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@Codie_Sanchez: You only need to know 3 things...

@Codie_Sanchez
43 views Feb 14, 2026
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You only need to know 3 things to understand finance.

I could have saved myself:
- 2 years for my MBA
- $160,000 to pay for it
- 7 years at Goldman

If I just learned to read these 3 financial statements:
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Want to know if a business is a winner to invest in, buy or build?

Read & understand:
• Income Statement: Revenue - Expenses = Profit
• Balance Sheet: Assets = Liabilities + Equity
• Statement of Cashflows (SCF): Starting Cash +/- Cash made/spent that period = Ending Cash
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1. Income Statement WTF does it do...

Reveals if you are profitable.
Shows if you are efficient.
Tells you how much $$$ you've made
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Two types of expenses on your income statement:

• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) = Spend $$ to make $$
• Overhead expenses = fixed or variable costs to run the business (the cost of doing business)
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The Income statement will help you determine:

• If you are winning
• Understand which costs are preventing you from winning
• Make better decisions
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2. Balance Sheet

How healthy is your business?

• Do you have cash? For how long?
• Can you pay your bills?
• Are you in debt & maybe don't even realize it?
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Assets are what you own:

• Cash
• Inventory (unsold product)
• Property, equipment or vehicles
• Licenses, trademarks or goodwill

The goal is to increase the above four buckets. Some take more time than others to fill.
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Liabilities are what you owe:

• Accounts Payable
• Income Tax
• Credit Card Debt
• Mortgages & other Long-term debt
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Equity is what you are worth.

What is leftover if you sold off everything & paid off all the debt.

Can current assets (your +) cover current liabilities (your -)?
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3. Statement of Cashflows

How much cash has been grossed or lost over a specific period of time due to:

• Financing
• Operations
• Investments
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Cashflow from Financing

Raising capital from banks, investors or shareholders:

• Capital raised
• Dividends Paid
• Principal on debt
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Cashflow from Operations

Using cash for business activities

• Rent
• Cash from Sales
• Income Tax
• Employee compensation
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Cashflow from Investing

Including any company investments such as:

• Purchase & sale of assets
• Loans made or received
• Purchase or sale of machinery or equipment

Is cashflow positive or negative? Why? Are operations strong enough without financing or investments?
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TL;DR

1Three financial statements do this for you:
- Income Statement = Are you profitable?
- Balance Sheet = Can you cover liabilities?
- Cashflow statement = Is cashflow positive/negative & why?

Lots of things in life are complicated biz finances don't have to be.
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Pss 2 edits:

Supposed to be a 2 not a 7 at Goldman.
Zero chance I could have stomached that for longer 😂

Also technically I have a PhD and MBA and I looked up the cost again it was actually $180k.

The rest still stands 🙏
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Follow me @Codie_Sanchez for more threads on business, money and investing.

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