#BANK ACCOUNT TRACKER EXCEL UPDATE#
You can’t change a tool, but you can update your spreadsheet. What your life looks like at twenty will not be the same as in your thirties, forties, or sixties. Your spreadsheet can be adjusted as you go through your life’s adventures. To stretch the analogy even further, when your body changes, you can get the suit tailored to match. That will take far more time but the suit will fit perfectly. Or you can go to a tailor and get measured for a suit that they make custom just for you. You’ll get a suit very quickly and it will fit decently well. You can go to any store and buy a suit off the rack. Tools are powerful because they can get you started very quickly, often for free, but they are never perfect because everyone’s needs are different. As there is no rush, you can just tweak it over time to fit your needs. You can start with a budget spreadsheet template and customize it or start completely from scratch. Spreadsheets are amazingly powerful but they can also just be a simple log of transactions. What you track, what you calculate, what you put into reports or charts and other visualizations… you build it to what you need. Spreadsheets can be as simple or as complex as you need. Today, I want to talk about how, despite those tools, there are reasons why budgeting with a spreadsheet is still king. The spreadsheet is the core but we do have tools that support it. That said, we still use some personal finance tools in managing our money. (the title says budget but the article will focus on anything regarding finances and numbers – so it can be budget, tracking net worth, tracking investments, whatever) I can’t imagine managing our financial life without it. It’s a living document that has evolved over the years. It tracks our bank accounts, our investment accounts, as well as our tax filings each year. Over the years, that spreadsheet has morphed into a document that primarily tracks our net worth. When I started working, I tracked my spending down to the penny in a spreadsheet that I named the Budget Bible.
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