budget-review

name	budget-review
description	Use when performing monthly budget review or user asks for spending summary, budget vs actual, financial report, or recurring charges audit. Generates 6-section Telegram report on 1st of month.
version	1.0.0
author	Hermes Agent
license	MIT
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["home-assistant","rocha-family","finance","budget","monthly"],"related_skills":["finance-manager","family-profile","telegram-bridge"]}}

Budget Review Skill

Overview

Monthly (1st of month) deep-dive budget report for the Rocha family. Covers spending breakdown, budget vs actual, trends, recurring charges, upcoming bills, and recommendations. Also includes a Baby/Twins Expense section given NICU twin context.

Sourced from: budget-review.agent.md + budget-reporting/SKILL.md

When to Use

• Scheduled: 1st of each month (cron trigger)
• On-demand: Hector asks for "budget report", "spending summary", "budget check", "where did money go"
• Weekly planner: include Steps 1 + 5 only (spending context for week)
• Daily briefing: Step 5 only (bills due next 3 days)

Report Structure (6 Steps — Canonical Order)

Step 1: Spending Summary

get_spending_summary(start_date: "YYYY-MM-01", end_date: "YYYY-MM-DD")

Format:

💰 Monthly Summary (Month YYYY)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Total Spent: $X,XXX
Total Income: $X,XXX
Net: +/-$X,XXX

Break down by top 5 categories with amounts and %.

Step 2: Budget vs Actual

Compare each category against target:

• 🟢 Under budget — celebrate
• 🟡 At budget (90-100%) — note
• 🔴 Over budget — flag amount over

Calculate overall adherence: (at/under) / total × 100%

Step 3: Trends

Compare to prior month:

get_spending_summary(prior_period_start, prior_period_end)

• Note increases/decreases by category
• Flag unusual one-time expenses
• Identify patterns (subscription creep)

Step 4: Recurring Charges Audit

get_recurring(min_occurrences: 3)

• List all subscriptions + monthly cost
• Flag new recurring charges since last review
• Total monthly subscription burn

Step 5: Upcoming Bills

• Monthly review: full next month view
• Weekly planner: next 7 days
• Daily briefing: next 3 days only

Step 6: Recommendations

1–3 actionable items:

• Over-budget → specific reduction idea
• Unused subscriptions → cancellation suggestion
• Positive trend → reinforcement ("kept food budget tight — 👏")

Section 7 (Rocha-specific): 👶 Twins/NICU Expenses

• Track NICU co-pays, baby gear, nursery, medical supplies
• Compare to baby budget if set
• Medical costs are non-negotiable — never recommend cutting baby/medical/NICU line items
• Report without judgment; these are expected

Integration Map

Consumer	Steps Used
budget-review (monthly)	All (1–7)
daily-briefing	Step 5 only
finance-manager (on-demand)	Steps 1, 2, 4
weekly-planner	Steps 1, 5

Delivery Rules

• Send via Telegram to Hector (7729308746)
• Include speak param: 1-sentence TTS of net result (e.g. "Down $200 vs last month, net positive by $400.")
• Paula: DO NOT send full budget report. At most a 2-line summary if she asks directly
• Quiet hours: no delivery 10 PM – 7 AM CT
• Length: use sections/bullets for Telegram-friendly layout; full report is OK monthly

Tone Rules

• Financial HEALTH framing, never guilt
• Lead with the number, then context
• Emojis for visual scanning: 💰 📊 🎯 📈 📋 💡
• No moralizing about spending categories
• Positive reinforcement when budget is healthy

Common Pitfalls

• ❌ Don't lecture about spending — report and suggest, never judge
• ❌ Don't recommend cutting NICU/medical/baby expenses
• ❌ Don't send detailed finance report to Paula (message limits)
• ❌ Don't skip Section 7 — twins expenses are always relevant right now
• ❌ Don't fabricate data if spending tools are unavailable — report "data unavailable" explicitly

Verification Checklist

• Report includes all 6 standard steps + Section 7 (twins)
• Delivered to Hector with speak param
• Budget vs actual uses correct emoji tiers (🟢/🟡/🔴)
• Recommendations are 1–3, actionable, not moralizing
• Recurring charges audit flags any new subscriptions
• NICU/baby line items are never flagged as cut candidates