Why a monthly snapshot beats checking today's balance

A single balance, on its own, tells you almost nothing. Is €42,000 good or bad? It depends entirely on where you were six months ago and where you're heading — and that only becomes visible when you compare the same measurement, taken the same way, month after month.

This is why Patrimony is built around a monthly entry, not a live balance feed: the goal isn't to know your exact net worth at 3pm on a Tuesday, it's to see the shape of the curve over a year. A single dip or spike matters much less than the direction it's part of.

The habit matters more than the precision. A rough monthly estimate, entered consistently, will teach you more about your finances over a year than a perfectly accurate number you only checked twice.