Read how Bede uses PocketSmith to track every trip, compare cities and countries, and enjoy a relaxed, well-funded retirement.
I’m 69 and have been retired for 4.5 years. I had my own company as a consultant in the construction industry, and was a tradie before that. I now predominantly travel in Australia and overseas and have no permanent address, although I stay in Sydney for part of the time. I’m currently in Taiwan and Vietnam for two months.
I’m in full control of my life and finances. I have two grown-up kids, one working and one at university, who are both self-reliant, so I don’t have any dependents, which is freeing.
Now I look after my investments and use the money to live off. I use PocketSmith to provide data on my expenses, both in Australia and overseas.
I’ve always had a budget, which I feel is crucial to allow tracking of spending, and I have had many complicated spreadsheets that I developed to show my current position and costs broken up into various categories. PocketSmith allows me to analyse this information more easily for all my personal expenditure. My business finances were taken care of with a separate program.
In Australia, I use my credit card for nearly 100% of transactions. PocketSmith allows recording of transactions with bank feeds and for ongoing items that are automatically listed in the correct category. Overseas is a little different. The information is not as detailed, as a credit or debit card is not used as much, and cash is used a lot. Therefore, spending is not nearly as detailed; however, I could list cash spent into the appropriate category if I wanted to. I can see at a glance the amount spent at any time, and this is the most important data I need.
I’ve used PocketSmith since 2014, and I wish I had known of it earlier…
I use it to keep track of all my spending. While I don’t utilise budgets and many other features, as I don’t need to at this stage of life, I would have when I had a family and it was more critical. Now it allows me to track expenditure, and as I have many categories, I can see how much is spent on almost anything in Australia or overseas.
It has also allowed me to analyse the daily and monthly costs between living in Sydney, travelling in Australia or in various countries overseas. All I need to do is put in the dates, and the amounts are easily seen. This can be broken up into categories if required. I think this is really interesting to see the costs associated with different types of my life. I then easily put these numbers into one of my spreadsheets, which I can then compare as a measure of different living choices.
PocketSmith has allowed me to know the amount and where my money is spent, and I can easily and quickly be up to date in seconds. All that is necessary is to put the dates of travel in, and PocketSmith will provide the information broken up into the categories I have chosen.
This critical information I use to put into my spreadsheet to see the amount of money spent on my trips both in Australia and overseas, which I can then easily compare with the actual costs for each trip.
My favourite features include the bank feeds learning, so that categorising is simple for recurring items after being done once, thereafter it’s just a simple click to confirm.
Searching for an item is easy, as are the costs for specific categories. Say if I want to know the fuel costs for a trip in Australia, I simply put in the start and finish dates and search “Fuel” — and that’s it. Simple and quick. I can do that with any category. This allows me to budget if I want to or to just analyse for interest. I’m currently in Taiwan and I’m able to quickly see the total costs up to the day or for various categories such as flights, accommodation, etc.
One of the best things about PocketSmith I’ve found over the years is when I make a significant mistake, can’t work out how to do something or have a problem of some sort, an enquiry to them results in a lightning quick response with exactly what you need, or they just fix it for you. An incredible experience, there’s few companies that can match this service.
I’m fortunate at this time to not have to worry about keeping to a budget; however, for the bulk of my life, I did. I would have definitely used this feature without a doubt and with a lot less spreadsheets!
Spend the time to set up categories that you want to be recorded, and this will develop over time and is easily added to. You can make this as simple or detailed as you like. Mine is very detailed, which I like as it allows me to find nearly anything I’d like to know about expenditure.
PocketSmith has allowed me to have a clear understanding of the exact costs over different living situations that I experience, which over the last few years of retirement, has allowed me to relax with money and further enjoy the 50 years of my working life.
