How to use ChatGPT to quickly analyze your credit card spending...
Spending money is easy. Keeping track of how much money you spend, not so much. Even if you're good at recording all your expenses in a financial program like Quicken, QuickBooks, or Xero, understanding your expenses and turning all of that transaction data into actionable insights can be more difficult.
But, as it turns out, AI can help make that process much easier. And you don't even have to be some sort of accountant or spreadsheet wizard. You just have to know how to ask the right questions (i.e., give the right prompts). To make that process as easy as it can be, I've included 10 powerful AI prompts in this article, along with five additional prompts perfect for use at tax time. I'll also show you the fast way to get at your transaction data so you can use the AI to analyze it. But first, let's look at five good reasons to better understand your expenses.
Exporting Your Data
Before you can analyze your data, you'll need to export it. Most financial tools like QuickBooks have a reports section. In that reports section, almost all will have a transaction detail report, which is literally a report of every transaction and all the details recorded. Run that report for the period you want to analyze, then find the Export button. Export as either Excel or CSV, and that will give you a data set you can import into the AI.
The easiest way to start is to just export one credit card account. But you can, for example, export each credit card account and name each file for the appropriate card. Then, when you ask the AI to import, you can either import one after the other and instruct the AI to keep track of which card is in use, or do the AI analysis on each report one at a time.
Working with Different Banks
Of course, not everyone keeps their financial transactions in QuickBooks or Quicken. Most banks allow you to export transaction records or statements, but each bank is different. Most banks allow you to export transaction records or statements, but each bank is different. I know that my bank will only do a limited number of months back without having to call them and beg for additional reports. However, the good news is that even if you have paper statements, the AI can read them in as PDFs if you scan them in. You'll have to give the AI more guidance about how to interpret what's on there, but it's doable and is probably less work than doing it all by hand.
Using AI Prompts
Let's get started with some general prompts:
- Prompt: "Here is a transaction detail report from my accounting software. Please list all the columns so I can verify the structure."
- Prompt: "Group all expenses by vendor and show me which vendors I spend the most money with."
- Prompt: "Group expenses by accounting category or account name and show the total for each."
- Prompt: "Summarize my monthly spending trends by category. Show how much I spend per category per month."
- Prompt: "Which vendors have increased their prices over time? Show changes in average monthly charges per vendor."
- Prompt: "Which categories contain large one-time or annual expenses? Flag anything over $100 that only shows up once or twice."
- Prompt: "Break down streaming, subscriptions, and internet service expenses. Group by vendor and show monthly totals."
- Prompt: "Are there any duplicate transactions or likely errors? Highlight any identical amounts to the same vendor on the same day or any transactions that seem anomalous."
- Prompt: "Compare this year's expenses to last year's, grouped by category. Show the percentage change."
Tax-Related Prompts
Whether tax time is upon us or you're planning for your next year, these tax-related prompts can help you prepare, save money, and manage your taxes:
- Prompt: "Group all expenses by tax-deductible categories like insurance, education, office supplies, or charitable contributions."
- Prompt: "Flag any personal expenses that may have been included accidentally in my business transactions."
- Prompt: "Summarize all expenses that are potentially deductible as home office, utilities, internet, phone, and office supplies."
- Prompt: "List all charitable donations or contributions. Include dates and amounts."
- Prompt: "Which vendors or transactions might require a 1099 to be issued? Group all payments to contractors or freelancers over $600."
Using an AI to help identify items associated with a reporting requirement that more and more of us will be required to comply with is a big part of how the AI can help save time.
Have you tried using ChatGPT or another AI tool to analyze your credit card or accounting transactions? What kinds of insights did you uncover? Were there any prompts that worked especially well for you, or ones that didn't? Are there other types of financial reports you'd like to see AI help with? Let us know in the comments below. Want more stories about AI? Sign up for Innovation, our weekly newsletter.
