Most of my financial habits are pretty boring.

We track our expenses every month. I salary sacrifice into my pension so it disappears before I see it. Our investments go into default plans labelled “adventurous” – though if we’re honest, they’re not doing anything especially brave.

We sit down once a month and look over our spending. Check in on the annual budget. It takes 20 minutes. Usually in the evening, after my daughter is down. Sometimes with a glass of wine, usually some chocolate and acknowledgement that there’s no Netflix until it’s done. The spreadsheet’s nothing fancy.

That’s the system. And it works.

The Point of a System

People think finance is about expertise – like there’s a magic trick they haven’t learned yet. But for most of us, the challenge isn’t knowledge. It’s bandwidth.

Life is incredibly full. Kids, work, admin, birthdays you forgot until this morning. Nobody wants to spend their weekend parsing pension factsheets. And you don’t need to. All you need is a simple system.

A system is just how you take the good decision you meant to make and make sure it actually happens, even when you’re tired, distracted, or stressed.

It means you don’t have to rely on motivation. Or memory. Or late-night guilt about how you “really should sort the ISA out.”

What My System Looks Like

Mine’s simple. Not minimalist for the sake of it – just efficient.

Monthly

• Salary comes in to one account. Pension is already gone (salary sacrifice = my favourite invisibility trick).
• Household bills go out the same account, discretionary money is sent to a separate personal account.
• I used to have my investment accounts top up automatically, but these days because of a lot of variation we periodically move the excess cash elsewhere and just let a buffer build.
• We check in on the budget, look at what came in and went out, and talk through anything that looks weird. Or interesting. Or depressingly too high on takeaways.

Annually

• We sit down and agree the budget for the year – high level first, then down to categories. We keep it realistic, not aspirational. It’s allowed to flex.
• I’ll also take stock of where we are with pensions, ISA contributions, savings goals. Think about whether anything needs rebalancing.
• If a big life thing is on the horizon (job change, refurbishments, moving), we look at the structural stuff – wills, life insurance, cash buffers.

When Something Changes

When something new comes up like a mortgage decision, or a new investment option, I’ll go off and research it properly. Then I bring it back to my wife and we talk it through.

That’s not a formal process, just a habit. It stops me doing anything impulsive. It also makes sure we’re aligned, financially and otherwise.

Why It Works

I’m not checking my portfolio every week. I’m not chasing “best buy” lists or debating fund fees on Reddit. There’s just a rhythm to things. The system catches most issues before they become problems – and it frees up a surprising amount of headspace.

I still read finance stuff because I like it. But I don’t need to.

And if something happens (markets drop, a car repair, a tax letter that makes no sense), the system gives me a baseline. I know roughly where we stand. That’s worth a lot.

You Can Build Your Own (Without Needing Mine)

The system that works for me won’t be the same as the one that works for you. But the idea is the same:

Pick a handful of things that make good financial decisions automatic, and make them boring.

Here are a few building blocks that might help:

Again: this doesn’t have to be polished. Just enough structure that you don’t have to keep resetting.

You Don’t Need to Be an Expert

There are things I could optimise. I could switch investment providers. I could move out of the “adventurous” defaults and build my own portfolio. I could squeeze another few basis points of efficiency.

But right now? That’s not the bottleneck.

The system is working. It’s aligned with our life. It’s not fragile.

And when the time does come to make a change, I’ll approach it the same way I do everything else: research it, talk it through, then do it properly. Once.

Final Thought

Systems are boring. That’s the point.

They take the emotional edge off money. They give you a rhythm. They mean you’re not starting from scratch every time you open your banking app and feel overwhelmed.

You don’t need to be an expert. You just need a setup that suits your life – and gives you the mental space to think clearly when it matters.

That’s what this blog is about. Not maximising every penny. Just making money simple enough that it does its job, so you can get on with the rest of your life.

Next up: A deeper look at risk – and why what most people think of as “risky” often isn’t. (Volatility is not the same as danger.)