How a TikTok trend is making personal finance admin a communal activity

A personal finance expert shares tips on how to throw an admin night party with your friends

The often-dreaded task of managing personal finances is getting a social makeover, as a new trend encourages friends to gather for “admin nights” to tackle their money matters together. What was once a solitary chore is now being transformed into a communal, and even enjoyable, activity, leveraging the power of accountability.

This growing phenomenon, popularised on TikTok, sees individuals meeting up to tick off financial to-do list items, from budgeting to pension planning. The idea is that an accountability buddy isn't just for the gym; it can be equally effective for financial goals.

Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, explains the appeal: "It’s a good way of making it more fun." She suggests that people are "more likely to tackle" mundane tasks when in good company. "Rather than sitting down at home and doing it on your own, you could go out for dinner and do it with a friend, or you could go to a bar, or have someone over and tackle some of the boring tasks together," Suter adds.

Maike Currie, VP of personal finance at PensionBee, highlights the significant long-term benefits. "You can use this fun night to make a big impact on your long-term wealth," she states, drawing on her own experiences with partners and housemates. Currie notes that while such shared wisdom once emerged naturally, in an increasingly isolated and remote working world, "you’ve actually got to proactively get something like this put together."

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Suter echoes the value of collective knowledge. "Someone might have, for example, already started investing and be able to give you a bit of info on how they started. Someone else might be really good on the pension side of things… I think it’s bringing together that different knowledge, particularly if you have a bigger group of people. People might work in different jobs, and have different experiences from those jobs – I think that’s quite useful."

Crucially, these gatherings don't demand full financial disclosure. "Some people are much more private about money than others, but even if you’re not talking in pounds and pence figures, you could still talk," Suter assures.

She offers an example: "Among my friendship group, people have talked about what percentage they’re contributing to their pension at work, how much their employer is matching of that, and whether they could increase that. Even that gives you a barometer – if you realise that all your friends are paying in a higher percentage level, regardless of salary levels, that might be a good prompt for you to think, ‘Oh, I should look at that’."

(Alamy/PA) (People are 'more likely to tackle' mundane tasks when in good company)

She concludes, "I don’t think having these admin nights means you have to be a completely open book about your finances. I still think you can get useful information and useful stuff done even without revealing all."

So, what tasks are ideal for an admin night? Suter suggests starting with the fundamentals: budgeting. "That doesn’t need to be a super comprehensive accounting for every penny that you spend, but a basic budget of how much money you have coming in each month, then how much you have going out in essentials, and where you’re spending your money elsewhere." This foundational step helps identify debt or potential for saving. While budgeting might not sound thrilling, a friend might offer a helpful tip, spreadsheet, or app.

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Beyond budgeting, Currie outlines her "five things to thrive" – key areas for personal wealth management.

These include tackling debt (distinguishing between "bad debt" like credit cards and "good debt" like mortgages), establishing a "rainy day fund" (aiming for three to six months of income), securing protection (such as life or critical illness insurance), planning pensions, and investing.

Scheduling an ‘admin night’ is a great way to keep on top of your finances (Alamy/PA)

These broader financial goals can seem daunting, but Suter advises breaking them into manageable chunks. For instance, with pensions, the first step could be checking contributions, followed by exploring investment options or retrieving login details in subsequent sessions. "I think if you break things down into more bite-sized chunks, it makes it a bit more manageable," she says.

Ultimately, the act of ticking off a task provides a powerful boost. "I think it’s quite motivational, when you can tick something off your to-do list and you can think, great, I’ve made the first step into tackling that bigger problem. That can then spur you on to do more with it."