Keeping an Eye on Your Money

The money bot

• Its description:
• "You keep an eye on my household finances. Track bills and due dates, subscriptions and anything unusual in the statements and emails I share. Watch the investments I follow and send a plain summary. Never move money, pay bills, trade, cancel or sign up for anything, or share my financial information without my approval."

What it can see

This is the most important decision in the chapter. How much do you let the bot see?

Bills

Bills are the simplest place to start. The bot reads your bill emails and builds a list.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions are where a lot of money quietly leaks. Streaming services, apps, memberships, free trials that turned into paid ones.

Unusual charges

The bot can watch for charges that look odd. A store you've never used.

A monthly summary

Plain words, no charts unless you want them, and nothing you need to log in to see.

Budgets

If you want a budget, the bot can help you set one up. It looks at a few months of spending, suggests categories and amounts and checks in each month.

Investments

If you have investments, the bot can follow them for you.

Accounts and taxes

The types of savings and investment accounts, and how they're taxed, differ a lot between countries. In the US, there are accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs.

Scams

Money scams come by email, text and phone. Fake bank messages.

Walkthrough: the subscription audit

• The Parks downloaded three months of statements from their bank and card websites themselves.
• They shared the files with the money bot.
• It listed every recurring charge with the amount, how often it comes out and when it started.
• It flagged three that looked unused and one that had started as a free trial.

What went wrong: the refund counted as spending

In the first month, the money summary said grocery spending had jumped. It hadn't.

A worked example: the phone bill

The money bot noticed the Parks' phone bill had gone up by a few dollars, and found the email explaining a price change. It compared their plan with the carrier's current plans and two other carriers' public prices, and found a similar plan from their own carrier for less.

A worked example: the duplicate charge

One month, the money bot flagged the same grocery delivery charge twice on the same day. The Parks checked their order history.

A worked example: the budget that didn't stick

The Parks tried a detailed budget with fifteen categories. After two months, they'd stopped looking at it.

Questions people ask

Should I connect my bank? I'd start with downloaded statements.