/w=3840,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
One chequing account for everything? You never know what you can afford to spend or save. Here's how to build a simple system that makes it clear.
In This Article
- The Conversations I Keep Having
- The Problem Isn't Willpower
- What is a Money System?
- Related Articles
Every month, $4,200 hits Khalil's chequing account.
And every month, rent comes out, as does groceries, gas, and his gym membership. He pays for occasional dinners with friends and whatever else comes up.
Whenever he's prompted to check how he's doing, he logs into his bank. The balance is always different. $1,200 one time. $5,400 another. $3,800 the next.
Six months into his first engineering job in Winnipeg, making $70,000 a year with full benefits, Khalil is doing everything right. Except for one problem: he doesn’t really know where his money is going.
He wants to save for a trip overseas, maybe start investing, and increase his regular sadaqah.
But he can never figure out how much he should save. Or how much he can spend. Every dollar in his chequing account feels simultaneously spendable and spoken for.
The Conversations I Keep Having
I have some version of this conversation almost every week.
The details change - sometimes it's a grad student, sometimes a newlywed, sometimes a self-employed consultant - but the pattern is the same.
Smart, motivated Muslims who want to do well with their money and have the right instincts about it.
But when I ask them to walk me through their money system, the answer is often something like, "I have one chequing account and a credit card. Money comes in, money goes out. I try to keep some left over for savings."
What they describe isn’t a money system. It’s a money situation.
A system runs on its own. It has structure and automation. It presents you with clear questions and with a roadmap to consistent answers.
A situation, on the other hand, demands your constant attention. It lacks structure and automation. It leaves you unsure what questions to ask and forces you to patch together inconsistent answers.
And situations don't get better when you earn more. They just get more expensive.
- The person making $70,000 can't tell if they can afford a $400 wedding gift.
- The person making $150,000 can't tell if they can afford the $8,000 family vacation.
- The person making $250,000 can't tell if they should put $30,000 toward their mortgage or max out their TFSA or help their parents with a major expense.
Same problem, bigger numbers. No system to answer the question, What money is for this month, and what money is for the future?
Without that clarity, every financial decision, regardless of the dollar amount, requires the same guesswork and uncertainty about whether you're making the right call.
Money situations are exhausting. They require constant vigilance and a thousand small decisions: Can I afford this? Should I transfer to savings? How much should I keep in chequing? Did I already spend too much this month?
Some people carry this as a low-grade anxiety that sits in the background: a persistent uncertainty about whether they’re doing okay or quietly falling behind.
Others cope by avoiding it entirely. They stop checking their balances, ignore their credit card statements, and hope everything works out. The tension doesn't go away. It just moves underground.
The Problem Isn't Willpower
If you recognize that tension, you might assume the problem is that you’re not disciplined enough or that you just need to budget better or track your spending more carefully.
But that thinking misses the fundamental issue: you can't "just" do anything when your money is structurally set up to confuse you.
There's a reason managing money feels like driving in the fog for many of us. The financial system benefits from your confusion.
Banks want your money sitting in one account, available for spending.
Credit card companies want you unsure whether you can afford something, because "just charge it" becomes the path of least resistance.
Buy Now, Pay Later schemes exist specifically to exploit the gap between what you want now and what you can afford now.
What is a Money System?
A money system answers one question automatically: What money is for this month, and what money is for the future?
It begins by opening multiple accounts that reflect that separation. Once you have that in place, you can add rules and automation to make it run itself.
When it works, whenever you wonder "Can I afford this?" or "How much do I need to save for this trip?" the answers are clearer.
Khalil’s one-account setup can't answer those questions because every dollar looks the same.
But money has different jobs:
- Some money needs to pay this month's rent and groceries.
- Some money needs to sit quietly for six months until your car needs new tires.
- Some money needs to wait for years until you're ready to make a down payment on a house.
- Some money needs to be ready when you want to give a substantial donation or help someone in need.
When you log onto your bank, can you tell what's for this month and what's for the future?
If the answer is no, it's time to build a system.
The simplest version looks like this:
One flow account. This is probably the chequing account you already have. Money comes in here, and your monthly expenses go out. It's your operating account.
Three fund accounts. These are also chequing accounts, but they sit still and hold money for specific purposes:
- Emergency Fund: holds money for unplanned big expenses (like a car problem).
- Icing Fund: holds money for planned big expenses (like a vacation).
- Sadaqah Fund: holds money for one-time or big donations (like during Ramadan).
We use no-fee or low-fee chequing accounts for these fund accounts because they avoid the interest and the lender-lendee relationship that comes with traditional savings accounts.
When you log into your bank, you'll see exactly what's for this month (your flow account) and what's for the future (your three fund accounts).
If you're looking for no-fee or low-fee bank account options, take a look at this list.
Once your money has a place to go, the decisions get easier.
Related Articles
/w=1920,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
/w=1920,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
/w=1920,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
/w=1920,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
Written by Farooq Maseehuddin
Farooq Maseehuddin is the founder of MuslimMoney.co, a Canadian platform dedicated to helping Muslims take control of their personal finances.
He teaches across a range of topics including budgeting, investing, financial planning, Islamic inheritance, money conversations in families, and how to teach kids about money.
Farooq holds a B.Ed. and M.Ed. from the University of Alberta and has spent nearly two decades as a high school teacher and Muslim community organizer.