Why You Should Do a Daily Financial Audit
The Amplified Impact Podcast
January 31st, 2023
Ever heard the phrase “what gets measured gets managed”?
Daily financial audits…let’s talk about it.
I get it; numbers can be scary, but trust me, they’re your financial compass.
In this episode, I share how this simple 10-15 minute routine transformed my financial life.
From overdraft chaos to financial clarity, it’s a journey worth taking.
Whether you’re old-school with a journal or tech-savvy using apps like Monarch or Status, the key is to make it a daily habit.
Let’s face those numbers together and level up our money game.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“But the universe doesn’t care how you feel. It cares what you do. And you can’t take the right actions unless you have the right data. If you’re inputting junk into the software, you’re going to get junk out.”
– Anthony Vicino
LEAVE A REVIEW if you liked this episode!!
Let’s Connect On Social Media!
instagram.com/theanthonyvicino
Join an exclusive community of peak performers at Beyond the Apex University learning how to build a business, invest in real estate, and develop hyperfocus.
Learn More About Investing With Anthony
Invictus Capital: www.invictusmultifamily.com
Multifamily Investing Made Simple Podcast
Passive Investing Made Simple Book: www.thepassiveinvestingbook.com
Episode Transcript:
One of the most cliche quotes you’re gonna hear in the world of business is that which gets measured gets managed. It gets said so often that it’s really easy just for it to fall in deaf ears. And if you’re not sure what that even means, maybe you’re not coming from the same world that I am. And so you don’t hear it quite as much as I do. It just simply means that, like the things that we pay attention to, the data that we track, that tends to then get managed. If we’re not tracking data, then the who knows what you’re going to get. For instance, research finds that if you want to lose weight, the simplest way to start losing weight is just to start tracking it. Start weighing yourself every single day and seeing that number and being forced to confront it every single day and see where it is in relation to where you’d like to be.
That in itself is often enough to get us to take the actions which will move us positively towards our goal. Really simple tweak, just measuring the data. Now, I mentioned this today because I really want you to think about this in context of your finances. I know for myself, when I was at my lowest in life and lowest financially, the idea of doing a financial audit daily and tracking my finances was like pulling teeth. It was excruciating because it was humiliating in a lot of ways, like opening up my bank account and not knowing am I actually going to have money in there or is it going to be in the red? That was so stress inducing that I decided often just to put my head in the sand and pretend like it didn’t matter. But what that ended up doing then is I would overdraft so frequently, and then the bank would assess its $25 overdraft fee, which was more than the $3 I went over on the account. So now I’m $30 in the hole. And these things would compound where, in a world where $100 was a lot to me at the time, now suddenly I’m hundreds of dollars in the hole, and it’s all because I’m not tracking and paying attention to the numbers enough, because I didn’t like what they had to say, I didn’t like how they made me feel.
But the universe doesn’t care how you feel. It cares what you do. And you can’t take the right actions unless you have the right data. If you’re inputting junk into the software, you’re going to get junk out. And it’s the same when it comes to managing your life managing your fitness, managing your finances. You can’t move those things towards a solid footing unless you know exactly where the data is. And this is why I’m such a big proponent of daily financial audits. This is one of the things that really, I think, transformed my financial future.
My life was just. I started getting really diligent about every single day when I wake up, looking at my bank account and tracking my credit card expenditures so I could see how much did I spend yesterday and then track how much did I make. And seeing those numbers every single day gave me a very good handle on exactly where I was in my financial journey. It gave me a sense for where I was overspending, where I could afford to spend more, where I could maybe earn more. Right? Like, just looking at the numbers every day activated parts of my brain that weren’t active when I’m just ignoring it. And so my process for this, for a long time, was just a journal. I would say as of last year, I was still using the journal every single day, just 510 minutes. Every morning, I’d pull up in my accounts and I’d write them down by hand.
And I do recommend that because I think there’s a very powerful connection between writing something and having it get really internalized in your brain. If you want to transform your finances, you have to own that scorecard every single day. Now, some people will say daily auditing, that seems like too much. It seems like it’s going to take too much time and effort. First of all, this should only take like, 1015 minutes at max. If you can’t spare that for one of the most important things in your life, which is your finances, then you need to work on your priorities. Because I don’t know how else to say this, you can find 15 minutes to do this. Number two, should you do this every day? Is that overkill? I don’t believe it is.
I don’t believe in the beginning, unless you are already winning the money game and you’re doing well, I think that money goes to whoever pays it the most attention, and that if you’re not tracking it diligently, that is probably the core reason why you’re not where you want to be in a lot of cases. Right? These days, I have transitioned to using more automated services that I check. So I use a software called Monarch. But there’s other great ones. I think Mint was around. I think they just closed up shop recently. But status is another one if you want to make it nice and easy for all your accounts to get aggregated. In one place and see them on one single dashboard, one scorecard.
That is a great way of doing it. But even if you are using those dashboards, I do still recommend, if you’re not winning the money game yet, and however, whatever way you define it for yourself, that you use that aggregator and you also keep your journal. So you take the information coming into the aggregator every day and write it into your journal. I think that process of writing it down, doing that financial audit every single day, will have a very profound effect on your finances. So give it a shot. I hope it brings you some value. Let me know if you have been doing this. I know some listeners have been with me for a year now since I started talking about the financial audit.
Let me know how this has helped you or not helped you over the past year. Leave me a comment. Leave me a DM. Shoot me a review. That would be amazing too. And as always, guys and gals, I appreciate you being here. We’ll catch you in the next episode.
This Week On YouTube
These 3 Daily Habits Made Me A Millionaire in 3 Years
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
1. Unleash your hyperfocused mind to dominate life, business, and everything in between? Here’s how:
→ The Hyperfocused Masterclass: the exact system I used to overcome ADHD, write 12 books, build 4 businesses, and acquire $70M of real estate.
There are a handful of spaces left in The Hyperfocus Masterclass for those who want to snag the early bird preorder special discount of $49.
Email anthony@anthonyvicino.com to let me know you want on the waitlist.
2. Learn to passively invest in commercial real estate with better returns, less risk, and zeo hassle.
→ Invictus Capital: my real estate private equity firm.
→ Multifamily Investing Made Simple: Top Apple Podcast.
→ Passive Investing Made Simple: Amazon Best Selling Book with 100 5 star reviews.
3. Want more like this? Check out these 3 popular articles from the vault:
