1) ✅ What AI is great for in personal finance
AI isn’t a crystal ball and it isn’t a financial guru. But used well, it can be a copilot that helps you think more clearly, compare offers, and reduce impulsive mistakes.
- Categorize spending so you can see where your money goes each month.
- Spot patterns you might miss (quiet increases in fixed costs, recurring “little treats,” etc.).
- Compare proposals from banks or investment platforms using clear criteria (fees, terms, conditions, add‑ons).
- Explain complex concepts (APR vs nominal rate, diversification, compound interest, bond duration) in plain language.
- Generate checklists before signing a mortgage or investing in a fund.
- Play “devil’s advocate” to catch biases (over‑optimism, loss aversion, FOMO).
Key idea:
AI doesn’t predict markets. It helps you make better decisions.
2) 💬 4 useful prompts (ready to copy/paste)
- To analyze a mortgage:
“Act as a financial advisor. Analyze this mortgage offer [paste details] and tell me the risks, hidden conditions, and what I should compare across alternatives.” - To understand an investment:
“Explain in simple language how an index fund works and what I should look at before investing.” - To improve your budget:
“Review this list of monthly expenses and tell me where I could reduce without harming my quality of life.” - To check your biases:
“I want to invest in [option X]. What biases or common mistakes might I be making with this decision?”
3) ⚠️ Risks and limits: what AI can’t (and shouldn’t) do
Using AI doesn’t mean letting go of the wheel. Some limits matter:
- Privacy: don’t share personal, banking, or identifiable data in public chats. Work with anonymized data or templates.
- Accuracy: it can make mistakes, misunderstand context, or produce outdated info. Verify what matters.
- Responsibility: the decision is yours. AI doesn’t sign contracts or take consequences for you.
Tip:
Treat AI like a smart assistant—not an oracle.
4) 🛠️ A simple workflow (that actually works)
If you want AI to help you decide with more clarity and less stress, try this:
- Define the question: what do you want to achieve, by when, and within what limits?
- Ask for options with pros/cons: compare paths before you commit.
- Ask for risks + mitigations: what could go wrong, and how do you reduce that risk?
- Pick one action: set a date and decide how you’ll measure if it worked.
This approach doesn’t just improve decisions—it also reduces the anxiety of having to “get it right on the first try.”
Want to try it? If you’d like to use AI to understand your mortgage, plan an investment, or get clarity on spending, I can help you build a system tailored to your situation.
