📊How to Automate Variance Analysis in Excel Using ChatGPT (Step-by-Step)

🛠️ 3 Free AI Tools

🧰 1. Mindgrasp

What it does: AI-powered assistant for Excel — cleans messy data, generates formulas, builds charts, and calculates retention rates using natural‑language prompts.

Why it's helpful: One-stop solution for day-to-day spreadsheet headaches—no coding or complex setup needed

Link: https://excelmatic.ai

Pricing: Fully free plan with no signup required—great for quick analysis or cleanups.

🔄 2. GPTExcel

What it does: Chat-like tool that helps with formula generation (IF, VLOOKUP), folders data into tables, auto-generates charts, converts images to spreadsheets, and suggests insights on CSV/Excel files .

Why it's helpful: Ideal for Excel users wanting smart guidance—especially formula help and charting—without needing to write formulas manually.

Link: https://gptexcel.uk/

Pricing: Free to use; full access for formula/chat/chart features—no trial needed.

✍️ 3. Formulabot – Excel A

What it does: Quick “Excel AI chat” that auto-generates formulas, analyzes spreadsheets, and builds charts instantly .

Why it's helpful: No signup, no friction—paste data, ask questions like “create pivot-like summary,” and get instant formula/chart suggestions.

Link: https://app.formulabot.com/excel-ai

Pricing: Completely free for all basic features; no signup required.

🗞️ News Byte: The Fed Literally Makes Money 💵💻

🧠 Wait... the Fed just creates money?

Yep. And it’s not some TikTok conspiracy—it’s policy. Let's break it down 👇

🕰️ A (Very) Quick History of U.S. Central Banks etc.

• 1791 – First Bank of the U.S. is born. Congress kills it after 20 years.

• 1816 – Second Bank launches. Expired in 1836 after President Andrew Jackson shuts it down.

• 1836–1913 – No central bank for 77 years (yes, really).

• 1913 – Enter: Federal Reserve, the third central bank. Created under the Federal Reserve Act to manage the U.S. money supply, support financial stability, and issue our currency when Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress and the Presidency

• 1913 - 16th Amendment was ratified which gives Congress power to lay and collect direct taxes from the people (quite contrary to Article 1, Sec 9 which prohibits direct taxes)

Fun fact: The 12 regional Fed banks are technically private corporations under federal oversight. Quirky.

💸 How the Fed Actually Creates Money

Here’s the TL;DR:

1. Congress gave the Fed the power to create money from thin air. Literally.

2. It doesn’t print stacks of cash. It adds digits to reserve accounts of member banks such as JPMorgan—a digital money printer.

3. When it buys bonds (like U.S. Treasuries or mortgage-backed securities), it wires digital dollars into member bank accounts through “open market operations”.

4. This increases reserves, lowers interest rates, and encourages lending (a.k.a. the money multiplier effect).

5. If things get too hot (i.e. inflation), the Fed reverses course—selling assets to shrink the money supply.

💰 How the Fed Earns Money (Yes, It Makes a Profit… Sort Of)

Here's the Fed's basic business model:

1. It creates money digitally from thin air, no backing 👉️Fiat

2. It uses that money to buy interest-bearing assets (like U.S. Treasuries).

3. It earns interest income on those assets.

The difference between what it earns and what it pays (operating expenses, pay dividends/interests to member banks on reserves held, and maintain capital buffer) is profit, which normally gets sent to the U.S. Treasury.

But lately? Not so profitable. With higher interest rates, the Fed is paying more out than it’s earning—so it’s running losses. No Treasury remittances until the books balance out again.

💊 QE Explained (No Jargon, Just Juice)

You hear this a lot in the news especially during economic crisis but what is it really?

Quantitative Easing (QE) = the Fed buying lots of bonds using newly created money.

Why?

To boost the economy when interest rate cuts aren’t cutting it.

How it works:

1. The Fed creates digital money 💻💵

2. Buys bonds from major banks & funds

3. Banks now have more cash (more reserves) = cheaper loans = more spending

4. Goal: fight recessions, keep markets moving, avoid deflation

QE = 🚀 for credit and spending.

⚠️ Money Supply vs Inflation...

QE boosts the money supply. But inflation takes off if:

• People & businesses spend the new money fast

• The economy can’t keep up producing goods/services

• Supply is limited but demand skyrockets = 💥 price increases

And remember: the U.S. dollar is fiat (not backed by gold or assets). So when too much money chases too few goods, the value of your dollars gets diluted. Value of money only increases when energy is expended i.e. increase in goods or services, NOT increase in money supply.

🔥Why It’s Matters:

• QE isn’t just monetary theory - it shapes your forecasts, asset valuations, and even expense assumptions.

• Understanding how the Fed operates helps you anticipate market shifts (rates, inflation, lending conditions)

• In a world of fiat currency and digital money, financial literacy = strategic advantage.

• It affects your personal finance too, think hedging against high inflation, protect your future with hard or alternative assets (gold, silver or Bitcoin)

Meme Corner 😂

There you have it!

By now, you’ve:

✅ Turned boring Excel tasks into blazing-fast workflows with ChatGPT

✅ Discovered 3 tools to help you think less and do more

✅ Learned how the Fed buys bonds with digital cash it literally creates

✅ And hopefully chuckled at a meme that explains monetary policy better than Econ 101

Got ideas, feedback, request or a favorite AI prompt you’re using at work?

Hit reply — I read every response.

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