How to run a monthly money review

Start with account health

Open the dashboard and make sure the accounts you rely on are current. Check bank balances, credit cards, brokerages, crypto, and manual assets before reviewing trends. A stale connection can make a budget look under control or make net worth look flat when the source data simply stopped updating.

• Confirm linked accounts have recent balances.
• Look for duplicate or missing accounts.
• Update manual property, vehicle, or private asset values when needed.

Review transactions before totals

Budgets are only as accurate as their categories. Review uncategorized transactions, transfers, refunds, and recurring merchants before deciding whether a category was over or under plan. This is also the best time to create rules for merchants that repeat every month.

• Categorize new income and expenses.
• Mark transfers so they do not inflate spending.
• Create rules only for merchants that are predictable.

Compare cash flow with planned goals

Once the data is clean, compare income, spending, debt payments, savings contributions, and subscriptions against the plan. A single expensive month is not automatically a problem, but unexplained negative cash flow or repeated category drift should change next month's budget.

Close with net worth and next actions

End with the broad view. If net worth moved sharply, identify whether the cause was cash flow, market movement, debt payoff, or a manual asset update. Pick one or two actions for the next month rather than rewriting the entire plan.

• Adjust one budget category that clearly needs it.
• Move planned annual bills into sinking funds.
• Use debt or savings calculators before changing contribution targets.