How strictly do you keep track of your budget? I've always been of the mentality that as long as you're taking care of the big picture (i.e. necessities are covered and money is going into savings/investments), you don't have to obsess over the tiny details. Is there any good reason why I shouldn't look at it this way?

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I keep track of all my expenses in an Excel spreadsheet with categories. It takes me max 10 minutes per week to file
It allowed me to see better where my money was going and see which months of the year cost me more than others. I have set a certain amount to automatically go in my trading account, but this allows me to see if I can invest more or no if my bank account goes over a certain amount (bonus, gifts, tax returns, etc). It also gave me more clarity over the category where I spend less/more and help me make better choices.

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I look at it similar to you. I like Ramit Sethi's framework of living a rich live. Have your fixed cost in check, invest (pay yourself first) and then spend what is left on guilt free spending.

Only time I start to dig into what the nitty gritty is, is when I am not hitting my number and commissions are low.

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I’m also a fan of Ramit and am gradually factoring in his Conscious Spending Plan to how I manage my money.

One difference that I have made that makes a considerable difference due to my past history of saving and investing outside of my retirement accounts has been that instead of doing bank transfers, it’s easier for me to just set up direct deposits to all of my accounts.

So I have set amounts every paycheck going to my Roth IRA, my emergency savings, my “wants” savings, and my brokerage account. The balance goes to my cash management account, which is what I use to live on.

It I don’t see the money in my cash management account, I don’t spend it. It definitely has helped me grow my wealth substantially in the past few years.

My strategy was always to pay myself first. I create monthly investments and save a large portion of my bonus. Beyond that I don’t budget at all. Do discuss with SO any large expense. Today that’s probably anything over $500.

We budget monthly discretionary expenses pretty strictly, a lot out of habit from when we were paying off debt years ago. Now it’s easy to have a budget meeting at the beginning of the month. It takes us about 20 min.

I also do expense tracking in Excel, and by doing this, it has helped me create a practical budget that I follow.

Being able to make sure I know where my money goes helps me keep my eye on the bigger picture and my main financial goals.

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