I realize that I am becoming an increasingly pragmatic type. That life often punches me in the face, so better if I defend myself well. Especially when it comes to money.

Over the last 4 years, I started a process of knowledge of the economic-financial world, both because I opened my first real account (before I had it in Poste Italiane, in my opinion it doesn’t count), and then because I started spending relentlessly, with the first salaries, noticing that in reality money is not infinite.

But before, no one had taught me to understand how to use the money you earn. I was used to earning little, when I was an 11-a-side football referee, just enough to go out in the evening with my friends. Now instead I realize that not only is it not enough to understand how to divide money, you also have to understand how to multiply it.

Then I got to know the world of cryptocurrencies, and the easy gains they promised. Today I realize that, by positioning (and not necessarily investing) well what I earn and making some studied moves and good planning, I can ‘control’ my financial life and not stand “always thinking about money”.

I don’t think I have found the definitive way, so this page could be updated if I find substitute or additional services.

The following is the list, divided by paragraphs, of all the services/banks I use and the method I use to track expenses and earnings. Feedback and modification proposals are always accepted.

Where I keep money

Main Account: Illimity

Until the end of November 2019 I had FINECO as Main Account, now instead I have Illimity.

The account of the new bank intrigued and interested me because it is all online, I don’t pay any monthly fee (FINECO has become paid at €3.95 per month for those over 28: I am not yet 28, but by now the damage is done), as long as I receive at least €750 of salary per month and spend at least €300 with the card, or I connect two recurring payments. Let’s say it’s not difficult. But the reason why I really convinced myself is that Illimity is not an account for traders, like FINECO: it is an account for young people. Just €1,500 on the account to request the credit card (with FINECO 5,000) and it is very simple to put funds into deposit accounts, which accrue up to 2% gross. You can also set aside money in ‘projects’, to which Illimity adds 0.50% interest.

On Illimity I channel all my earnings: it is the entry account, from which I then sort money into other services/banks.

Open an Illimity account using code GIABAR94 to receive €25 on the account

Account for abroad: Revolut

A few months ago I went to San Francisco and had several expenses there: some were reimbursed, so the amount was not relevant (they were already covered), while others were my personal expenses, for example when I went to the Apple Park Apple Store and bought gifts for my family and my girlfriend. I made purchases with my American Express and found out I had also incurred significant commission fees, like paying about $4 for $100 of purchase. Since I travel often and in general I often happen to buy through the internet on sites that accept only dollars, commissions pile up and I realized I could have saved a lot of money if I had found a way not to pay these commissions.

I discovered Revolut almost by chance, I don’t even remember when, nor how: Revolut is a startup that is an online-only bank, and has made zero fees for foreign expenses its strong point. Their business model is based on subscriptions from €7.99 and €13.99 to have additional features like unlimited free withdrawals, access to airport lounges at convenient prices, and so on.

I haven’t taken out any subscription because I don’t need additional features, but these are situations that must be analyzed case by case. In any case, I move money from the Main Account based on needs, and if they remain I leave them there and possibly recover them on the Main Account at the end of the year. The advantage of Revolut is that it can be recharged via Apple Pay or credit card, so the crediting of money is immediate, unlike bank transfer which takes 1-2 working days.

By signing up until April 10, 2020 via the link below, you can receive a free card.

Download Revolut

‘Whims’ Account: N26

N26 is everywhere by now. They did an ‘A to Z’ campaign seen in every external and online communication throughout Italy. N26 is an online bank offering a very nice transparent debit card, connected to a personal account created in Germany. On N26 I move monthly only an unforeseen budget, which I defined ‘Whims’: video games, books, movie tickets, dinners and so on. I am not a worldly person, despite traveling a lot, so, based on calculations performed using Google Sheets (details in the last paragraph) I understood that on average I spend about €200 for this kind of thing. So, every month I move €200 from the Main Account to the N26 one. Inside the app, then, I created two Spaces: a space is a set of transactions linked to a goal. The goal can be undefined, or defined. I created the two Spaces as follows:

• ‘Whims’ Space, which I always use to pay, without goal;
• ‘Extra’ Space, which has a goal of €1,200 (how much I want to set aside in 12 months), from which every month I withdraw the amount I didn’t spend in ‘Whims’.

For example, if I reach the end of the month that of the €200 on ‘Whims’ I spent only 50, I will move the other 150 to ‘Extra’: on the first of every month, I will always have €0 in the ‘Whims’ Space, which I will then feed again with a transfer from the Main Account.

Download N26

‘Taxes’ Account: Oval Money

I have a VAT number, so I have to plan the division of my income to avoid not having money to pay taxes the following year.

The VAT number, especially the flat-rate one, is a generic beast, because if you earn €1000 you are not really earning €1000, but only about 73% of that, because removing Fundamental Expenses, you are left with only that. For Fundamental Expenses, which amount to about 27% of income, I mean:

• Balance and advance substitute tax
• Balance and advance separate management INPS
• Accountant

I like Oval Money because it is a separate app. It connects to many current accounts and online banks (but not Revolut, unfortunately) and does the math on every transaction based on rules I set: for example, “every €10 spent in restaurants, set aside €10”. I had set many rules, but then I saved so much that I had no money left on the Main Account. In the end I chose to keep things simple: “set aside 27% of all income”. Some incomes are reimbursements, but single transactions can be excluded from the count. Every Monday, Oval takes money from my Main Account and takes about 2-3 days to transfer it to the app account.

Having Oval is useful because it is a separate app: I hid it in a folder on the smartphone, so I don’t think too much about opening it. So, magically, in the moment of need I have the money I need. Obviously Oval Money can be used in many different ways, and also has a section reserved for investments, which uses saved money investing it in ETFs selected by the company. The only time I put €50 on an ETF I lost 3%, so I let it go. But in general, to invest leaving the sum tied for at least a year, it could be excellent.

Download Oval Money

How I spend: Curve

Technically, I always try to use Apple Pay or Google Pay to pay. It happens often, however, that the merchant does not have the contactless POS or that it is faster for me to take the card, than the phone - it seems strange, but when the phone is in the backpack and the wallet in the back pocket, everything is possible. For some time, therefore, I have been using Curve, an app with a connected Mastercard debit card that allows me to associate all the VISA and Mastercard cards I have, and to choose with which card I want to pay from the app, using only the physical Curve card. It’s simple: just that, when I have to pay, I go into the app, select the card I want to pay with and pay with the physical card. If I make a mistake, I can cancel the transaction on one card to put it on another within 7 days. And I also earn cashback on some stores, like McDonald’s or Amazon.

[Register on CURVE and get 5 dollars welcome bonus][http://www.curve.app/join#DG87ARMD]

EXTRA: Pension account: cryptocurrencies

It is not really a real account, but those moneys I consider my pension. I consider myself, for about a year, a HODLER. One of those who do not spend cryptocurrencies, but accumulate them. Because one day they could still be worth more.

I will never forget that dinner, which in November 2017 I paid 33 euros, which a year later had the value of about 250 euros (in the meantime the cryptocurrency I had used for payment, ZCash, had done +700%).

Today, after learning that keeping my cryptos on exchanges is not a good idea (a very long story that can be understood searching on Google ‘QuadrigaCX’), I moved them all to wallets I can access with public-private key, recovery key or similar. For completeness, I also report the cryptos I possess (but not quantities, obviously), if anyone wanted to take a cue: BTC, ETH, BCH, IOTA, NEO, BNB, BAT, ADA, LTC, CPAY, ETC, ZEC, DASH, BEAM, FDZ, LPT, NANO, WAVES, SC, RHT, GAS, ZCL, ONT, XLM.

But I couldn’t check all wallets one by one every time I needed to have an overview. To find CoinStats it took me quite a while, but in the end I was satisfied: just insert the public keys of the wallets and the API keys of the exchanges used to have everything together. Now CoinStats also provides a wallet supporting over 220 coins, but one would have to transfer everything, incurring fees.

See my crypto portfolio

Download CoinStats

How I plan successfully: Google Sheet

No particular app developed by me, no secret algorithm.

To understand how to move money, group all recurring expenses (which could also be made in cash and therefore not individually traceable), I use a Google Sheet where I write all my Recurring Expenses and also any one-off expenses for personal projects or similar (like trips, purchase of a new pc or other).

The Sheet is very simple, has 3 tabs:

• Overview: in Overview, you have the overview of total income and expenses, how much needs to be set aside for taxes and how much could potentially be saved at the end of the year. You can also input your tax percentage on income;
• Income: You enter your Recurring Income and One-off Income, with relative amounts;
• Expenses: You enter your Recurring Expenses and One-off Expenses, with relative amounts; All cells with red characters are variables to be modified. All very simple.

Create a copy of Financial Planning Template from Google Sheets

I hope I was sufficiently exhaustive. This model is not definitive, could change and update often. But it is a good starting point to plan one’s financial life with success and commitment, without incurring hidden costs and without risking spending more than due. With me, for now, it is working.

No longer in use but still valid

American Express Platinum Credit Card

With the credit card I only incurred two types of expenses:

• Work Expenses, which I will then have reimbursed;
• Monthly Expenses and Annual Recurring Expenses;

This card was connected to my Main Account (Illimity). The annual subscription costs about €720, but by making many expenses you accumulate a number of points such as to be able to redeem the annual subscription at zero cost or extremely reduced. I, for example, redeemed a membership offer for which I immediately had 15,000 points (about €60), and another for which upon reaching €3,000 expenditure in the first three months I am entitled to another 50,000 points (about €200). If it were only this, it would cost me a lot, about €460 a year (720-60-200), but for me the cost is even lower, since I travel a lot.

AMEX Platinum, in fact, gives me fast track in all major airports in Italy (which usually cost €10 each) and access to over 1300 airport lounges worldwide for free, with the Priority Pass Prestige program, which alone would cost €399 a year. The question arises spontaneously: “but couldn’t you avoid access to lounges? What do you need it for?”. There are periods when I take even 3-4 flights a week, and being able to count on a lounge to eat, rest and work has a very high value for me. Then just think that, taking a plane twice a week and buying at least a bottle of water at the airport, which costs about €3 everywhere, I would spend €24 a month (3x2x4). With little more than double I can eat ‘free’ and unlimited in any airport. Definitely convenient.

Get an American Express Platinum card

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December 22, 2019: This page was updated replacing Illimity with FINECO, removing Curve and Yolt and replacing AMEX Gold with AMEX Platinum

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