How to Make a Personal Financial Plan in Egypt, Step by Step

A financial plan does not start with where to put your money, and not with net worth either. It starts with writing down what you spend. That is also the order Lightning follows the first time you open it, and each step uses what the one before showed you.

1. Log What You Spend

Start by adding the places your money sits: your bank, cash, certificates, THNDR and gold at home. Then bring in your history: import a CSV statement from your bank or wallet, or add rows by hand. Lightning shows every row before it is saved, and you choose the category. On the phone, bank text messages go into the same review. Don’t aim for perfect. One real month beats a year with gaps.

Lightning · Review import

More in how to bring in a bank statement and how to track expenses without typing every one.

2. See Where It Went

Open Spending. It shows what went out, which category was biggest and how each one moved. In Mohab’s August, 44,621 EGP went out, 7,772 more than July, and the biggest category was Entertainment at 14,539 EGP, 33% of the month. Compare periods tells an ordinary month from an unusual one.

Lightning · Spending

Then look for the costs that come once or twice a year: school fees, Ramadan and Eid, summer, a car licence, a yearly insurance payment. They make an ordinary month look easy and a heavy one look like a surprise. You will plan for them in steps 3 and 4.

3. Plan Your Cash

Now Lightning needs to know what is coming in and what is due. Add your salary and bills under Recurring, your instalments under Loans, and set an emergency fund aside under Reserves. Cash planning then shows your free cash, which is your cash after reserves and bills due, and how much is safe to spend until your next salary.

Lightning · Cash planning

A gameya shows up here too: the instalments you pay before the next income come off before the answer. Safe to spend explains each line, and the emergency fund guide shows how big the reserve should be.

4. Set a Budget From Real Spending

A budget built from your own spending is a plan you can keep. Put fixed costs first: rent, instalments, bills, and the yearly costs from step 2 divided by 12. School fees of 18,000 EGP a year are 1,500 EGP a month, even in the months you pay nothing. Then give each variable category a ceiling. What is left is yours to spend or save. If it is less than you expected, the plan is telling you something true.

Lightning · Budget

More in building a monthly budget and splitting a 20,000 EGP salary.

5. Check Where You Stand

Check your net worth last, not first. It is what you own less what you owe, and it only means something once the other numbers are real. The Overview shows it with what it is made of. In Mohab’s year to date it is 910,304 EGP, up 311,804 EGP this year: 988,804 EGP owned (236,317 in cash and 752,486 in holdings) less 78,500 EGP owed.

Lightning · Overview

Read how gold, certificates and shares are counted in your net worth.

Then Repeat It Once a Month

Once a month, sit down for about 30 minutes: bring in the month’s statements (10 minutes), settle the few rows that need a decision (5 minutes), then go through your numbers (15 minutes). That is the routine in How It Works. A plan that moves a little each month beats a perfect one you drop after two.