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Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

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Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#81

Post by jscohn85 »

blakeburch wrote: post #13

I highly recommend LunchMoney ( https://lunchmoney.app/ ). It's built by a solo developer who is very responsive and continues to make the app great. Lots of automation and ability to create custom classification rules. I've been happy for the past 3 years. I've also heard good things about CoPilot ( https://copilot.money/ ) but have not had the chance to experiment with it yet.

+1 for https://lunchmoney.app/

I found them after Mint was discontinued and CreditKarma made it impossible for me to set up my account, while I looked into other options which have even been mentioned in this thread.

LunchMoney's multi-currency support and easy API (https://lunchmoney.dev/) were killer features for me, however, since they allowed me to develop a personal solution to also keep track of my non-USA accounts.

Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#82

Post by simonmic »

hirvi74 wrote: post #47
wbadart wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 While I don't think this approach meets OP's requirements (they seem to be looking for something a little more turn-key), I hope other readers of this thread will fall down this rabbit hole. I'm now in my 5th year of tracking every penny in and out of my life with hledger[0], with a mostly manual approach. Some benefits: - as noted by a spreadsheet user, it adds friction to spending money, which has curbed frivolo…

Only reason I stopped going down the PTA path was I always struggled to figure out a viable way to organize everything. I tried one file per account, one file per account per month, multiple accounts in one file per month, and eventually everything in one massive file per year. No matter what I seemed to choose I always seemed to end up with just a complete mess.

PTA does give you a lot of flexibility, sometimes too much. More guidance/opinion on this is probably needed. https://plaintextaccounting.org/Organising-files talks about it a little. Also if you make it to any of the support fora/chat rooms, you'll usually get help on this.

Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#84

Post by alienreborn »

blakeburch wrote: post #13

I highly recommend LunchMoney ( https://lunchmoney.app/ ). It's built by a solo developer who is very responsive and continues to make the app great. Lots of automation and ability to create custom classification rules. I've been happy for the past 3 years. I've also heard good things about CoPilot ( https://copilot.money/ ) but have not had the chance to experiment with it yet.

Used lunchmoney for years before moving to CoPilot couple of years ago. Can vouch for both of them to being great. I just moved to CoPilot because they got macos and ios apps unlike lunchmoney (web only back when I used it)

Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#86

Post by LeicaLatte »

johntash wrote: post #48
LeicaLatte wrote: post #44

I'm a spreadsheet pro, but I set up this budget stack — Actual Budget + SimpleFIN — for my spouse last week. SimpleFIN is fast and a quick Plaid alternative for just $1.50 a month or $15 for the year. I created my SimpleFIN account, copied the API token, and added a bank account. Then I jumped back to Actual Budget, entered the API token, and linked the account from Actual to SimpleFIN. You can link as many bank, cre…

I know you haven't been using it for long, but are you (or your wife) liking this setup? I don't like having to pay for SimpleFIN, but I'm thinking about doing it too.

I like it so far. Apple Card syncs are not working daily for some reason. Other banks and cards sync on demand and work well.

Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#87

Post by LeicaLatte »

dotancohen wrote: post #59
LeicaLatte wrote: post #44

I'm a spreadsheet pro, but I set up this budget stack — Actual Budget + SimpleFIN — for my spouse last week. SimpleFIN is fast and a quick Plaid alternative for just $1.50 a month or $15 for the year. I created my SimpleFIN account, copied the API token, and added a bank account. Then I jumped back to Actual Budget, entered the API token, and linked the account from Actual to SimpleFIN. You can link as many bank, cre…

Are you affiliated with them? Or just been trained (as a human) on marketing materials ))

No affiliation. Never read their marketing.

Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#88

Post by teecha »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #66
Semaphor wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love YNAB, been using it since 2011 and never switched to their subscription cloud service. YNAB Classic still works, though I don’t think you can legally acquire it anymore.

Look into Actual Budget, it’s a free self-hostable clone of YNAB. Or could be thought of as an independent implementation of the same budgeting methodology - but it felt close enough in UI and concepts that I feel comfortable calling it a clone.

What do you do on mobile? Very much like being able to enter things in on my phone.

Of course I can keep receipts and do it later but just wanted to know how others handle it.

Re: Ask HN: Spending Tracking Tools

#89

Post by LeicaLatte »

Mattwmaster58 wrote: post #60
LeicaLatte wrote: post #44

I'm a spreadsheet pro, but I set up this budget stack — Actual Budget + SimpleFIN — for my spouse last week. SimpleFIN is fast and a quick Plaid alternative for just $1.50 a month or $15 for the year. I created my SimpleFIN account, copied the API token, and added a bank account. Then I jumped back to Actual Budget, entered the API token, and linked the account from Actual to SimpleFIN. You can link as many bank, cre…

> You can link as many bank, credit card accounts as you want with one SimpleFIN account. The website says "Connect up to 25 institutions and 25 apps"

I had no idea. Only highlights how much I have read their docs or marketing.

We are a family of three and the 25 institution limit seems fine to us.

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