Creating A Personal Finance Dashboard

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

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.

I'm a 𝗱𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘀𝗻𝗼𝗯. And if a dashboard isn't hitting the mark, I'm the first to call it out - but it all comes from a place of love 🙂. Before a dashboard is truly ready for prime time, I evaluate it across several key dimensions: 🚀 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 – Can users trust the numbers? Data correctness is non-negotiable. ⏳ 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 – How up-to-date is the data? Stale insights lead to stale decisions. 🔒 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Are access controls, compliance, and integrity in place? ⚡ 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 – If it takes forever to load, users will abandon it. 🚪 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 – Friction kills adoption. Make it easy to get in. 🔍 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Can users find the right data when they need it? 🔀 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Does it adapt to different breakdowns, filters, and definitions? 🎯 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – If it’s clunky, it won’t be used. Period. 📈 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Insights should drive decisions, not just sit there. 📊 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Is it clear, intuitive, and useful? 📤 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Can users easily extract and leverage the data elsewhere? 🔗 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – Does it play well with other tools and platforms? A great dashboard isn’t just a collection of charts, it’s a decision-making engine. If it fails at any of these, it’s not ready.

🎄🎁 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

What if the KPIs you’re tracking are the wrong ones? Last quarter, a client proudly showed me her finance dashboard. It looked impressive - graphs everywhere, ratios, percentages, trend lines. But here’s the twist: almost none of them were decisions‑driving. She was tracking “number of invoices processed” but not days sales outstanding. She monitored “total expenses” but ignored gross margin trends. She even had “total bank transactions” as a KPI but no cash conversion cycle. The result? Her team celebrated hitting KPI targets… while cash flow quietly got tighter each month. So, we stripped the noise and built a KPI set that actually drives decisions: 📌 Gross Margin % - your profit health monitor Tracks how much you keep after direct costs. If it’s slipping, your profits are bleeding even if sales look strong. 📌 Cash Conversion Cycle - your cash speedometer Shows how quickly cash flows back into your business after spending. A slow cycle means your money is stuck in limbo instead of working for you. 📌 Operating Cash Flow - your oxygen for growth Reveals whether your operations are generating enough cash to sustain and expand.  Negative? You’re funding growth with debt or worse, burning reserves. 📌 Current Ratio - your short‑term survival score Compare what you own (short‑term) vs. what you owe (short‑term). Below 1? You might struggle to pay bills without scrambling. Within weeks of focusing on these, her conversations changed. Decisions became faster. Investments were better timed. And yes, cash flow turned around. So… are you measuring for action, or just for applause? #financekpis  #accounting  #finance