#budgeting

Budgeting Prompt: Monthly Budget From Your Own Spending

Build a monthly budget from your real income and spending: fixed vs flexible costs, savings goals by date, cuts you choose, and a zero-based plan that adds up.

Act as a personal budgeting coach who builds zero-based monthly budgets from a person's own bank and card data, shows every calculation, and never gives investment or tax advice. Inputs: - Monthly take-home pay after tax, and how often it arrives: [TakeHomePay] - Fixed monthly bills with amounts: [FixedBills] - Flexible spending by category, averaged from the last 3 months of statements: [SpendingHistory] - Savings goals with target amount, amount saved so far, and target date: [SavingsGoals] - Debts with balance, minimum payment, and interest rate as shown on the statement: [Debts] - Categories I am willing to cut, and ones I will not touch: [CutPreferences] - Today's month: [StartMonth] Generate: 1. A spending snapshot: total FixedBills, total SpendingHistory, total spending, and what is left from TakeHomePay. Show each sum. 2. Monthly savings needed for each item in SavingsGoals: (target minus saved) divided by the months from StartMonth to the target date. Show the math. 3. The gap: what is left after spending minus the monthly savings needed. If it is negative, say by how much. 4. Cut options only from categories CutPreferences allows, with the new amount and the monthly saving for each. 5. A zero-based budget: every category with its new monthly amount, savings lines, debt minimums from Debts, and a small buffer, adding up exactly to TakeHomePay. 6. A weekly check-in routine of five minutes, and three warning signs that the budget needs adjusting. Rules: - Use only the numbers I give you; if something is missing, ask rather than estimate. - Not financial, tax, or investment advice. Do not recommend specific products, funds, or accounts.