Obviously, we're all about using technology to make life more efficient. But sometimes, it pays to ditch digital approaches for manual ones. Case in point: your budget. Personal finance writer Carl Richards suggests the "slow-tech" approach to tracking your money.
Don't get me wrong—I use Mint, and I automate my bills. I love not having to manually track every transaction. But Richards explains the disadvantage of simplifying our finances by comparing it to a recent study.
This study researched student notetaking—typing vs. writing. They found that students who actually wrote down their lectures learned the information better than those who typed notes verbatim.
After calling out the research, Richards explains:
"Pulling in all our purchases automatically sounds an awful lot like typing notes verbatim. The result is a technically correct reflection of how our spending compares with our budget, but we miss the chance to process what the numbers mean. The act of looking at each receipt and adding those numbers ourselves mimics the act of hearing something and then putting it in our own words. We know where the money went, and, hopefully, we know why."
Automating is great. But I can see the appeal of occasionally reverting to the slow-tech approach. If it can help you reconnect with your finances, it might be worth it.
A Slow-Tech Approach to Tracking Spending | The New York Times
Photo by Harsha K R.