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

1. Export from LM: All transactions → 02-LunchMoney/YYYY-MM_LM_all.csv
2. Download statements: Chase, CapOne, Apple PDFs → 01-Inputs/
3. Reconcile: Confirm LM balances match statement PDFs
4. Clean transfers: Mark credit card payments, internal transfers
5. 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):

1. Use latest YYYY-MM_LM_all.csv as seed data
2. Raw bank files in 01-Inputs/ provide verification
3. Transition to Beancount + Fava web interface