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Nowadays I spend 1-2H/month on basic reconciliation (almost painstaking), followed by N hours of reflection, discussion,, Though reconciliation frequency has grown from twice/Y to 12/Y, total reconciliation tcost is probably unchanged. This represents a huge tcost, but also a huge advantage within my age group.

This is one of my top 20 habits in personal finance. I feel safe to talk about this openly, though I should be discreet about my ffree.

Exp recon prevents semi-conscious creep-spending

Detailed expense tracking gives me critical insight. Many (like 5%) of my cohort would benefit significantly from the same insight:

• where I could realistically cut waste, and by how much
• what expenses are less discretionary/elastic, i.e. hard to cut
• why nobody else believes in my burn rate projection yet I should feel confident
• why on earth my peers’ family burn so fast
• a better estimate (more than a guesstimate) of my saving rate and NAV growth rate
• a decent estimate of brbr and percentage savings rate
• after kids grow up, what crbr my wife and me would hit
• % breakdown of outlays

— Beware of tcost escalation and falling roti
Sugg: set Target for next monthly outlay?
Sugg: Categorize expenses into non-essential vs essentials.

Beware: These would increase perfectionist pressure on the recon process, and increase the monthly tcost.

Beware of addiction to fake precision. I would say a lot of the financial details in my spreadsheet are only 80% confident/accurate. Best insurance and best validation is the (imperfect) recon. Therefore, an error(incl. omission) within $300 is pretty good in each monthly recon. In contrast, the periodic snapshots are fairly reliable, accurate and detailed thanks to simplicity.

Q: is my monthly exp recon too time-consuming?

The time spent on burn rate control (including exp recon) is rather high, perhaps higher than parenting analysis, QQ.. However, this t-spend is among the most practical, fruitful and time-honored.

I think most ordinary folks don’t have my level of patience, interest, determination.

Remember that burn rate is among my top 5 unique strengths, my top 3 long-term livelihood shields, my top 5 cancer-stress relieves.. The huge value come at a high tCost.

—— budgeting?    Benefits are 1) 99% in burn rate control, and 2) promotion/encouragement of saving. To these ends, I have two alternatives to budgeting:

1. I tend to have a long-term savings target i.e. what percentage of my salary (eg 100k) is saved to banks or invested.
   .. Not exactly a savings target, but I have a spreadsheet tracking couple’s NAV.
2. I tend to rely on my expense recon. One practical benefit — setting an expectation for the “next 3M outlays”. It has proven to be vastly more precise, and largely displaced annual budget. That’s why I tend to brush aside the suggestion of budgeting.

It’s useful to set simple, single numbers for annual budget, annual savings (including investments).. I believe that for the x% (20-50%) of individuals challenged by a spending habit, it is indeed useful. But for me, it’s time consuming to separate out investments, transfers etc. The effort is low roti. Therefore, I focus on monthly expense recon.