Latest / Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design / 123 | Is Your Budgeting App Really Serving You? 3 Reasons to Try Monarch Money
Transcript
- 0:00Erin Gray: If you've tried budgeting apps before and felt like they were a little bit too rigid or just didn't fit your life or didn't pull in all of the transactions which is actually what I have recently experienced with my other app that I was using you're going to want to hear this episode.
- 0:16Erin Gray: Today, I am sharing three reasons why I love Monarch Money and why it's, hands down, probably my favorite tool for clients who want to build a financial system that actually works for them.
- 0:28Erin Gray: Welcome to your Money your Roles podcast.
- 0:31Erin Gray: I'm Erin and I'm so glad you're here.
- 0:33Erin Gray: Let's get into the nitty gritty of Monarch Money.
- 0:35Erin Gray: I have used Mint and Empower and what I have found over time is that they weren't as robust.
- 0:44Erin Gray: And what I have found over time is that they weren't as robust as I wanted.
- 0:46Erin Gray: And actually Empower was the last app that I was using and it started to skip transactions and not actually pull them in and the transactions were not updating, which was super frustrating because I couldn't really see a clear picture.
- 1:07Erin Gray: Because I couldn't really see a clear picture.
- 1:09Erin Gray: So Monarch money it feels super robust, probably more than what I actually use, really clearly thought out, like someone actually sat down and took the time to ask, kind of almost it feels like they ran a beta program which I'm probably sure they did but to really sit down and take the time to figure out what is it that people actually want.
- 1:25Erin Gray: So it's really clearly thought out and it's customizable, it's very intuitive and it's actually fun to use.
- 1:32Erin Gray: My husband actually made that comment when we were working with it a couple of weekends ago.
- 1:37Erin Gray: It was really interesting because, you know, I have had my relationship with money.
- 1:42Erin Gray: He's obviously had his relationship with money, which has probably been more clean energy than it has been for me, but it was really interesting to hear him say wow, this is actually fun.
- 1:51Erin Gray: This is really easy to use.
- 1:52Erin Gray: So, above the normal budgeting tools and software that we're used to, I'm going to share the three things that I love about Monarch that I think that you might as well.
- 2:04Erin Gray: So, first and foremost I don't know if you are like me, most of my clients a lot of our spending happens on Amazon and when you're in your budgeting app, it can feel time consuming to go into Amazon to see what each order was and you know, come back and then bring it into your budgeting software.
- 2:28Erin Gray: But what Monarch does is it pulls it from your Amazon account so that you can see exactly what each purchase was, with even the link, so you could click on the link and actually paste it in your web browser and see exactly what it is, if you don't recognize what was written in your notes, and you could set up rules so that, if you like, are on subscribe and save, like how we are, then it will automatically start to allocate.
- 2:59Erin Gray: It learns your behaviors so you can start to allocate.
- 3:02Erin Gray: You know, per category, like per transaction, to what categories you want, which for me I don't know if you feel this way, but, like the Amazon is probably the most time consuming.
- 3:14Erin Gray: When I sit down and I look at our money, because there are a lot of transactions that we use it's so vastly different.
- 3:20Erin Gray: It's not like it's always, you know, toothpaste that we order, and so it really.
- 3:26Erin Gray: It sped things up so quickly for us when I learned about how to use and integrate the Monarch with the Amazon.
- 3:39Erin Gray: Assign spending I don't want to say spending to your partner, but you can assign.
- 3:44Erin Gray: Yeah, I mean you can assign spending to your partner and this, I think, is a game changer for couples, because you can literally tag a transaction for your partner and then they can log in to review it or categorize it themselves.
- 4:00Erin Gray: So before, what I would have to do before using Monarch, I would have a note card and I would write down all of the transactions that I didn't recognize or didn't know where they needed to go.
- 4:11Erin Gray: And then I would go and ask my husband, jason, so he could then go back and, you know, look at what his transactions were and then I can know how to categorize them.
- 4:21Erin Gray: But now, since he's doing the money in a more active way, what he does is he just assigns it to me and it shows up on my phone.
- 4:29Erin Gray: It's, you know, the app is also on your phone, shows up on your phone and you're able to just click on the link and categorize it, put your notes in it.
- 4:41Erin Gray: If you download the app on your phone, it's so easy.
- 4:44Erin Gray: It feels so much more time efficient than the back and forth with you know.
- 4:51Erin Gray: What did you use this for?
- 4:52Erin Gray: What category does this go Like?
- 4:54Erin Gray: I know I have another client and her husband does it and then he leaves the credit card statement on her desk for like okay, highlights, like what is this for?
- 5:01Erin Gray: What is that for?
- 5:02Erin Gray: So it's a much more efficient way, I feel to ask your spouse what were these transactions so that you can categorize them appropriately, and it really I feel like it really takes like the mental load off of one person.
- 5:16Erin Gray: It's just really really nice.
- 5:17Erin Gray: And then the third one is it's just really flexible.
- 5:20Erin Gray: They offer flexible or specific budgeting options.
- 5:23Erin Gray: So some of my clients they want a super detailed allocation or, if you may call it, budgeting a budget.
- 5:31Erin Gray: But some of my clients actually want more of a flexible, just kind of like a couple of buckets, right, like what are your fixed expenses, what are your flexible expenses?
- 5:41Erin Gray: And that adjusts from month to month.
- 5:44Erin Gray: And so Monarch allows you to do both.
- 5:46Erin Gray: You can allow for the flexible spending or, if you wanted more detailed, you can definitely set that up when you sign up and you know you can set up a specific line item budget or, like I said, use a flexible approach that adapts based on your overall cash flow.
- 6:03Erin Gray: Either way, I mean, and the other option too, is if you decide you wanted to set it up as flexible and then you decided down the road you wanted to change it to a more specific budget, you definitely have.
- 6:15Erin Gray: They allow you that option to do that, so it's not like you're stuck in one way or the other.
- 6:18Erin Gray: It allows you that flexibility.
- 6:20Erin Gray: So they offer a trial.
- 6:24Erin Gray: I think it's a free trial for seven days and then after that I think they advertise it at $99 a year, but I know they are running some promos.
- 6:34Erin Gray: So just make sure that you pay attention to the coupon codes, because they do offer some promos on that first year.
- 6:42Erin Gray: So the key takeaways that I would highlight for you is that Monarch Money for me, it doesn't feel like just another budgeting app.
- 6:51Erin Gray: It's truly dynamic.
- 6:53Erin Gray: It is very user-friendly.
- 6:55Erin Gray: Their platform is very user-friendly.
- 6:57Erin Gray: That really makes managing your money simpler and, I think, more collaborative.
- 7:04Erin Gray: If you're doing money with your spouse, you know the Amazon integration, the partner features and then the flexible budgeting options make it really supportive to you, no matter how your brain works or even you know your relationship works, and I want you to take away also that.
- 7:22Erin Gray: Remember that what the way I use it is, allocating your money isn't just about which many of us feel like right, it's about restriction.
- 7:31Erin Gray: I truly believe it's about creating a system that helps you feel empowered, helps you feel and gain clarity, to know where you have allocated and circulated your money and to feel more in control, so you can take a look and see what are your patterns, what do you like to invest your money on or in, and is it aligned with your values?
- 7:54Erin Gray: Okay, that's what I have for you.
- 7:57Erin Gray: I will see you in the next episode.