Consumer Alert: Precautions To Take When Buying Online Steroids

Your spending habits are full of clues let AI help you find them

• Connect your finances. ChatGPT can now analyze your spending, subscriptions, and income to deliver personalized money-saving advice.

• Spot easy savings. Use AI to find forgotten subscriptions, spending leaks, and realistic ways to cut your monthly expenses.

• Trust, but verify. AI is a helpful financial coach, but major tax, retirement, and investment decisions still deserve professional advice.

For some time now, many consumers have been comfortable using ChatGPT to build budgets, compare mortgage payments, and explain investing.

Now, it can do something much more personal that can really help you get ahead financially.

OpenAI has begun rolling out a new feature that lets users securely connect their financial accounts to ChatGPT using Plaid, giving the AI access to spending patterns, recurring bills, income, and account balances. The goal is to provide more personalized financial insights instead of generic budgeting advice.

While the feature is initially available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers, it offers a glimpse into where personal finance tools are headed. Here's what it can do, where it can help, and where you should still be cautious.

What ChatGPT can actually see

After securely connecting your accounts through Plaid, ChatGPT can categorize transactions and identify spending patterns across thousands of financial institutions.

Instead of simply asking, "How can I save money?" you can now ask questions based on your actual finances, such as:

• "Where am I spending the most money each month?"

• "How much am I really spending on restaurants?"

• "Which subscriptions am I paying for but rarely use?"

• "How much did I spend on groceries last year?"

• "How much could I save if I cut dining out by 20%?"

The big takeaway here is that instead of AI spewing out some generic personal finance advice, ChatGPT can now answer questions using your actual financial data.

Find subscriptions you've forgotten about

One of the easiest ways to save money is identifying recurring charges, some of which you may have completely forgotten about.

Instead of scrolling through months of statements looking for them, simply ask:

• "List every recurring subscription I pay for."

• "Which subscriptions increased in price this year?"

• "Show me subscriptions I haven't used recently."

Many consumers discover streaming services, apps, gym memberships, and software subscriptions they completely forgot they were paying for.

Pro tip: Use AI to identify recurring bills worth negotiating. After ChatGPT identifies your subscriptions and monthly bills, ask, "Which of these could I realistically lower or negotiate?" Then ask which competitors have lower prices, or current discounts, that you can use as ammo when you make the call.

Spot those sneaky spending leaks

Small purchases often go unnoticed and can easily lead to a blown budget.

To find these leaks, you can ask ChatGPT:

• "Where did I spend the most money that surprised you?"

• "Compare this month's spending to last month's."

• "Which spending category has increased the fastest?"

These questions can quickly reveal habits like frequent coffee runs, impulse Amazon purchases, or food delivery expenses that quietly add up.

Build a realistic savings plan

Instead of using online calculators based on a bunch of averages, ChatGPT can work with your actual cash flow and help you make a savings plan.

To make it happen, try prompts like:

• "How can I save $5,000 in the next year?"

• "How much house can I realistically afford?"

• "Could I realistically increase my retirement contributions by 3%?"

Because it's analyzing your real income and expenses, the recommendations can be much more personalized than those traditional budgeting worksheets youre used to.

Prepare for large purchases

Planning a vacation? Need a new vehicle? Or maybe youre thinking about replacing your old roof?

Ask ChatGPT to estimate how those purchases fit into your budget based on your existing expenses instead of rough guesses.

It can also identify areas where temporarily reducing your spending could help you reach your goal faster, which is very cool.

Review your spending before it becomes a problem

Many people don't notice financial trends until they're already overspending.

Try making it a monthly habit to ask AI to review your spending by asking the following:

"Summarize my spending this month. What changed? What concerns you? What should I improve next month?"

You just might find that this type of regular financial checkup may be more valuable than creating an annual budget that you'll never revisit.

Don't let AI make every financial decision

Despite the new capabilities, it should be said that ChatGPT isn't replacing a certified financial planner.

Financial professionals interviewed by news organizations found the chatbot generally provides solid educational guidance but may overlook important tax issues, estate planning considerations, or investment strategies unique to your situation. OpenAI itself says the tool should complement, not replace, professional financial advice.

Your privacy matters

Before connecting any financial account, make sure youre using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication.

Also, be sure to review what information you're sharing and always disconnect accounts you no longer want linked.

Lastly, avoid sharing any account numbers or sensitive personal information in conversations unless absolutely necessary.

Even though the connection uses Plaid (a service already used by many budgeting apps) it's still wise to periodically review which apps have access to your financial accounts.