The fifteen-minute monthly review
A repeatable end-of-month ritual. Three numbers, two questions, one decision. That's the whole thing.
4 min readPublished May 9, 2026
Three numbers, in this order
Net worth, savings rate, and credit-card utilisation. Net worth tells you the direction. Savings rate tells you the engine speed. Utilisation tells you whether you're quietly using leverage to fund lifestyle. Write all three in the same notebook each month — patterns show up by month three.
Two questions, honestly answered
What surprised me this month, and what's likely to repeat? Surprises are where the real signal lives — a forgotten annual subscription, a tax adjustment, a windfall. Repeating surprises means a system gap, not a one-off. Fix the gap, not the symptom.
One decision, written down
Cancel one thing, automate one thing, or rebalance one thing. Just one. A monthly review that produces a list of twelve actions produces zero. A monthly review that produces one decision, executed, beats it twelve times over.
Same time, same place, same notebook
Pin the review to a fixed slot — first Sunday morning, last day of the month, whichever sticks. The ritual matters more than the rigour. The goal is for future-you to find the answer to "how were we doing in March?" in under a minute.
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