The Anderson family wants to look at their cash flow over a year. They decide to write out their cash flow for 4 months as given in the spreadsheet below. In which of the months did they have the greatest net cash flow?

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
& January & April & August & December \\
\hline
Cash Inflows & & & & \\
\hline
Disposable income & \[tex]$2,760 & \$[/tex]3,060 & \[tex]$2,760 & \$[/tex]2,900 \\
\hline
Interest on deposits & & & & \\
\hline
Income from investments & \[tex]$0 & \$[/tex]0 & \[tex]$0 & \$[/tex]0 \\
\hline
Total Cash Inflow & \[tex]$2,760 & \$[/tex]3,060 & \[tex]$2,760 & \$[/tex]2,900 \\
\hline
& & & & \\
\hline
Cash Outflows & & & & \\
\hline
Mortgage & \[tex]$1,020 & \$[/tex]1,020 & \[tex]$1,020 & \$[/tex]1,020 \\
\hline
Electric & \[tex]$230 & \$[/tex]185 & \[tex]$115 & \$[/tex]205 \\
\hline
Water & \[tex]$85 & \$[/tex]80 & \[tex]$100 & \$[/tex]90 \\
\hline
Cable and telephone & \[tex]$115 & \$[/tex]115 & \[tex]$115 & \$[/tex]115 \\
\hline
Groceries & \[tex]$600 & \$[/tex]540 & \[tex]$585 & \$[/tex]710 \\
\hline
Recreation & \[tex]$150 & \$[/tex]150 & \[tex]$500 & \$[/tex]75 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}



Answer :

To determine which month had the greatest net cash flow for the Anderson family, we need to follow these steps:

1. Calculate the total cash outflows for each of the four months.
2. Calculate the net cash flow by subtracting the total cash outflows from the total cash inflows for each month.
3. Identify the month with the highest net cash flow.

### Step 1: Summing up the total cash outflows

Let's add up all the expenses (cash outflows) to get the total for each month:

January:
- Mortgage: $1,020
- Electric: $230
- Water: $85
- Cable and Telephone: $115
- Groceries: $600
- Recreation: $150

[tex]\[ \text{Total Cash Outflows for January} = 1020 + 230 + 85 + 115 + 600 + 150 = \$2200 \][/tex]

April:
- Mortgage: $1,020
- Electric: $185
- Water: $80
- Cable and Telephone: $115
- Groceries: $540
- Recreation: $150

[tex]\[ \text{Total Cash Outflows for April} = 1020 + 185 + 80 + 115 + 540 + 150 = \$2090 \][/tex]

August:
- Mortgage: $1,020
- Electric: $115
- Water: $100
- Cable and Telephone: $115
- Groceries: $585
- Recreation: $500

[tex]\[ \text{Total Cash Outflows for August} = 1020 + 115 + 100 + 115 + 585 + 500 = \$2435 \][/tex]

December:
- Mortgage: $1,020
- Electric: $205
- Water: $90
- Cable and Telephone: $115
- Groceries: $710
- Recreation: $75

[tex]\[ \text{Total Cash Outflows for December} = 1020 + 205 + 90 + 115 + 710 + 75 = \$2215 \][/tex]

### Step 2: Calculating the net cash flow for each month

Next, we subtract the total cash outflows from the total cash inflows to determine the net cash flow for each month.

January:
[tex]\[ \text{Net Cash Flow for January} = 2760 - 2200 = \$560 \][/tex]

April:
[tex]\[ \text{Net Cash Flow for April} = 3060 - 2090 = \$970 \][/tex]

August:
[tex]\[ \text{Net Cash Flow for August} = 2760 - 2435 = \$325 \][/tex]

December:
[tex]\[ \text{Net Cash Flow for December} = 2900 - 2215 = \$685 \][/tex]

### Step 3: Identifying the month with the greatest net cash flow

Now we compare the net cash flows across the four months.

- January: \$560
- April: \$970
- August: \$325
- December: \$685

The month with the greatest net cash flow is April, with a net cash flow of \$970.

Therefore, the Anderson family had the greatest net cash flow in April.