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Coda Financial Coaching

Ready to Upgrade Your Financial Life? Why We're Loving Monarch Money

  • Writer: Alex Mahoney
    Alex Mahoney
  • Oct 16
  • 3 min read
Orange butterfly logo next to the word Monarch in black, on a white background.

We’ve seen and used them all—from EveryDollar to You Need a Budget (YNAB)—but Monarch Money truly brings your full budgeting and wealth picture together into one intuitive place [00:21]. It’s a game-changer, and we’re here to break down the two most crucial features for anyone starting or continuing their personal finance journey: the Budget and the Goals feature.


Part 1: The Intuitive Monarch Budget


Getting started with a budget can be stressful. Monarch Money eliminates much of that initial friction with its advanced, AI-powered setup [02:00].


When you link your accounts, the app immediately goes to work:

  1. Automatic Budget Creation: It automatically creates a starting budget based on your past spending [01:29].

  2. Accurate Categorization: It categorizes your past transactions with remarkable accuracy—we’re talking around 95% accuracy [01:53]—saving you hours of manual entry.


Of course, we never want to take an automatically generated budget at face value. You need to be intentional, and that’s where a coach comes in [01:36]. But Monarch gives you a clear, clean starting point structured into three main expense groups that we love:


1. Fixed Expenses [03:06]


These are the predictable bills that hit your account every month, like rent, an auto loan, or internet/cable. This is your baseline—the money you know is coming out no matter what [03:30].


2. Flexible Expenses [04:17]


These are regular expenses that vary, such as groceries, gas, or entertainment. Monarch enforces a fantastic piece of financial discipline here: you must set a top-line amount for your flexible budget [04:51]. This means that while you can move money between your flexible categories (e.g., spend more on entertainment), the total for the group must remain fixed. If one goes up, another must go down, holding you accountable to your overall budget [05:12].


3. Non-Monthly Expenses [05:33]


This category is perfect for irregular costs like Christmas gifts, annual memberships, or vehicle registration. You can designate these as a rollover fund [06:14]. This allows you to track a starting balance and a target amount, so you know exactly how much you have saved up for that specific item, without it being a surprise expense when it finally hits [07:08].


Part 2: Transforming Savings with the Goals Feature


While the budget helps you manage your money now, the Goals feature is where Monarch helps you build your wealth future. This is one of the app's standout differentiators [11:55].

Goals are designed for big-ticket savings items, such as:

  • A fully-funded Emergency Fund [12:34]

  • A down payment on a home

  • Saving for an expensive house repair (like a boiler replacement!) [14:37]


The power of Monarch’s Goals is its unique ability to allocate a specific portion of your existing savings account balance toward that goal [13:31]. Instead of just tracking a number on a screen, you are tagging the actual money in your high-yield savings account (HYSA) to a specific purpose.


How Goals Integrate with Your Budget:

Once you set a goal (e.g., save $3,000 for house repairs) and decide on a monthly contribution (e.g., $100/month) [16:03], Monarch automatically adds that amount as a line item to your monthly budget [16:24].


This makes goals an incredibly powerful category because you’re not spending the money, but you are setting it aside—and most importantly, you know exactly which part of your overall savings balance is allocated to achieving that specific future aspiration [16:49].


Start Your Journey with Coda Financial Coaching


Monarch Money offers an intuitive, comprehensive solution that helps simplify personal finance. However, every personal finance journey benefits from a plan and a partner.


Your financial coach can help you:

  • Be intentional about setting your initial budget numbers [01:36].

  • Set the right flexible budget limit that enforces discipline without sacrificing quality of life.

  • Tweak your budget to align with your personal aspirations and long-term goals [02:15].


Ready to stop feeling stressed and start building wealth with confidence? Contact Coda Financial Coaching today to leverage the power of Monarch Money and design a budget that works for you.


Watch the full video for a step-by-step walkthrough of these features:



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