I used NotebookLM to track my finances, and it’s actually kind of brilliant

Google’s AI-powered research assistant has quickly changed the way I view AI. It’s single-handedly convinced me that AI can actually be a game-changer for productivity, and isn’t just fancy technology coming for everyone’s job or trying to snatch away creativity. Given how much NotebookLM has impacted my workflow, I’ve been on the hunt for more ways to integrate it into my day-to-day life.

I’m not looking to massively change the way I do things. I’m simply trying to make life a tad bit easier by leveraging NotebookLM’s strengths. In a world where people download the top-rated budgeting and finance tracker apps with colorful charts and spending limits I’d probably ignore, I decided to take a bit of a unique approach. I turned to NotebookLM to see if it could help me make sense of my spending habits (and potentially control my retail therapy addiction). And honestly? It did a surprisingly good job.

NotebookLM makes breaking down bank statements simple

Bank statements, but make them make sense

It could just be me, but I’ve always found bank statements a bit complicated to navigate. I keep having to scroll up and down to figure out whether it’s a debit or credit, or remind myself what half the transaction descriptions even mean. But of course, at the end of the day, I can’t just let my bank statements go without psychoanalyzing where all my money went.

Did I spend my entire paycheck ordering yet another parcel from Amazon? Or did I spend it on food? Did I spend more money than I made that month? Instead of sitting down with a calculator, I’ve been turning to NotebookLM to make sense of my bank statements for the last few months. All I do is create a new notebook and add the bank statement I’d like to analyze as a source. Within seconds, NotebookLM generates a short summary of the document, including key details like the opening balance, closing balance, examples of transfers, and more.

What I find game-changing, though, is the option to ask the AI any questions I have about the bank statement in completely natural language. I can ask something like, “What’s the biggest expense this month?” and it’ll pull up all the relevant information from my bank statement. For instance, in this example, it let me know the transaction date, the recipient, transaction type, and even compared it to my total withdrawals for the month to help me realize how significant that one expense was in the grand scheme of my spending.

NotebookLM’s most unique feature is that it’s grounded within its sources, so it only references information from the documents you add to your notebooks. This means I don’t need to worry about it making stuff up or pulling in unrelated data from the web. Everything it tells me is based solely on my actual bank statements.

The Mind Maps feature is a game-changer when it comes to finances

Visualizing your money like never before

The ability to ask questions about complex financial statements in natural language is incredible, and I rely on it heavily. But there are times when I don’t have many questions and just want a summary of my entire bank statement. At the same time, reading a lengthy text summary wouldn’t be any simpler than manually going through the statement itself. Here’s where NotebookLM’s Mind Maps feature comes in. It organizes all the information from my document into a visually appealing and interactive diagram.

For instance, when I uploaded June’s bank statement into a notebook, the Mind Map produced four nodes: Account Holder Information, Statement Details, Balance Summary, and Transactions (June 2025). As you can probably tell, all the essential parts of the statement are neatly organized and easy to navigate.

Clicking on the Transactions node, for example, revealed sub-nodes for each date I made a purchase. Clicking on a specific date’s sub-node then reveals the individual transactions for that day, complete with details like the merchant name, amount spent, and transaction type. It’s a simple, visual way to get a clear snapshot without getting overwhelmed by rows of numbers.

Adding past tax returns and statements for a clearer view of my finances

Seeing the bigger picture with multiple documents

What’s so great about NotebookLM is that you aren’t limited to adding just a single source. You can add a bunch of different sources of varying lengths and types, and NotebookLM seamlessly connects the dots between them.

Instead of only using the AI tool to interact with my monthly bank statements, I also created a much bigger notebook with more in-depth information like my yearly bank records, credit card and debit card statements, my own Excel sheets which I’ve used to track expenses, and even my previous tax returns. With all the documents in one place, I can ask NotebookLM all the complex questions I might have, even if they aren’t necessarily tied to a specific document.

I find the Mind Maps feature especially helpful in this case, since it works best when you have either multiple documents or a relatively long source, in my experience. I can ask NotebookLM to analyze everything together to give me a clearer, more comprehensive view of my spending and financial situation. Not only does NotebookLM reference only your uploaded materials when answering queries, but it also displays citations showing where it picked up the information. This makes it extremely simple to verify the information myself.

Let NotebookLM do all the number crunching for you

Frankly, these kinds of tasks are exactly what I hope AI can handle for me. Instead of jumping through countless spreadsheets and PDFs to piece together my finances, NotebookLM becomes my one-stop shop for understanding where my money goes and what steps I need to take next. No wonder it’s such a great tool for small businesses and startups!