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Actual is going open-source

actualbudget.com

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71–80 of 332 posts

Re: Actual is going open-source

#71

Post by samhw »

conductr wrote: post #69
daenz wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My read on that is that it is total comp, so it includes bonuses/RSUs/options. If you're not negotiating for those things, what are you doing. Though $200k base salary is not a crazy salary for a staff/principle/high-level engineer. I don't think people realize how corrosive to mental health a $200k engineering job can be though. I was making very close to that as a base salary, and the amount of responsibilities I h…

This is pretty universal to all industries. You just don’t get paid well for the work you do in X hours. You get paid well became you’re expected to put in a high amount of effort that isn’t measured in time or stress, except by you. Mo’ money, mo’ problems

Also, speaking personally as someone doing £180k when I know my market salary is at most two thirds of that: I don't really spend the money, because I never want to be pinioned to my job, or to even feel like I'm locked into my job because I'd e.g. have to move out of my house if I quit. That limits you quite a bit, unless you're preternaturally confident in your jobseeking ability.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#72

Post by conductr »

650 wrote: post #65

An excel spreadsheet to track reoccuring expenses and income with additions made for upcoming expenses, etc. hyperpersonalized for you has been the best for me, have tried a few budget apps. Micromanaging food expenses should be something that you decide on the spot rather than seeing 600$ on food this month oh-no. Caveat: Software Engineer salary with large discretionary income

Me plus wife and a toddler and I wish I could keep under $600 a WEEK

We eat out regularly and just going to a fast casual spot is like $40-50 for sandwiches

Re: Actual is going open-source

#73

Post by tinytuna »

finchisko wrote: post #33

I feel your frustration about business not going as envisioned. My current failure rate is two failed attempts to build profitable busines. Actually the second project is similar to yours. Invoice app for small entrepreneurs. Till today I'm the only user of the app. To reduce costs, I made it run completely without server support, all data is stored in local storage and hosted on netlify for free (no own domain). htt…

I’d suggest first having an English version of the site and maybe paying for a domain (looks more professional and trustworthy) and you could post it in Product Hunt to have more people discovering it.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#75

Post by jlongster »

adrianmsmith wrote: post #31
jlongster wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I totally regret it. There are ethical VCs that would be willing to invest a small amount and I should have done that. Bootstrapping isn't all it's cracked up to be; there are a lot better and smarter ways to kickstart a project.

Could you still pursue that route? Presumably it's never too late, especially as you've got a product already, and have demonstrated traction.

I've thought about it! I'm a little burned out though on the business stuff. I'd like for this just to be a cool product now.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#76

Post by xd1936 »

alexandargyurov wrote: post #74

I have to fill out every transaction manually? No Open Banking integration? :/

> You could even hook up your own bank syncing -- Plaid support a free development plan that covers an individual user. In fact, you'll see Plaid support in the syncing server because I already started building this out.

Not yet, but it sounds like a top priority.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#77

Post by finchisko »

tinytuna wrote: post #73
finchisko wrote: post #33

I feel your frustration about business not going as envisioned. My current failure rate is two failed attempts to build profitable busines. Actually the second project is similar to yours. Invoice app for small entrepreneurs. Till today I'm the only user of the app. To reduce costs, I made it run completely without server support, all data is stored in local storage and hosted on netlify for free (no own domain). htt…

I’d suggest first having an English version of the site and maybe paying for a domain (looks more professional and trustworthy) and you could post it in Product Hunt to have more people discovering it.

Thanks. Sure, I had own domain for a year, made promotion on Facebook. This product was not developed with other countries in mind. Idea was to do pilot in my own country and then scale up. Every country has different invoicing rules, so it cannot be just translated to English and put on US market. But since it didn't attract any single customer, I just gave up as my previous experience was that adding features when there is no traction for MVP just prolong your suffering.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#78

Post by Robin_Message »

If it's running locally (or in a cloud the user choses to trust), it doesn't need to be a CRDT any more to get the same security properties, which would ironically mean it is now easier to develop.

(Granted CRDTs might enable other features although OT is generally considered simpler)

Re: Actual is going open-source

#79

Post by aeharding »

Great to see it going open source! I hope Actual can keep development going with the community support.

Similarly, a local-first (PouchDB) budgeting app I built[1] went open source[2][3] a few years ago. It's worked out well, I love seeing what everyone does with it in their forks. Unlike Actual however, I maintain a paid subscription service while being open source.

It's worked out quite well. Luckily it's not a huge time commitment as a side project, probably due to no native apps. I've also shifted from active development to maintenance, with sporadic updates every now and then. For example, I recently moved everything from Gitlab to Github[4] and upgraded a bunch of dependencies under the hood to get everything compiling on Apple Silicon. (For example, I now run AngularJS tests with Jest, hehe.)

[1] https://financier.io/

[2] https://github.com/financier-io/

[3] https://blog.financier.io/financier-is-now-open-source-bdfe9...

[4] https://blog.financier.io/weve-moved-to-github-4617239b9fa3

Re: Actual is going open-source

#80

Post by tegansnyder »

I'm looking for a solution in this space that lets you plot the waterfall effect. What I'd like this solution to do is the following:

1. Enter all my bills that require full payment each month 2. Enter my bills that can be variably paid (ex. credit cards, medical bills, etc) 3. Enter my monthly income 4. Enter my budgeted personal/home expenses (food, gas/transport, etc)

Then the solution should be able to model a few different paths to maximizing my savings and plot out a waterfall that says if I payoff X over 6 months and pay the minimum on Y then here is what my savings would look like.

I'd like to be able to see what my projected payoff dates for different bills are and what my projected savings look like if I was to follow the model.

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