Work out how much to save per paycheck for a cross-country move with ChatGPT
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- by Mashable
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- How we verify
Evidence: Article or interviewA newsletter, journalist or interview account of what happened.
PartialThe source says it only partly worked, or had a significant problem a person had to deal with.
What went wrong: The math was spotty: it assumed wrong dates and once used 10 pay periods instead of 7 until she tweaked the prompt.
Outcome
Mashable's writer asked ChatGPT how much she needed to save from each paycheck to move over 1,100 miles to Chicago, with rent of $1,000-$1,500 in mind. She says the math was spotty—unless the prompt specified July 1, 2024 it assumed other dates, and once it calculated 10 pay periods instead of the 7 she gave—but after tweaking it gave a number that matched her own math. Apartment-search GPTs were a worse experience than Googling.
Agent
Prompt Recreated prompt
The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Calculate how much I need to save from each paycheck to afford a move, and show the math so I can check it. Fill in before running: - Move date: [DATE] - Number of paychecks left before then: [NUMBER] - Take-home per paycheck: [AMOUNT] - Monthly fixed costs until the move (rent, utilities, loans): [LIST] - Estimated moving costs: deposit, first month's rent [RANGE], movers or truck, travel You're not my accountant or financial adviser. Show your working, label estimates as estimates, and tell me which points a professional or the official source should confirm. Rules: - Use exactly the dates and number of paychecks I gave; repeat them back first. - Show every calculation step in a table. - Give a low, middle and high estimate for moving costs, with what drives each. - Add a 10% emergency buffer. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. Output: A table of costs, the total needed, and the amount per paycheck for each scenario. You'll know it worked when: the per-paycheck number matches my own check of the math and uses my real paycheck count.
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Optional stronger version
Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Calculate how much I need to save from each paycheck to afford a move, and show the math so I can check it. Fill in before running: - Move date: [DATE] - Number of paychecks left before then: [NUMBER] - Take-home per paycheck: [AMOUNT] - Monthly fixed costs until the move (rent, utilities, loans): [LIST] - Estimated moving costs: deposit, first month's rent [RANGE], movers or truck, travel You're not my accountant or financial adviser. Show your working, label estimates as estimates, and tell me which points a professional or the official source should confirm. Rules: - Use exactly the dates and number of paychecks I gave; repeat them back first. - Show every calculation step in a table. - Give a low, middle and high estimate for moving costs, with what drives each. - Add a 10% emergency buffer. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - Before answering, list the inputs you're using and stop if any are missing. Output: A table of costs, the total needed, and the amount per paycheck for each scenario. You'll know it worked when: the per-paycheck number matches my own check of the math and uses my real paycheck count. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Source
https://me.mashable.com/tech/39912/i-tried-using-chatgpt-to-help-me-move-across-the-country
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