High-level categories (such as Housing, Daily Living, and Savings), and
- Detailed breakdowns into specific expenses (e.g., Rent, Utilities, Groceries, Transportation).
How the Financial Flowchart Works
The tool comes prefilled with realistic sample data. You can freely customize, rename, add, or delete any item or category:
1. List Income Sources
Enter all regular inflows into your budget:
- Primary Net Salary / Wages
- Secondary Income (side gigs, bonuses, child benefits)
- Capital Gains (dividends, interest distributions)
- Rental or Business Income
2. Structure Expenses in Two Tiers
Expenses can be organized across two intuitive levels:
- Tier 1 (Expense Categories): Broad spending groups such as Housing, Daily Needs, Transportation, Leisure, and Savings & Investments.
- Tier 2 (Sub-Items): Specific breakdown within any category. For example, Housing can be divided into Rent, Utilities, Electricity, and Internet.
- Direct Items: A category can also hold a direct amount without sub-items (e.g., a direct savings contribution).
3. Customize & Visualize
- Unit Toggle: Switch effortlessly between absolute currency amounts (€) and percentage shares (%).
- Custom Chart Height: Check “Customize chart height” to tune the vertical canvas size for optimal readability on any display.
- Budget Balance Indicator: Automatically computes whether your budget is fully balanced, in surplus, or operating at a deficit.
4. Share & Export
- Permalink: Use “Copy permalink” to generate a shareable URL encoding your exact budget state.
- Image Export: Download the diagram directly as a high-resolution SVG or PNG image.
- Summary Text: Copy the full structured text summary directly to your clipboard for documentation or sharing on platforms like Reddit.
Visualizing a Savings Plan or Portfolio Allocation
Beyond household budgeting, the Sankey diagram is well suited for visualizing investment strategies and portfolio asset allocation:
- Monthly Savings Rate as Inflow: Enter your total monthly investment rate as income.
- Asset Allocation as Categories: Group spending by target asset class (e.g., 80% Equity ETFs, 15% Money Market/Cash, 5% Gold/Commodities).
- Specific Instruments as Sub-Items: Map individual funds or stocks beneath each category (e.g., 70% Core World ETF, 30% Emerging Markets ETF).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a Sankey diagram?
A Sankey diagram visualizes flows where the ribbon thickness represents value or volume. In financial diagrams, it highlights the relationship between income sources, budget allocation, and individual expense destinations.
How can I track and visualize monthly expenses?
Enter your recurring income and categorized expenses into the interactive form. The calculator instantly generates the flow diagram, balance report, and breakdown tables, which you can export as SVG or PNG images.
Can I use the diagram for portfolio asset allocation?
Yes. Simply set your total monthly savings or capital allocation as income, categorize target asset classes as Tier 1 expenses, and specify individual securities as Tier 2 items.