Nethaven Blog
Practical notes on budgeting, transaction review, portfolio tracking, and building a calmer financial routine.
By Nethaven Team
August 19, 2026
7 minute read
Does a Pension Count in Net Worth?
The answer splits cleanly in two, and which side your pension falls on decides whether it belongs in the total or in a note beside it.
By Nethaven Team
August 18, 2026
7 minute read
How to Build a Budget From Scratch
Most first budgets fail because they start from a template instead of your actual bank statements. Here's a method that starts from what really happened last month.
By Nethaven Team
August 18, 2026
6 minute read
Best Mint Alternatives for Tracking Crypto and Net Worth
Mint's spending categories never had a crypto column, so anyone with wallet or exchange balances was already tracking net worth outside the app before it shut down.
By Nethaven Team
August 8, 2026
7 minute read
How to Export CSV From YNAB to Nethaven
YNAB exports two files, and only one matters: Register.csv holds every transaction. Export it, map the columns in Nethaven's CSV import, and your history moves over in one sitting.
By Nethaven Team
August 8, 2026
8 minute read
What Counts in Net Worth? Cars, Pensions, Deposits and IOUs
The first net worth session stalls on the same question: does this count? Here is the test that settles it, and a verdict on the fifteen items people actually ask about.
By Nethaven Team
August 8, 2026
8 minute read
What to Do With Last Month's Budget Surplus
Most budgeting apps close the month and start a new one. The money left over does not disappear, it just stops being accounted for, and next month quietly spends it.
By Nethaven Team
August 8, 2026
8 minute read
Personal Balance Sheet: How to Build One and Read It
A net worth number is one figure. A balance sheet is the working paper behind it, and it answers the question the total cannot: how much of this could you actually reach?
By Nethaven Team
August 8, 2026
7 minute read
Net Worth Tracking for Couples
Two people, four banks, and one number nobody can state out loud. Here's how couples build a joint net worth view that both partners actually trust.
By Nethaven Team
August 8, 2026
8 minute read
How to Value Your House and Car in Net Worth
The home you live in and the car you drive are usually the two biggest numbers on a net worth statement, and the two nobody can verify. Here's how to value them honestly.
By Nethaven Team
July 31, 2026
9 minute read
What Is Your FIRE Number? How to Calculate It
Most FIRE numbers are wrong because they are built on guessed spending, not measured spending. Here is how to calculate yours, and how often it needs revisiting.
By Nethaven Team
July 31, 2026
9 minute read
How to Save More Money: Find the Leaks First
Most savings advice starts with tips. That is backwards. Measure four weeks of real spending first, then apply the two or three changes that match what you find.
By Nethaven Team
July 27, 2026
7 minute read
How to Log Expenses With a Siri Shortcut on iPhone
Cash and manual card spending goes untracked because logging it means opening an app. A Siri Shortcut removes that step: say the amount, get a confirmation, done.
By Nethaven Team
July 21, 2026
7 minute read
What Is a Net Worth Aggregator?
Aggregation is the difference between a net worth number you maintain and one that maintains itself. Here's how it actually works.
By Nethaven Team
July 21, 2026
7 minute read
How to Track Dividend Income
Dividends are the one part of a portfolio that pays you without you doing anything, and the part most people can't state a number for.
By Nethaven Team
July 13, 2026
10 minute read
Coast FIRE Explained: How to Find Your Coast Number
You may be closer to financial independence than you think. What Coast FIRE is, how to find your coast number, and why it buys flexibility rather than idleness.
By Nethaven Team
July 13, 2026
10 minute read
The 4% Rule: How to Use It in a FIRE Plan
One number turned retirement planning into arithmetic. What Bengen's research actually found, the 25x shortcut, sequence risk, and how to pick your own rate.
By Nethaven Team
July 13, 2026
11 minute read
Passive Income and FIRE: What Actually Counts
The S&P 500 yields about 1.1%, rentals need management, royalties need a catalog. A realistic look at the income sources that can support financial independence.
By Nethaven Team
July 7, 2026
8 minute read
Net Worth by Age: See Where You Stand in 2026
Average net worth looks impressive at every age, until you see the median. Here is the real Federal Reserve data on net worth by age, and how to read it.
By Nethaven Team
July 6, 2026
5 minute read
How Much Do Subscriptions Really Cost?
Ask someone their monthly subscription total and they'll guess low, by a lot. Here's how to add up every recurring charge and see the real number.
By Nethaven Team
July 2, 2026
4 minute read
Crypto in net worth: what to include
Include crypto you can sell at a knowable price; exclude locked, illiquid, or speculative holdings you cannot value. Mark the method so your total stays honest.
By Nethaven Team
June 30, 2026
6 minute read
Snowball vs avalanche debt payoff
Avalanche saves the most money; snowball is the one people actually finish. How to pick between motivation and math, and a hybrid that captures both.
By Nethaven Team
June 27, 2026
5 minute read
Connect Nethaven MCP to Claude or ChatGPT
You can now ask Claude 'What's my net worth?' and get a real answer from your live Nethaven data, no CSV exports, no copy-paste. One URL, OAuth sign-in, done.
By Nethaven Team
June 24, 2026
9 minute read
How to Start Managing Your Money
Personal finance for beginners, made simple. A clear, step-by-step order of operations to manage your money from zero, track, budget, clear debt, save, invest.
By Nethaven Team
June 24, 2026
11 minute read
HENRY: High Earner, Not Rich Yet
A high salary is not the same as wealth. Why high earners stay cash-rich but net-worth-poor, and the proven steps to turn a big income into a growing net worth.
By Nethaven Team
June 23, 2026
12 minute read
FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Early
Financial Independence, Retire Early comes down to two numbers: 25x your annual spending and a ~4% withdrawal rate. The FIRE rules, its types, and how to start.
By Nethaven Team
June 21, 2026
7 minute read
Freelancer finances: business vs personal
Keep business and personal separate inside one dashboard: dedicated accounts, clear categories, a tax set-aside rule, and a way to smooth lumpy freelance income.
By Nethaven Team
June 18, 2026
6 minute read
Weekly vs monthly subscription billing
Weekly billing splits one cost into 52 small charges that slip past monthly review. Same annual total, very different visibility. Here is how to compare cadences.
By Nethaven Team
June 13, 2026
6 minute read
Rental Property in Net Worth: Track Equity, Not Value
A rental is two entries, not one: the asset and the loan against it. Track the equity, keep rent out of net worth, and the landlord side of your balance sheet stays honest.
By Nethaven Team
June 9, 2026
6 minute read
SnapTrade vs manual brokerage tracking
Sync keeps active accounts current with zero effort; manual covers everything but goes stale. Most people want both: sync for active accounts, manual for the long tail.
By Nethaven Team
June 4, 2026
7 minute read
Subscription tracking: what to review
A subscription list is useful, but context turns renewals into decisions. Review amount, timing, owner, category, and whether the service still earns its place.
By Nethaven Team
May 30, 2026
6 minute read
Shared budget without shared passwords
Sharing a budget should not mean sharing passwords. Invite-based access shows partners categories, goals, and spending while each login stays private and revocable.
By Nethaven Team
May 22, 2026
9 minute read
Transaction Rules: When to Automate, and Why They Fail
Rules should shrink your review queue, not hide transactions. What is safe to automate, what is not, and the four failure patterns that quietly distort a budget.
By Nethaven Team
May 20, 2026
7 minute read
Money timeline review: a monthly routine
A monthly timeline review helps you notice new transactions, balance changes, and upcoming bills without reopening every account separately.
By Nethaven Team
May 12, 2026
7 minute read
Savings goals that stay visible
A visible savings goal connects target amount, deadline, monthly contribution, and tradeoffs so the plan does not disappear between paychecks.
By Nethaven Team
May 5, 2026
7 minute read
Debt paydown check-in: a monthly routine
Debt payoff plans need a recurring checkpoint. Compare balances, interest, minimums, extra payments, and budget pressure before choosing next month.
By Nethaven Team
April 28, 2026
6 minute read
What belongs in a net worth dashboard
Cash, debt, investments, property, and manual assets all tell a different part of the same financial story.