30 Minutes of Financial Clarity

A 30-minute look at your finances can tell you more than you think—without a spreadsheet, a budget, or getting everything organized first.

Purse Strings recently asked financial pros for one task that takes less than 30 minutes but can make a big difference. As one of their Approved Professionals, here was my answer:

Take a quick look at where your money actually went last month.

You don’t have to fix it yet! And you don’t have to make a “budget.” Just notice what does and doesn’t match what you thought you were doing.

I know this can feel overwhelming. Partly because we’re often concerned about what we’ll find. It can bring up conflict with ourselves, or with our partner. But it can also feel like a huge task… when it really doesn’t have to be.

You may feel “behind” with your finances and afraid of finding something bad. Or maybe you feel like you need a spreadsheet or an entire Saturday (yuck). Or that you have to “get organized first.” All of this creates a lot of friction… and then it simply doesn’t happen. And another month goes by.

What if you did this instead?

Pull up your accounts. Grab a pad of paper and a pen. Set a timer for 30 minutes.

That’s it. Nothing fancy and nothing perfect.

Just answer a few simple questions:

• How much came in?
• How much went out?
• Where did most of it go?
• What surprised you?
• What didn’t match what you thought?

If all you figure out in 30 minutes is, “Wow, groceries were more than I thought,” or, “We spent less eating out than I thought,” that’s really useful.

The real value of this exercise is awareness. And that awareness can be the turning point, because once you see what really happened, you can stop making decisions based on assumptions.

Once you’ve done this 30-minute exercise, a tool can make it easier to keep paying attention without starting from scratch every month.

Monarch is the tool I use to see what’s happening across our financial life in one place. I can connect our accounts, including investment accounts, and get a much broader view of our spending, cash flow, savings, investments, and net worth.

But here’s what I especially like about it: you don’t have to use every feature to get value from it.

I certainly don’t.

You can start by simply using it to answer the same basic questions you just answered with paper and pen: What came in? What went out? Where did it go? What surprised me? Then, if you want to go deeper over time, you can.

If you’d like to check out Monarch, here’s my referral link. You’ll get 50% off your first year, and I’ll receive a $30 gift card if you sign up.

But an app is not the important part. Your first step can still be:

Accounts + paper + pen + 30 minutes.

Set the timer and learn one thing you didn’t know before. Then next month, do it again. Over time, that simple habit can help you make decisions based on what is actually happening with your money rather than what you assume is happening.

What if you did this instead?

If you and your partner know you need to get a better handle on your finances but aren’t sure where to begin, I offer a complimentary consultation. We can talk through what’s going on, what you’d like to change, and whether working together might make sense. You can schedule that here.