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Show HN: We made 1 app this year

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Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#51

Post by chadcf »

skwirl wrote: post #32
MonkoftheFunk wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this would be good for planning your savings for future (forecasting), YNAB is about current and past budgeting (though there are ways around it ( http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/forecast-in-yn... ).

That isn't my impression of YNAB. I only tried it out briefly about a year ago, but what I understand is that you plan you future savings by adding it to your budget today. If I wanted to save $80,000 for a down payment on a condo over four years, I would budget $1667 monthly for it in YNAB, and then allocate incoming money to it each month. That isn't a workaround, that is simply how the system is supposed to work.…

In that sense, yes, YNAB can be used for future planning of expenses. But I think the thing they were referring to is that YNAB is not really meant for 'forecasting' your money. Though you could do it, they discourage it and it's meant to be about allocating only the money you have now. In other words, you don't budget something until you actually have the money for it.

So the difference is with YNAB you would indeed budget $1667 when you get your paycheck, but you wouldn't carry that out 12 months in the future and plan your income/expenses to determine how much money you'll have at that point.

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#52

Post by DLarsen »

skwirl wrote: post #32
MonkoftheFunk wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this would be good for planning your savings for future (forecasting), YNAB is about current and past budgeting (though there are ways around it ( http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/forecast-in-yn... ).

That isn't my impression of YNAB. I only tried it out briefly about a year ago, but what I understand is that you plan you future savings by adding it to your budget today. If I wanted to save $80,000 for a down payment on a condo over four years, I would budget $1667 monthly for it in YNAB, and then allocate incoming money to it each month. That isn't a workaround, that is simply how the system is supposed to work.…

I've thought about this a lot. What I really don't want to do is invest time in dealing with the data I don't care about. Because of the nature of spending, it tends to be pretty noisy data. When my budget isn't tight, I really don't care to track and think about every transaction. I'm just not interested in a detailed accounting of my coffee habit if at a high level my finances are on the right track.

I've taken an approach of manual entry for a few "important" categories of discretionary spending. It's been good to leave everything else for the less frequent review of my bank statements.

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#53

Post by x3ro »

I'll definitely give this a try! And thank you so much for making an app that only requires network access on Android! All those apps that want your location and access to your contacts and whatnot are so annoying -_-"

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#55

Post by bliti »

pseudometa wrote: post #15

I love this. The whole "I made 30 apps this year..." posts are rediculous. Anyone can make lots of crapy apps. Creating a well designed app with valuable functionality and propper marketing/support web pages takes time and skill. Kudos.

Interesting point to bring up. In the case of this specific app, it was designed and built by a company that designs and builds mobile apps for clients (a development shop). The app is used a marketing tool to showcase their (nice) abilities. In the case of the "I made 30 apps this year...", it was a 15 year old person that was trying to learn how to make money by selling apps. The age is relevant, because it is likely that his/hers resources are limited (and thus may have little to work with).

It does take time and skill to develop good apps. In this case, the company that provides that as a service is showcasing it through the app itself. In the case of the 15 year old, he/she is learning how to do so him/herself. I fail to see the issue surrounding this. They are both doing well.

Now, the OP took recent thread titles from HN and spinned it to its own benefit. That is good a good way to get attention on HN.

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#56

Post by x3ro »

chadcf wrote: post #50
kohanz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree wholeheartedly. There are any number of apps out there than can provide me with beautiful graphs and visualizations once they have the data they need, but I don't use any of them. Why? Because: 1) The ones that collect the data automatically require me to violate my bank's online TOS to gather the data (e.g. Mint), which potentially leaves me with no recourse should my bank account be compromised. 2) The ones t…

> The ones that require me to input the data are just too much work. I've been using YNAB (You Need A Budget) for a few months, and it makes you input everything. I initially resisted and thought the same thing as you. However I forced myself to try it because so many people recommended it so highly. It is at it's core a glorified spreadsheet, but it's a very well designed spreadsheet with great support and a solid b…

I was about to try this too, but it wants to know my location, phone call information, storage access and whatnot :(

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#58

Post by enel »

allending wrote: post #44
mayrun wrote: post #42

Looks nice. Is there a plan to implement the option to password protect and export the data? Also, multiple currencies would be highly appreciated!

Data export is definitely on the horizon. Password protection is on the list, but not yet definite. We actually do support multiple currencies (we hope our users agree it is done in an elegant fashion, feedback welcome) - let us know if we are missing yours and we will get it in the next release.

The app is missing Moldavan leu (MDL)[1], which I wanted to use. The password protection is a must have for me too. Or maybe a simple pattern lock.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldovan_leu

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#59

Post by ianlevesque »

bkmartin wrote: post #39
ianlevesque wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually been building this the last few months. One of the subtleties are bills or payments that appear on weekdays only, or the nearest weekday to a given date. I'm being careful to handle all these edge cases. I have pretty good credit card projections implemented as well, including the rules for computing minimum payments.

I just started down this road myself, is this a webapp, android, ios? How long until its ready for the public?

I'm making it a webapp. If you look at my profile you'll see I do tons of mobile work but I think something like this is better suited to a computer than a phone.

Re: Show HN: We made 1 app this year

#60

Post by Zikes »

ianlevesque wrote: post #59
bkmartin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just started down this road myself, is this a webapp, android, ios? How long until its ready for the public?

I'm making it a webapp. If you look at my profile you'll see I do tons of mobile work but I think something like this is better suited to a computer than a phone.

For mobile integration I highly recommend a CalDAV[1] feed. This sort of budgeting really makes a calendar view essential, and CalDAV integration with the phone's own calendar seems ideal.

Beyond that, some minimal mobile access would be nice for things like adding/modifying recurring events, updating the balance, or entering a new one-off debit/credit.

I stress this because I think for a lot of people budget applications provide a peace of mind, and it's nice to be able to check in on and confirm these things while you're on the go.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalDAV

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