What if you managed your personal finances like a product?

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When life is full of meetings on meetings on meetings, who has time to manage their personal finances?

A lot of the early-career PMs I talk to struggle to manage their personal finances. Often, they put all their focus on their day-to-day work of being a product manager, which can be a LOT to adjust to for a new grad. But as result, they neglect dedicating time to solving their own (personal finance) problems and improving their own financial wellbeing.

If this sounds like you, I’m here to tap into your workaholic brain and help reframe managing your personal finances like you would manage a product.

🚀 The kickoff – a personal finance framework for product managers

It’s day 1 of getting our shit together – get excited! This is a big deal. Having the right mental framework and systems to manage your personal finances will help set you up to live a life that you might have never imagined possible.

I’ll be your cheerleader as we kick off this journey. Yes, we’ll probably hit some speed bumps along the way, but we’re in it together!

Let’s get this party started!

🔮 Defining a clear vision

As product managers, any time we want to rally our stakeholders behind a new initiative, we have to start with a clear vision. What are we working towards? What’s the dream? It should have enough detail to make everyone nod their heads and think, “oh yeah, I can see that.”

The same should apply to our personal finances. Before we get into the weeds of how we get there, let’s make sure we define success clearly, not just in numbers, but in how it feels to live the life you’re working toward.

As you’re defining your vision, avoid being too vague. Don’t just say “I want to be financially free.” Describe what a life of being financially free would look like!

Here’s an example:

I wake up naturally, sunlight filtering through the curtains of my home— a minimalist city apartment with a skyline view. There’s no alarm blaring, no frantic checking of Slack messages before my feet hit the floor. I stretch, take a deep breath, and feel light.

I make a rich pour-over coffee, the aroma filling my space as I step onto my balcony. I have the luxury of time—to read, to think, to start my day with intention instead of urgency.

My work is deeply engaging, but it’s on my terms. Maybe I’m leading a product that truly excites me, advising startups, or building something of my own. I take meetings from a sunlit co-working space in Tokyo one month, and a cozy cafe in Paris the next. I’m good friends with the people I work with, who inspire me and help me learn something new every day.

Lunch isn’t a rushed sandwich at my desk between back-to-back meetings. It’s a leisurely meal at a neighborhood cafe, where I actually taste my food—fresh, flavorful, made with care. Maybe I’m sharing a meal with friends who also have the freedom to be present, or maybe I’m enjoying a solo moment of reflection.

Afternoons are flexible. Some days, I dive deep into creative work. Other days, I go for a midday hike, take an impromptu trip to the beach, or explore a new bookstore.

Evenings are spent with people I love—laughing over dinner, hosting a gathering, or just enjoying the quiet glow of a well-lived day. My financial choices have given me the gift of presence.

Before bed, I glance at my accounts—not out of anxiety, but out of appreciation. My investments are growing, my savings are healthy, and my future is secure. I put my phone away, knowing that tomorrow will be just as fulfilling as today.

Got the idea? Now it’s your turn. Spend a couple minutes drafting your own version of a compelling vision. Don’t worry about making it perfect. Here’s some prompts to get started:

  • What time do you want to wake up in the morning?
  • What kind of work do you want to be doing?
  • Who do you want to be surrounded by?
  • Where do you want to be living?
  • To take it to another level, use all 5 senses to make it feel more real.

Once you’ve written out your vision, read it through. Does it make you feel excited? Inspired? It should! If not, I recommend going on a walk, talking to some friends, and spending a bit more time to flesh it out a bit more.

Visions can change over time, but we should start our journey from a place of excitement. Otherwise, it can be easy to forget what it’s all for when you start getting caught up in the weeds of our day-to-day work.

Now that you have your vision defined, let’s figure out how to get there.

♟️Outlining your strategy

Visions are just wishful thinking without a plan. So let’s start planning!

In true PM fashion, here are the 4 pillars of our personal finance strategy.

1. Income – How will you make money?

Your income is the foundation of your financial plan. Luckily, product managers in tech are fairly well compensated, and your earning potential can grow to pretty staggering numbers over time.

Take steps to maximize your income by:
✅ Negotiating your salary and equity
✅ Seeking high-impact roles and promotions
✅ Exploring additional income streams, such as freelancing or consulting

🎯 Tactical advice:

  • Subscribe to industry newsletters like Lenny’s Newsletter and use benchmarking tools like Levels.fyi to stay on top of the latest trends in compensation, skills that are in-demand, and the latest product management best practices
  • Practice networking on a regular basis by doing informational interviews – any time something catches your interest in a new domain, reach out to people who are working in that domain to ask questions. It could unlock new opportunities in the future!

2. Expenses – How will you spend money?

Spending money isn’t bad—it’s a tool to build the life you want. The key is to spend intentionally.

Look back at your vision:
🔹 Reflect. What adds real value to your life? Travel, experiences, learning?
🔹 Review. What are you paying for that doesn’t align with your priorities?
🔹 Revise. How can you start spending differently to prioritize spending more on what you care about, and less on what you don’t?

🎯 Tactical advice:

  • Automate spend tracking: Use spend tracking apps like Copilot, Rocket Money, or Monarch in order to automate spend tracking. This helps you keep an eye on how much you’re spending, which will be useful for planning purposes later on. This is a great starting point if you have no idea how much you’re spending each month.
  • Create a central hub for your money – Your Checking account should be the central hub for your money. For any money coming in (paychecks, side income, investment sales), route it into your Checking account. From there, redirect your money into savings accounts, investments, and automated bill payments.
  • Sync up all your bills (rent payments, utilities, credit cards, etc.) to be due on the first of every month. Set all your bills on auto-pay so that your expenses are predictable, and you know you’ve covered all your major expenses at the beginning of the month.

3. Savings – What will you save for?

Savings help you achieve financial freedom, and as your savings increase you have more flexibility to live your ideal life.

Build financial security by saving for:
💰 Emergency fund (3-6 months of expenses)
🏡 Mid-term goals (buying a house, going on a big trip, taking a career break)
🚀 Long-term flexibility (early retirement, starting a business)

🎯 Tactical advice:

  • Calculate your Financial Independence (FI) number: This is the number you need such that all of your savings are covered by your investments. In effect, you could never work a day in your life again. Traditionally, your FI number is defined as 25 times your annual expenses. Knowing your FI number is a helpful way to track progress against your savings goals, and as you get closer to FI, you unlock greater levels of financial security and freedom.
  • Use high-yield savings accounts: The difference between a high-yield savings account and a regular savings account can be several percentage points of interest. That can compound pretty nicely over time, helping you stave off inflation. You can check out accounts from Capital One and Ally Bank as a starting point.
  • Create savings sub-accounts: Create separate accounts to set aside money for different goals, such as buying a car, buying a house, or going on a big trip. This lets you clearly visualize how you’re making progress towards each goal, and helps you prioritize setting aside money towards those goals.
  • Use low-cost brokerage firms: Three of the most reputable low-cost brokerage firms include Vanguard, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity. Investing with these brokers can help you avoid paying excessive fees, so that more money can go towards your investment growth rather than the broker. Vanguard stands out in particular because its corporate ownership model is structured to align incentives with consumers. You can read more about it here.
  • Automate savings and investments: Automatically route your income to your different savings and investment accounts so you don’t even have to think about saving. It just happens. Set up recurring transfers at the beginning of the month, or a couple days after your paycheck hits your account. This also enables the spending strategy of having guilt-free spending. Since you automated bill payments, savings, and investments at the beginning of the month, anything left over in your account is free for you to spend! No need to have complex budgets setting limits for different categories. Just keep an eye on your spending over time and make sure your spending is still aligned with your values.

4. Investments – How will you grow your money?

Investing is where you use money to make money.

To build long-term wealth:
🕘 Start early – the sooner you start, the more your money compounds over time
📈 Max out your tax-advantaged accounts – save tens if not hundreds of thousands on taxes by investing in your 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA
📊 Invest in a diversified portfolio – balance growth and risk by creating a portfolio stocks, bonds, real estate, or alternatives that matches your risk tolerance

🎯 Tactical advice:

  • Keep things simple: Use a target date fund or a 3-fund portfolio composed of index funds to have an incredibly diversified portfolio, while making asset allocation simple. You don’t want to be spending hours every week stressing over the movement of the markets and trying to pick the best stocks. 88% of professional hedge fund managers fail to beat the S&P500 over the course of 15 years (source). These people spend all day picking stocks, and they still can’t beat index funds. A better use of your time would be to focus on growing your income, keep your investments simple, and watch the returns roll in over the long run.
  • Extra money in tax-advantaged accounts: Many PMs make an income that’s too high to contribute to Roth IRAs directly (cue the world’s smallest violin 🎻). Look into using the Backdoor Roth IRA strategy in order to get around income limitations by converting money in your Traditional IRA into your Roth IRA. However, if you’ve ever rolled over a 401k into a Traditional IRA in the past, beware the pro-rata rule. If you attempt doing the Backdoor Roth IRA you may end up having to pay taxes on your conversion.
  • Even MORE extra money in tax-advantaged accounts – Many of the largest tech companies support the Mega Backdoor Roth strategy. Essentially, you can contribute up to $70,000 (as of 2025) to your 401k, including your pre-tax / Roth contributions, employer contributions, and most notably, after-tax contributions. After-tax contributions to a 401k can then be rolled over into a Roth account, giving it tax-advantaged status.

🛣️ Roadmap

Now that you have a vision and strategy, when do you want all of this to happen? Again, work backwards from your vision state. At what age and stage of your life do you want to be living that ideal life?

What would be: earlier than expected, right on schedule, and later than expected? Write all three down to give yourself some flexibility when we start planning things out.

Now, start creating a work-back plan. Write down important milestones starting from the end state. What would need to be true, just before you’re able to live your ideal life? Include both life and financial milestones, and slowly fill in the gaps up until the present day.

Here’s how it might start:

MilestoneAchieve by
Living ideal life2040 (age 40)

Start working backwards:

MilestoneAchieve by
Achieve Coast FI2030 (Age 30)
Work on my own business full-time2035 (Age 35)
Achieve FI (25x annual expenses)2039 (Age 39)
Living ideal life2040 (age 40)

And here’s how it might look fleshed out even more:

MilestoneAchieve by
Pay off all high-interest debtsMarch 2025 (Age 25)
Get 401k match and max Roth IRAJan 2026 (Age 26)
Buy a car2026 (Age 26)
Max out 401k, Roth IRA2027 (Age 27)
Max out all tax-advantaged accounts (including Mega Backdoor Roth, 401k, Roth IRA, HSA)2028 (Age 28)
Achieve Coast FI2030 (Age 30)
Work on my own business full-time2035 (Age 35)
Achieve FI (25x annual expenses)2039 (Age 39)
Living ideal life2040 (age 40)

The goal of this exercise is to plot out how you might realistically achieve your ideal life. Your milestones will be personal to your own journey, so feel free to add, remove, or shift around as many milestones as you like!

Maybe you won’t be able to max out your tax-advantaged accounts by 2028 based on this timeline. In that case, you have a few options:

  1. Push back your timeline to reach your ideal life – maybe 2045 is okay, instead of 2040
  2. Increase your income – look for higher paying roles, or start a side hustle
  3. Reduce your expenses – get rid of things you don’t need, downsize your apartment, sell your car

Or maybe you don’t need to be fully financially independent to live your dream life! Move achieving FI back to 2050 or 2060, after you’re already living your ideal lifestyle.

Once you have everything mapped out, you’ve essentially created a strategy 2-pager to achieve your dream life. Amazing work.

Now let’s roll up our sleeves and start taking action!

Review of all the resources shared in this article: