Is this financial OCD?

[Brown and Boris]

Am I taking this a bit far or do others have similar systems? I have been doing it a while (3 or 4 years) and it has just occurred to me I may be a bit abnormal in doing this;

I have an Excel spreadsheet which I complete every month end which details all the bank balances (including ISAa etc), current investment values, any cash in the house, outstanding invoices for our small business, even stamps we have in stcok ( we have about £400 at a time)And tax liabilities (personal, CT and VAT). It includes the reducing and cash-sale value of things I could sell quickly if I had to (cars, decent watches, any antique furniture). I don't include the house value.

It finally calculates my new worth and my liquid assets in personal and business terms. Every 6 months I delete the monthly values, leaving just the values each May/June and Nov/Dec so that I can look across the 4 years.

I am not sure why I do it but it does reassure me that overall the value isn't generally going down (but when it does I work a bit harder).

Anally retentive or pruudent? Or just too much time on my hands?

Edited by Brown and Boris on Wednesday 17th June 12:41

[sinizter]

If you have the time to keep it up to date, then why not ? It is a very useful thing to have.

I don't think you'll find many people who are that meticulous.

[Mattt]

That's fine - financial OCD is when you do a transfer so your account balances are all nice round numbers

[Brown and Boris]

Mattt said:

That's fine - financial OCD is when you do a transfer so your account balances are all nice round numbers

Oh Dear, I have done that too; transferring odd amounts to leave round pounds in other accounts, and trying to leave equal amounts in accounts if the interest rates are similar, although not solely for that purpose as I was always having to move money anyway. Perhaps I need to chillax a bit.

Doing the monthly list is made easier with Egg Money Manager which goes off and gets account balances on almost all the accounts. I should perhaps be more disciplined in culling old accounts rather than them lingering with a few pounds in.

Edited by Brown and Boris on Wednesday 17th June 15:37

[Bob Fossil]

Mattt said:

That's fine - financial OCD is when you do a transfer so your account balances are all nice round numbers

Me too - always have the mortage rounded down to the nearest £100... thought it was just me!

And re the spreadsheet - I've been doing similar for the past two years and find it really useful. I like looking at the graph going up!

[AnthonyC]

I think you need to get out more often.

with Welshbeef.......

[Mojooo]

i have thought about doing this, but have been too lazy

probably why my finances are so dire, and it wouldn;t make fun reading!

[coanda]

I'm halfway there...I do list my income/outgoings and split it all up into categories so i can keep an eye on different things (down to how much i spend in the shop across the road...). I do similar with my business accounts.....

[Eric Mc]

I run something similar. I find it very useful and stops me from going into overdraft.