Sharing a free spreadsheet (excel or google sheets available) which shows the following:
- Your total income, expenses, and savings over any time period
- A month-by-month trending view of your finances
- Breakdowns into individual categories — i.e., how much of your total spending came from rent, eating out, groceries, car payment, etc.
- Comparisons of your spending and income against your personal budget targets
- Comparison of one time period vs. another (e.g., 2023 vs 2022 spending by category)
My own personal approach is to download my bank transactions every 1-2 months (in CSV format) and then paste into this sheet. Takes less than hour to update and analyse the results.
I don't disagree. This sheet is not as automated as an app like Monarch, Empower, or otherwise.
I see this as a useful solution for people who want to have more control over their data (flexibility to slice-and-dice data as they wish). Also, this sheet has the upside that it is free and will stick around forever, as opposed to apps like Mint which could be shut down on a whim.
- Your total income, expenses, and savings over any time period
- A month-by-month trending view of your finances
- Breakdowns into individual categories — i.e., how much of your total spending came from rent, eating out, groceries, car payment, etc.
- Comparisons of your spending and income against your personal budget targets
- Comparison of one time period vs. another (e.g., 2023 vs 2022 spending by category)
My own personal approach is to download my bank transactions every 1-2 months (in CSV format) and then paste into this sheet. Takes less than hour to update and analyse the results.