I've tracked my finances in Google Sheets for years. It gives me a lot more flexibility than any budgeting app I've tried.

The problem is that when I add something new, I have to dabble in formulas, and I was never particularly good at math.

When something breaks, figuring it out takes longer than analyzing my finances and takes me down a rabbit hole of Google searches.

That's why Google's new Gemini-powered Formula Fixes feature immediately caught my attention.

Instead of manually troubleshooting formulas or searching online for the right syntax, I can ask Gemini to identify and suggest a working fix.

It's been the easiest way for me to upgrade my financial tracking.

Formula Fixes explains my mistakes instead of leaving me with errors

Building a finance tracker that grows with my needs

What started as a simple spreadsheet of savings and investments has quickly grown into something much more than that for me.

Over the last year, I've been dabbling in proper expense tracking and keeping separate sheets for recurring bills, goals, and credit card payments.

As my finances become more detailed, I regularly add new calculations to make sure that I stay on track.

The other day, I wanted to calculate how much I spent on a recent trip, and all too often I'd scratch my head at the end of the month, wondering how much I spent on restaurants. And there are investments to keep tabs on.

To effectively use Google Sheets, you will want to combine several advanced spreadsheet functions.

I know the basics, but if you ask me about filter, query, index, or match functions, that's beyond my understanding.

Even a small mistake can completely upend your financial calculations. Google's Gemini-powered Formula Fixes changes that process.

Now, when a formula fails, Gemini analyzes not only the specific formula but also the data around it and helps me fix the problem.

Instead of showing me an error message, it points out if I referenced the wrong data range, selected incompatible data, or made a simple syntax error. It also suggests a corrected version that slots right into the spreadsheet.

But if the goal is to learn from your mistakes, Formula Fixes tells you exactly what you did wrong.

This ability to fix what I don't understand has allowed me to expand my tracker. I've added tabs that help me keep an eye on how much I've been spending on groceries and similar categories.

Additionally, you can ask Gemini to help you tabulate data or create a formula for a specific category or expense that you've set up.

It's also been helpful when manipulating data in older spreadsheets. Any time you move rows, columns, or reorganize things, the formula can stop working because the reference data has moved.

Now Gemini can help me identify these problems.

Gemini helps me understand my finances while fixing my formulas

I use Gemini to build dashboards I couldn't before

While Formula Fixes help me fix the issues in my spreadsheet, the addition of Gemini to Google Sheets has other benefits. It helps me focus and learn from my data, and this is something that AI is excellent at.

I'll give you an example. One section of my spreadsheet summarizes spending by category, while another compares my budget with what I actually spend each month. I also track my investments and emergency fund.

I've been using Gemini to create a dashboard that is full of formulas that pull information from individual sheets. Before I started using Gemini in Google Sheets, I had no idea how to pull this off.

So, I asked Gemini how to create a specific formula, and it gave me that. If the formula doesn't work because my data is structured in a way that is not conducive to it, Gemini and Formula Fixes will also explain that and recommend a correction.

It's been great for experimenting with my personal data.

I don't blindly trust this information. I still verify every important calculation, but it's helped me stop wasting time locating a misplaced bracket or incorrect range and instead focus on the important things, which is the actual data.

Formula Fixes lowers the learning curve for Google Sheets

In my finance tracking journey, I've come across some truly gifted spreadsheet wizards.

I always knew that Google Sheets was flexible enough to build exactly what I wanted, but I don't have the time to get a degree in Google Sheets. Gemini fixes that for me.

Formula Fixes solves the problem by explaining my errors in plain language and suggesting corrections based on the contents of my spreadsheet instead of me having to Google generic fixes.

That makes it easier to build a finance tracker that is specifically geared towards my use case. All in all, it's helped me make better financial decisions.