| name | personal-finance |
| description | Personal finance management with Lunch Money. Use when user mentions finances, budgeting, expense tracking, bank accounts, transactions, monthly finance routine, or financial file organization. Covers file organization, naming conventions, monthly reconciliation, and account setup. |
Personal Finance Management
Lunch Money-based finance tracking with organized file storage.
File Organization
iCloud Drive/Finance/
├── 01-Inputs/ # Raw bank downloads (CSV, QFX, PDF statements)
├── 02-LunchMoney/ # Monthly full-exports from LM
└── 03-Documents/ # Receipts >$500 (tax, reimburse, warranty)
Naming Conventions
Bank downloads:
YYYY-MM_<bank>_<account>.csv
YYYY-MM_<bank>_<account>_statement.pdf
LM exports:
YYYY-MM_LM_all.csv
Receipts:
YYYY-MM_<merchant>_<amount>.pdf
Monthly Routine
- Export from LM: All transactions →
02-LunchMoney/YYYY-MM_LM_all.csv - Download statements: Chase, CapOne, Apple PDFs →
01-Inputs/ - Reconcile: Confirm LM balances match statement PDFs
- Clean transfers: Mark credit card payments, internal transfers
- Categories: Keep ≤35 total, merge similar ones
Connected Accounts
- Chase checking/savings (auto-sync)
- Capital One cards (auto-sync, 3mo limit - supplement with CSV)
- Apple Card/Cash/Savings (iOS helper app)
Receipt Policy
Keep only if: Tax-relevant, reimbursable, warranty, or >$500
Troubleshooting
Duplicate transactions: Check if period was both imported (CSV) and synced (connector) Missing transactions: Use manual CSV import to backfill Balance mismatch: Cross-reference with PDF statement, look for pending transactions
Exit Strategy
To plaintext (if needed):
- Use latest
YYYY-MM_LM_all.csvas seed data - Raw bank files in
01-Inputs/provide verification - Transition to Beancount + Fava web interface