N EYWI T H KAT I E .CO M M O N EYWI T H KAT I E .CO M M O N EYWI T H KAT I E .

2 0 2 3 Mo n e y

Ma n a ge m e n t

Ro u t i n e

M O N EYWI T H KAT I E .CO M M O N EYWI T H KAT I E .CO M M O N EYWI T H KAT I E

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Why routine?
Oh, fancy seeing you here in this free downloadable PDF bribe in

which I’m trading knowledge for your email address! (I value

transparency, remember?)

Here’s the deal: I follow a standard format for my money

management system that keeps me on track.

I’m going to share the exact products and apps that I use, but if you

have other systems that work better for you, don’t sweat it.

Take what you need—and leave what you don’t. Here’s the beauty of

it: This comprehensive, goal-crushing system only takes around 20

hours and $145 per year to execute.

The format

“One minute per day” task

Monthly reviews (30 minutes

Quarterly reviews (1 hour

Annual reviews (4-5 hours)

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Every single day, I always take ONE

MINUTE to do one thing:

I check my Copilot app for new transactions.

Any new expenses from the previous day? I make sure to categorize them

correctly.

Any internal transfers or income appearing in my transactions? I make sure

those are classified correctly, too.

Anything look suspicious? If you’ve been defrauded, you’ll notice it

immediately.

Of course, you can use a money app of your choice, but I’ve found having an

automatic tracking mechanism (that can hook up to your credit cards and

accounts) is easiest for making sure every single inflow or outflow is captured.

I checked Screen Time on my phone and noticed, on average, I spend 1 minute

per day in the Copilot app. Seriously—it doesn’t take long.

PREP WORK

Download Copilot or the money app of your choice and set up categories

that match your Wealth Planne

Link your credit cards and accounts so all transactions are captured

Cost:

$95/year

Why it matters
Until you’re wealthy to the point that even large swings in spending

don’t impact your financial situation at all, tracking your spending is

a non-negotiable to me. There’s just simply no other way to know

what’s coming in and out—humans are inherently bad at intuiting it.

I approach it retroactively, in the sense that I’m not prescribing to

myself what I can or cannot spend (there are guardrails, of course;

it’s not a free-for-all), but rather capturing all the data so I have it

for... suspense! Next page.

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Every single month, I spend 30

minutes to review the month:

I input the budget category totals from Copilot into my Wealth Planner, as

well as any transactions marked “income.”

This captures the monthly inflows and outflows so I can see, at a glance, how

much is available to save and invest. I also record all account balances.

This next part is key: If I haven’t made any investment transfers for the month,

I’ll move any excess cash in the checking account into our brokerage account

so it can be invested, and record the contributions in the “Savings” section.

PREP WORK

Fill out your Wealth Planner’s budget categories (remember, it’s easiest if

these match Copilot) and fill out your list of accounts so you’re able to track

net worth and contributions to various accounts!

Cost:

$50/year

Why it matters
Capturing a full month of data at a time helps us make sense of our finances cyclically. There are some predictable

purchases that we know we can plan for (like a mortgage or rent payment, a car payment, or insurance), but there are

other categories—like food, shopping, pets, travel, etc.—that may fluctuate wildly from month to month.

Most of us underestimate our spending in these areas, and the monthly reviews are the building blocks for our

quarterly and annual check-ins that make sure we’re on the right track.
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Every single quarter, I spend an hour

reviewing the last 3 months:

This part of the process is one of reflection: I want to take note of a few things

How much did we earn this quarter

How much did we spend this quarter

How much did we invest this quarter?

Usually, a few things become obvious

Some category totally blew up, whether because something unexpected

happened or because I got off track

We’re trending under- or over-budget in general for the year, and should

adjust accordingly.

Because I’m a maniac, I’ll usually pull together a little summary and share it with

my husband so he can see how we’re doing. All of this data is available in your

Wealth Planner.

Cost:

Free!

Why it matters
The quarterly review serves three major functions

It allows us to note major trends in spending, investing, and net worth so we can course-correct if

necessary

It holds us accountable to stick to our annual plan (described on the following page)

It gives us an opportunity to look ahead to the next quarter for any major bills, expenses, or trips

that need to be planned for.

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Every year, we spend an afternoon

reviewing the year—and setting
goals for the following.

This is always a fun event that we treat like a corporate offsite, because as

mentioned, I’m a maniac.

I pull together a deck with a few things (all using “company” jargon, for fun)

about “lines of revenue” (our incomes), “expenses,” “acquisitions,” and areas of

opportunity.

From there, we try to project costs for the following year and make a plan for

our investment goals. That serves as the basis for the rest of the planning,

which means if you’re going to start instituting money routines now, you may

want to begin with the annual review process (looking back at the last 12

months).

Cost:

Free!

Why it matters
If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to get there? Reviewing the entire year gives

us an opportunity to understand where our trouble areas are (and where the opportunities lie)!

For example, in our 2022 review, we realized we were spending more than $3,000 per month on food.

Unbelievably wasteful, but we didn’t realize it had gotten so out of hand. It helped me recommit to

learning how to cook and meal plan, and our food spending in 2023 was cut by more than 60%.
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Summary
I know it can be overwhelming to look at all of this at once and feel
as though it’s an all or nothing proposition, but this system took years
of trial and error—and it won’t be right for everyone! Take what you
want, and leave what you don’t, remember?

Copilot daily transaction

categorization (1 minute per day
Monthly reviews and inputting (30
minutes per month
Quarterly reviews of the last three
months, and looking ahead (1 hour
per quarter
Annual goal-setting and review (4-5
hours per year)

Total: Roughly 20 hours per year, or .2% of your

time each year devoted to finances—for big
results.