How To Use A Dashboard For Financial Accountability

After selling Teachable, I didn’t buy a mansion. I built a dashboard. Yeah, you read that right! Here’s how I think about tracking wealth and why every founder should build a personal operating system for their money… I split my personal finances into 5 key buckets: - Cash (personal + business) - Brokerage (public markets) - Retirement (Solo 401k, Roth IRA) - Carry (equity in my own company) - Angel (early-stage investments) Each month, I update my net worth manually because it forces me to think about where my wealth is going. I use a dashboard to track: - How assets are distributed - What % is liquid vs illiquid - Where the cash is sitting - What % is in taxable vs tax-advantaged accounts This gives me clarity on what I own, where it lives, and what levers I can pull (if I have to). Once a month, I spend 30 minutes reviewing: - Total net worth - Asset allocation drift - Personal + business cash - Upcoming investments - Tax exposure It’s not automated and that’s the point. It keeps me close to my money. Most people only track income. But income ≠ wealth. I’ve made this mistake before and I’ve watched close friends do it too. When you don’t track your money, you lose clarity and control. And when the numbers get big, that mistake gets expensive.

🎄🎁 Advent of Open Source – Day 22/24: tiller-streamlit 💰 (See my intro post: intro post (https://lnkd.in/gVNYBE9m) Tracking personal finances is crucial, especially when working towards financial independence (see my WenFIRE post on Day 4). Today's project is tiller-streamlit, a Streamlit app that visualizes your financial data from Tiller. I host it on my local network under money.local using Traefik for easy access. (🖼️ Screenshot blurred for privacy reasons) 📖 Origin Story • Used Intuit Mint, but when they shut down, I needed an alternative with full data control. • Tiller automatically populates your financial data into a Google Sheet that you own forever. • With 20+ accounts, manual updates are tedious – Tiller automates it. • Combined Tiller's data with Streamlit's ease of use, creating a personal finance dashboard. 🔧 Technical Highlights • Powered by Streamlit: Turns Python into a web app with minimal code. • Tiller Integration: Connects to Tiller's Google Sheets for automated data retrieval. • Interactive Visualizations: Uses Plotly and Altair for dynamic charts. • Customizable Analysis: Filter by categories, time periods, and more. • Net Worth Tracking: Calculates and visualizes net worth over time. • Dockerized Deployment: Easy deployment with Docker, and served locally with Traefik. 📊 Impact • Primarily for personal use, it has significantly improved my understanding of my finances. • Great way to learn Streamlit and explore its capabilities. • Visualizing spending patterns helps identify areas to cut back and make informed financial decisions on the path to financial independence. 🎯 Challenges and Solutions • Learning Streamlit: Excellent documentation and community support made it a smooth process. • Data Wrangling: Transforming Tiller's raw data into a format suitable for visualization. • Performance Optimization: Caching and query optimization improved responsiveness. 💡 Lessons Learned • Data Ownership Matters: Owning your financial data gives you control and flexibility. • Visualization is Key: Seeing your finances visually makes a huge difference. • Streamlit is Powerful: Simplifies web app development. • Automation is Essential: Tiller's automatic data population makes the whole process sustainable. • Docker and Traefik Simplify Local Deployment: Making it easy to access the app on my home network. 🔮 Future Plans • Budgeting Features: Integrate budget tracking and forecasting. • Goal Setting: Set financial goals and track progress. • Investment Tracking: Incorporate investment data for a complete picture. Want to visualize your own finances with Tiller and Streamlit? Check out tiller-streamlit on GitHub (https://lnkd.in/gY9TB7hS)! #OpenSource #Python #Streamlit #PersonalFinance #DataVisualization #Tiller #Traefik #Docker

My best tip for learning Financial Modeling? 👇 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. In business modeling there's always a learning curve... ▪️ Manufacturing? gotta learn it ▪️ SaaS? gotta learn that too ▪️ Insurance? you get the idea With your life, there's no learning curve (hopefully). So open a spreadsheet... Put some months along the top. And some line items down the left side like: ▪️ Paycheck ▪️ Rent ▪️ Utilities ▪️ Groceries ▪️ Travel ▪️ Discretionary (having fun) Can you fill out something for each month? ✔️ Congrats! You've built a 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁. Now, check it again next month (or next week)... Are the numbers different than what you guessed? If so, update them — how did things change? ✔️ Congrats! You've built a 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁. Now what about cash? When is Rent due, and when is your Paycheck coming in? Open another tab, but this time put weeks (or days) on the top. Put the same line items down the left side. Put "Beginning Cash" at the top and "Ending Cash" at the bottom. Punch in 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 when your Paycheck comes in and your bills go out. Do you have enough cash to cover your costs (in the short term)? ✔️ Congrats! You've built a 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁. (p.s., here's a free template 👉 https://lnkd.in/edmwgYCv) Last thing, if you could only open your file for 2 minutes... What key things would you NEED to see? ▪️ Estimated savings this month? ▪️ Estimated savings this year? ▪️ Maybe a graph of your estimated cash balance? ✔️ Congrats! You've just built a 𝗗𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱. 🟢 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲? ▪️ Better understanding of your personal finances ▪️ Improved Financial Modeling skills 🔴 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲? ▪️ Great modeling practice ▪️ Exposure to business concepts understood at a personal level In fact, I learned most of my Excel skills building a personal finance model. Because I didn't need to spend time on the "learning curve." I just found the fastest way to present relevant info to myself. (And I still use that budget every week) So — give it a try! It's some of the best free education you can give yourself. ~~~ 👋 Hey, I'm Chris Reilly, and I teach Financial Modeling based on real Private Equity and FP&A experience. 📌 See Financial Modeling Courses 👉 https://lnkd.in/eG_uVhsE