I created this GPT on my work account, so I can’t provide a direct link. However, I’ll share the exact steps I took to create it, which you can use as a prompt or to create your own GPT.
As I mentioned in my post about my Ultimate Business Proofreader GPT, being verbose is the worst way to write. In school, we had to add extra words to meet arbitrary length requirements, but in the workplace, it’s the opposite. Long, unnecessary writing loses attention and makes you look unprofessional.
Today, most reading happens online rather than in books or magazines. Any credible internet writer will tell you that the goal is to make your content skimmable. People do most of their browsing on mobile devices, where reading small text for long periods is uncomfortable. Plus, attention spans are shorter than ever.
Long, unskimmable content makes finding information harder, leading to a poor user experience. This results in higher bounce rates, lower conversion rates, and decreased search engine rankings. To be blunt: being longwinded and wordy isn’t just annoying—it can cost you money.
“Make Text Skimmable” GPT
Verbose writing can be frustrating, especially when you’re on the receiving end. But with ChatGPT, you no longer have to struggle with reading overly long and unclear text.
I enjoy reading r/AmItheAsshole on Reddit. The stories are often fake ragebait, but they’re still entertaining. However, some of these stories are incredibly frustrating to read. Many users don’t know how to use paragraphs and fail to clearly identify the characters and their connections. Additionally, many of the writers speak English as a second language, which makes their stories even harder to read.
GPT In Action
This story starts out confusing. First, the cast of characters includes several young boys, two sets of parents, and no one has names (“My brother (33M) and his wife (30F) have two young boys (3 & 1). My wife and I have a 5-year-old son”).
Additionally, I have to sift through each paragraph to find background information about the sister-in-law (and the family dynamics as a whole), her “side hustle,” and why it’s problematic. My self-righteous side wants to know this now so I can anonymously pass judgment.
Summarizing The Story
Before even reading the story, I know what it’s about and who is involved:
Then I have the full outline of the story, divided into sections:
Personal Finance Summary
r/bestof is full of great advice. Unfortunately, much of it comes from Reddit comments where formatting is often an afterthought. But the chatbot will once again solve this problem. In one such comment, u/chemivally provides a succinct guide on how to handle your finances as an adult.
The accordian below has the original text and the GPT summarized text.
Original Text
It’s interesting hearing the question the person above you is asking, because I think it’s easy for me to forget what it’s like to not know, for it not to be obvious.
If you have that question, then personal finance (the subreddits most relevant to you) are the place to start!
Step one, once you start making enough to have extra, you begin to save for an emergency fund. This is cash in a non-investment, interest earning account that’s easy to access. Ideally within the hour, or up to a week of access time if you have other ways to pay for something temporarily.
The amount you need to save is usually 3-6 months of expenses. So if you spend $2500 per month on everything you need, then your savings here should be $7500-$15,000.
Start small. A $1000 emergency fund is huge. That’s a major step. Once you get there, you should feel very proud and be ready for the next step in building that emergency fund.
Step two budget. Lots of folks make mistakes here. They try to pick budget amounts for categories based on what they think they should be spending, which isn’t realistic.
What you want to do instead is track spending for 2-3 months. Each month do a summary of everything you spend, and sum it all up. Make sure you account for everything, for real. If you miss things the only person that hurts is you.
If you’re overspending in some categories, that’s okay, but at least now you know and can make an informed decision. That’s an adult controlling their finances, nice work!
This step will help you refine step 1. Remember: in step 1 the idea is to have enough to live off of for 3-6 months if things happen, like job loss. In those times you’d cut off your extra spending, temporarily, and your saving, temporarily, so don’t count those in to your total emergency fund need.
Step three debt. Carrying any credit card debt is considered a financial emergency! Anything with a rate above 10% in this current rate economy. If you have to use some of your emergency fund to dig yourself out, that’s okay. Just keep at least $1000 on hand.
Now once you’re done step 3, you can really congratulate yourself. That’s hard work for many folks. That’s a real breath of fresh air.
Step four is investing. Ideally, you’ll be taking your workplace retirement matching if they offer it as soon as you can, even at step 1, because it’s such a great investment and usually doesn’t incur too much of a cost to you.
Once you have your budget and your emergency fund prepared, you want to look at retirement savings, and further, savings for a goal (house, car, etc.)
The very general rule is 15% of your gross income toward retirement, but this can be flexible depending on how new you are to doing this, and how much you can reasonably set aside, as well as what age you’re starting at. Retirement calculators exist that take into account your country’s retirement programs (such as CPP and OAS here in Canada.)
With the 15% rule, including your work matched contributions, etc., you’re looking at numbers sort of like this: at $50,000 annual, you’d be putting away $7500 per year, or about $625 per month. At $100,000 annual, that’s $15,000 annual, or about $1250 per month.
After that, any additional savings can be put into registered accounts for tax savings, and any other investments that work for you (Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, and maybe small plays in things like crypto if you’re eager.) This is for goals like a house down payment or a car or maybe for your future kids or whatever is important to you (like a sick computer!)
This is where you get to the disposable income stage. Some of that extra is disposable income, some is for savings which may become disposable income later on!
Invest for your future ✅
Text Fixed With GPT
Summary:
The advice outlines a step-by-step approach to personal finance, emphasizing the importance of building an emergency fund, budgeting, paying off debt, and investing for the future. It provides a structured path for managing finances, starting with basic savings and progressing to more advanced financial planning.
Steps to Personal Finance:
- Build an Emergency Fund:
- Start saving once you have extra income.
- Aim for 3-6 months of expenses in an easily accessible account.
- Start with a $1,000 emergency fund as a major first step.
- Create a Realistic Budget:
- Track spending for 2-3 months to understand your actual expenses.
- Base your budget on real spending, not idealized amounts.
- Use this insight to refine your emergency fund target.
- Pay Off High-Interest Debt:
- Treat any credit card debt, especially with interest above 10%, as a financial emergency.
- If necessary, use part of your emergency fund to pay down debt, but maintain at least $1,000 in savings.
- Start Investing:
- Consider workplace retirement matching as soon as possible, even at the budgeting stage.
- Aim to save 15% of your gross income for retirement, adjusting based on your situation.
- Once your retirement savings are on track, invest in other savings goals (house, car, etc.).
- Plan for Future Goals:
- Use additional savings for specific goals like a down payment, new car, or significant purchases.
- Some savings can be in registered accounts for tax benefits or in various investments.
Key Points:
- Emergency funds are essential for financial security.
- Budgeting should reflect actual spending patterns.
- High-interest debt should be prioritized and paid off as quickly as possible.
- Investing should begin early, with a focus on retirement savings.
- After covering essentials, invest in your future goals and enjoy some disposable income.
Make Text Skimmable GPT Instructions
This is the text to create the Make Text Skimmable GPT or to use as a prompt.
When someone inputs text, your job is to rewrite it in a way that’s easy to skim.
OUTPUT:
- Do not leave out any ideas in the original text.
- The first thing to provide is a 2-3 sentence summary of the provided text.
- If there’s more then 2 people being discussed, add a bulleted list of people and who they are.
- Write everything in sections/sub-sections and bullets. The goal is to make it easy to skim with big headlines and bulleted supporting points.
- Identify and include key points and important details.
- Ensure summarization is clear, concise, and free of unnecessary details or repetition.
- Maintain consistent tone and language throughout.
- Focus on the relevance of the original text to the user’s needs or questions.
- Provide user-friendly and accessible output.