Very few people I know actually get excited about combing through piles of paperwork and receipts. But it's an important task to ensure you aren't missing out on vital tax deductions, not to mention understanding your overall position is the best way to build long term wealth. None of the ninjas at growthwise enjoy this task either so a few years ago we started searching around for the quickest way to manage our own personal finances. We started using the old Xero Personal product (now shut down), trialled things like pocketsmith and mint but that was just another system we had to learn. 

It's much the same as the Xero product you use now, without invoicing and payroll. The bank feeds still pop in each day, you still setup bank rules to automatically code transactions and you can even setup a budget! Last year we started setting up Xero Personal (as we call it) for a few of our clients - the ones who were super keen to know where they spend their money, or the ones who wanted to see how much they owed at all times, or the ones who wanted to track income and expenses for rental properties etc. 

We have found deductions they weren't claiming like LinkedIn, computer software, home office etc. We have also been able to set targets for increasing wealth via super or investments, targets for reducing non deductible loans and even targets for deposits needed to buy properties. 

It's important to note we are NOT financial planners. So we never give advice on where to invest your money. But this is the starting point to know if you have any surplus or where you are spending your money in the first place. 

So how does it work?

We all live in a digital world now. Most of us use our credit cards & bank accounts to pay for the majority of our purchases. We transfer money from our main account to pay for our mortgages. 

Xero Personal connects to your bank accounts and imports your transactions into Xero (the same way it does with your business bank account). We also setup your loans and credit cards to feed in as well. You tell Xero where you want to allocate each income and expense line to, ie the wine you purchase from the new Reserve Cellar Door would be allocated to Alcohol, the yummy doughnuts from doughheads to eating out, the outfit from Lillies to clothing or your weekly supply of delicious meat from Dunn's Butchers to groceries.  

Xero gives you a summary of how much you have spent in each category. You can even allocate a budget for each category as well. For those of you who like to keep copies of things like your Water bills etc you can even upload these to Xero and attach them to the transaction. It's not just about allocating your income and expenses though. Xero can give you an entire picture of where you are up to in paying down your loans, credit card debt and also how much you have saved in any given period. 

It's really powerful to have knowledge and control over your finances. 

Sign me up!

That sounds great. I love using Xero for my business and want to start tracking and understanding where my personal finances are up to. 

This is the easy part! We just add an additional $10 / month to your existing business proposal, setup the file for you and then give you a checklist of what we need to add your bank feeds in. 

To get started just click here.

It looks good but I want to see it in action

For those of you who want to see Xero Personal in action before you hit the sign up button - we are running an online session to show you the ins and outs, how to categorise and the awesome reports you can see. Signup below.