We write about savings, anniversaries, school fees and the small financial decisions that shape a family's decade. Long-form essays, calculator walk-throughs and field notes from Colombo to Jaffna.
A decade-long portrait of one family's surplus, shortfalls and the slow compounding of discipline. We follow the Wickramasinghes from their 2015 wedding through three school admissions, one rebuild and a quietly funded retirement.
Seasonal cash-flow is the real test of a family ledger. A field walk through one household's wet-season envelope system.
Why most families underfund secondary education, and how to model it honestly from age six onward.
A practical framework for the first eighteen months of parenthood — from delivery costs to a year of lost income.
A modest pension, a paid-off house and one rental — three levers that did the work over fifteen years.
Needs, milestones and a surplus line — three envelopes, one ledger, reviewed every Sunday evening.
Staggering twelve-month fixed deposits so one matures every quarter — liquidity without yield sacrifice.
Model fees from grade one to A-levels with honest inflation — most parents underestimate by a third.
Eighteen months of household expenses, kept liquid, reviewed at every birthday.
The household ledger is the quietest book in the house — and the one that decides the decade.
Density, dual incomes and a thicker rental market change the shape of the household ledger.
How one family rebuilt a household balance sheet from scratch over four years.
Tourism households face the inverse problem of salaried ones — here is how three families smooth it.
Lanka Family Ledger is an independent quarterly. We do not sell products, take affiliate commissions or run sponsored essays. Our contributors are working economists, teachers and parents who write one long-form piece per issue. We are funded by reader subscriptions — LKR 2,400 per year, four issues, no advertising.
Letters, corrections and essay pitches: editor@lankafamilyledger.lk — we read everything, reply within a fortnight.
Print + digital. Free digital sampler on request — no card required.