2026 calling: What a cashflow model can (and can’t) tell you about your future

As the year comes to a close, I wish you a happy Christmas and all the best for 2026. I am excited to continue helping my clients and connections in the next year and beyond.

It’s fair to say that 2025 has been an eventful year. Looking back, it might seem almost impossible to have predicted some of the events that have affected your wealth – both personal and political.

While you can’t control the unexpected, there are ways you can prepare for it, and one of the most effective tools for doing so is cashflow modelling.

With 2026 fast approaching, this could be the ideal time to take a closer look at what cashflow planning can help you understand about your finances, and what it can’t.

Cashflow models allow you to visualise your future financial situation

Cashflow modelling is a helpful financial planning tool that allows you to visualise how your wealth might evolve in the future.

You start by inputting data about your current financial situation and any future aspirations to show how your financial journey might look.

Typically, some of the information you provide might include your:

• Current and future income

• Savings

• Outstanding debts

• Investments

• Protection premiums

• Pension contributions

• Other key outgoings, such as your mortgage or rent.

Once you have input this data, the software can map out your financial future. It can then apply a range of financial variables, such as projected investment performance, the eroding effects of inflation, and expected future earnings.

Cashflow modelling software could help you achieve your retirement goals

Cashflow modelling can be an invaluable way to plan for what you want to achieve, especially as you move towards retirement.

Whether your goals include travelling more, gifting wealth to children, or supporting a cause close to your heart, the first step is to define these objectives and estimate what they might cost.

Once you’ve mapped these goals out, I can use cashflow modelling to layer them into your financial plan.

Together, we can assess your future income, assets, and expenditure to examine how everything might interact.

This allows you to:

• Observe how different choices might affect your wealth, such as retiring a few years earlier, purchasing a new property, or adjusting your investment strategy.

• Test various “what if?” scenarios, such as the effects of inflation or changes in your personal circumstances.

• Gain some much-needed clarity about your retirement age, capacity for making gifts, and even how resilient your wealth might be in the face of unexpected events.

Ultimately, cashflow modelling can give you the confidence to make informed decisions about the future and understand whether you’re on track to meet your goals.

It’s vital to remember that cashflow modelling can’t replace human insight

While cashflow modelling software can offer valuable data-driven insights, it doesn’t capture everything. The numbers it generates are only as useful as how they’re interpreted, and this is where human judgment comes in.

The software can forecast your potential financial outcomes, but it can’t account for how you feel about them.

• For instance, a model can show you the cost of long-term care, but it can’t measure the emotional effects this decision might have on you and your loved ones.

• It can also project how much you might leave behind, but it can’t tell you how you’d like your children to benefit, or how you wish your wealth to reflect your values.

This is why it’s so important to combine the data with a thoughtful discussion.

Together, we can interpret the information, explore your options, and ensure any financial decisions are aligned with what matters to you.

Cashflow modelling can be a helpful guide, but it’s the following conversations that allow you to turn it into a meaningful strategy.

I’d like to thank you for your support and trust over the year, and I look forward to helping you achieve your goals in 2026. Email rory@brazilfinancial.ie or call + 353 86 824 7542.

Please note

This article is for information only. It does not constitute advice.

It describes financial planning services that Brazil Financial Planning can offer to you.

Brazil Financial Planning Ltd T/A Brazil Financial is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registered No. 477512.

The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. 

Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.