What is a monthly money review?

A snapshot, not a stream of transactions

Most financial activity happens continuously: money arrives, bills are paid, investments move, and balances change. A monthly review pauses that stream long enough to answer a simpler question: where do things stand now, compared with last month?

The result is a financial snapshot. It does not try to reconstruct every purchase. It gives you a repeatable view of the parts of your money that matter most to you.

What to include

A useful review usually brings together five areas:

• Cash: current balances in the accounts you use or save in.
• Investments: current values, plus any money contributed or withdrawn during the month.
• Debts: credit cards, loans, mortgages, or other balances you want to reduce.
• Other assets: valuable items or property that belong in your personal picture.
• Income: money received during the period, when you want a broader cash-flow view.

You do not need to include everything you own. Consistently reviewing the same meaningful categories is more useful than building an exhaustive list that becomes difficult to maintain.

What the comparison can reveal

One snapshot tells you where you are. Two or more snapshots show movement. You can see whether cash increased or decreased, whether debt moved in the direction you expected, how investments changed, and how your overall net worth developed.

When income is included, the change in cash can also support an estimate of spending. That estimate is intentionally broader than transaction-level categorisation: it helps you see the month without maintaining a daily ledger.

Who this approach suits

A monthly review can work well if you want to understand your finances but dislike continuous maintenance. It may be especially useful when you:

• have tried expense trackers and stopped using them;
• prefer not to connect your bank accounts to an app;
• want to see cash, investments, debts, and assets together;
• care more about meaningful direction than individual purchases;
• can commit to one short routine more easily than a daily habit.

It is not the only valid approach. Detailed tracking can be useful when you need exact category limits, shared household budgeting, reimbursement records, or close control over irregular spending.

How Lygu supports the habit

Lygu is a private iPhone app built specifically around this monthly rhythm. In about 15 minutes, you create a snapshot, compare it with the previous one, and optionally leave a reflection for your future self.

There is no bank connection and no Lygu account. Financial records are stored locally on your phone. Limited privacy-preserving usage analytics are used to improve the app, as explained in the privacy policy.

By Lukas Salasevicius, creator of Lygu · Updated 14 September 2026

A two-month example

Fictional example: these amounts illustrate the method, not a real person’s finances or a promised result. The screenshots elsewhere on this page use separate demonstration data.

You enter the balances; Lygu calculates the totals. With all four categories included, net worth is cash + investments + other assets − debt. Here it rises by €900: €300 more cash, €400 more investments, and €200 less debt.

For August, suppose you also enter €2,500 income, €300 investment contributions, and no investment withdrawals. The monthly spending estimate is €4,000 + €2,500 − €300 − €4,300 = €1,900. This is a cash-flow estimate, not a purchase-by-purchase total; debt payments or other cash movements may be included. Review unusual transfers before interpreting it.

The €400 rise in investments is not all investment growth: after the €300 contribution, the estimated growth is €100. These comparisons need an earlier snapshot and consistent inputs. Spending also needs complete income for the covered period; across skipped months, Lygu calculates a monthly average.

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