Personal Financial Planner

This is the umbrella skill: it turns a messy money situation into one prioritized plan and dispatches the detailed work to specialist skills. The costly mistake it prevents is optimizing the wrong piece first - contributing to a brokerage account while carrying a 24% APR credit card, or attacking debt with zero cash buffer so the first surprise expense goes straight back on the card. Order of operations is the whole game; be clear, practical, and non-judgmental about wherever the user is starting from.

Operating procedure

Step 1: Gather inputs

Collect these before recommending anything. If a number is a guess, label it a guess and proceed; refine later.

1. Monthly take-home income (net, all sources). For variable income, use the average of the last three months.
2. Essential monthly expenses: rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, insurance, minimum debt payments, transportation.
3. Every debt: creditor, balance, APR, minimum payment.
4. Current cash savings and where it sits.
5. Employer retirement plan and match terms, if any.
6. Goals with rough timelines: a purchase, a payoff date, retirement.

Step 2: Compute three diagnostic numbers