Budget App Idea (1 Viewer)

Lemonzest

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For anyone that has attempted to setup a personal or family budget you will know that it is difficult to implement. In my experience the hard part of using a budget is the implementation. It is easy to sit in front of a computer and make an excel sheet. The hard part is keeping track of the 5 dollar coffee here and 15 dollar t shirt there. No one wants to live a life where you have to bring home all the receipts and then spend time entering all that information into the computer. This might work for a short period to get yourself on track but no one wants to live like this constantly tracking every purchase.

Here is my idea: At the beginning of the month you deposit your paycheck to the app. Then within the app there are sub accounts and you can preset how much money goes to each account. For example, say your paycheque is $4,000 then that money will be sent to all the various sub accounts.

Clothes - $100
Eating Out - $200
Groceries - $600
Savings - $200

and so on.

You pay in stores using the app. The power of the app is that the "Groceries" account can only be used at grocery stores. You can't use the "Groceries" money to eat out at a restaurant.

This idea is born out of necessity. I had a long conversation with my brother and he is having difficulty getting on the same page with his wife when it comes to saving money and not making impulsive purchases which add up over the month. I imagine many couples struggle to get on the same page with spending and actually implementing a budget.

I have no idea about building an app or building software but I am interested in people's feedback on how to actually get started on a project like this. I am also interested in general feedback on how the app should work and what functionality it should have.

Thanks!
 
No one is going to deposit a paycheck into an app.

Couldnt you just use an app (like PayPal or Venmo) to make purchases and have an add on feature to tag purchases (groceries, meals, etc.) and export that info to a .csv to track expenses?
 
Or...

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No one is going to deposit a paycheck into an app.

Couldnt you just use an app (like PayPal or Venmo) to make purchases and have an add on feature to tag purchases (groceries, meals, etc.) and export that info to a .csv to track expenses?

I am not married to the app. The main concept is a way to track all your expenses automatically and also restrict spending according to presets on specific accounts.

There should be a user friendly way to sit down at the end of the month and easily see where your money went.
 
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Mint was the best thing that ever happened to us in this regard. We linked all of our accounts to it, and now we tag every penny we spend. I can’t sneak things like poker chips past my wife anymore lol, but it’s been a huge net positive overall.
 
Mint was the best thing that ever happened to us in this regard. We linked all of our accounts to it, and now we tag every penny we spend. I can’t sneak things like poker chips past my wife anymore lol, but it’s been a huge net positive overall.

Yea I use Mint and it is a powerful tool to track spending and compile the data. Mint works great on creating data but doesn't really restrict your actions. If there was some functionality so when your coffee fund is depleted you literally can't spend money on coffee until that specific account is replenished when the new month begins.

I like the idea of having a dashboard on your phone so you can at a glance see how much money remains in each account.
 
Not a bad idea for a banking co. to get traction with their app.

Imagine if G-pay allowed tagging (maybe it does, I don't know). You'd be looking for places to pay by G-Pay so you didn't have to track things manually.
 
I use the app MoneyControl since at least 5 years and I track every single transaction. it’s easy after you develop a habit

What I want to do is create something super easy for people to use. The kind of person that can create that habit is already way ahead of the game. Many many people just wouldn't have the discipline to stick with entering everything in their phone. We have all the technology available it is just a matter of making the info sync up.
 
What I can see is Lemonzest Bank creating an app.

You deposit your paycheck into Lemonzest Bank. Then, through the Lemonzest app, you can determine how that money deposited gets allocated. Using the app, you can make payments and tag it by category. Once a category is depleted, you have to manually override the payment (and 'borrow' money from another category).

I don't have the skills to create this app (nor the control to force my wife to use it), but it doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to create, nor does it seem too cumbersome to use.

And as I said, Lemonzest Bank could drive app use for payments because of how easily it tracks things for you...
 
What I can see is Lemonzest Bank creating an app.

You deposit your paycheck into Lemonzest Bank. Then, through the Lemonzest app, you can determine how that money deposited gets allocated. Using the app, you can make payments and tag it by category. Once a category is depleted, you have to manually override the payment (and 'borrow' money from another category).

I don't have the skills to create this app (nor the control to force my wife to use it), but it doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to create, nor does it seem too cumbersome to use.

And as I said, Lemonzest Bank could drive app use for payments because of how easily it tracks things for you...

This already exists to some extent with my own bank. They are pretty progressive with developing their app and also with depositing cheques on your phone (very cool).

The bank tracks your expenses and you can tag them with different categories. What they don't have is any support to help you on the spending/implementation side.

Great so now instead of developing an app I need to look into how to start a bank ! :)
 
The “Every Dollar” app allows you to create a unique monthly budget, allocate a certain amount of money into different categories, and track your spending across each category as the month goes on. I believe there’s also a premium version which allows you to link your bank information to the app.

Not sure if that’s different from what you’re proposing, but I always love a chance to promote a product that’s found on the Dave Ramsey Show.
 
What I can see is Lemonzest Bank creating an app.

You deposit your paycheck into Lemonzest Bank. Then, through the Lemonzest app, you can determine how that money deposited gets allocated. Using the app, you can make payments and tag it by category. Once a category is depleted, you have to manually override the payment (and 'borrow' money from another category).

I don't have the skills to create this app (nor the control to force my wife to use it), but it doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to create, nor does it seem too cumbersome to use.

And as I said, Lemonzest Bank could drive app use for payments because of how easily it tracks things for you...

Looking closer at the problem... I think many families function where the wife does most of the spending (out buying groceries and clothes for the kids etc.) and the husband does most of the earning. Then at the end of the month the credit card bills come in which result in conflict. It is hard to have those conversations. Being able to share the data live between both partners would greatly reduce stress in many relationships I think.

Many people already use credit cards for accruing points and whatnot. I know my wife uses credit for everything. Perhaps the way to make purchases is to partner with MasterCard on something like this. People already use credit for almost everything.
 
Your idea might be good but in order to make it a product people are supposed to use your first step would be some kind of validation:

Think about who would use such an app (your target group), then go outside and talk to these people. Their pain points when it comes to the whole budget thing, what features do they really miss that would contribute to solving their problem... That gives you a first idea.

With Mint and others there are some big players on this market already. But that doesn't mean a new product couldn't be successful.
 
I have no self control when it comes to spending. The only thing that will stop me is if I don't have money - so I see the value of this idea for someone like me.

How I currently manage my finances is that I double pay my mortgage and have chunks of cash automatically deducted from each paycheck and squirreled away into other accounts to cover stuff like taxes. I also set my bill payments to happen as close as possible to when my paychecks arrive. As a result, the money left in the checking account is the money I have left to spend once everything else is covered - and we spend it all!

The only problem with this is the damn credit card. So I always look at my cash balance and the credit balance and make sure I pay off the credit card every month. I would use debit but I'm throwing away a bunch of miles if I did that (I typically get enough miles for at least one international ticket a year).
 
Doesn't mint do what you're asking for?

Mint tracks your expenses and shows those against what your budget is. Mint does not have any way way to help you actually spend less (or more on specific things). Mint does 50% of what I want to do. There are many apps and products out there but none of them provide a 100% solution for a budget according to what I have in mind. I should add it isn't just something for other people this is a product I would also love to have/use.
 
I have no self control when it comes to spending. The only thing that will stop me is if I don't have money - so I see the value of this idea for someone like me.

How I currently manage my finances is that I double pay my mortgage and have chunks of cash automatically deducted from each paycheck and squirreled away into other accounts to cover stuff like taxes. I also set my bill payments to happen as close as possible to when my paychecks arrive. As a result, the money left in the checking account is the money I have left to spend once everything else is covered - and we spend it all!

The only problem with this is the damn credit card. So I always look at my cash balance and the credit balance and make sure I pay off the credit card every month. I would use debit but I'm throwing away a bunch of miles if I did that (I typically get enough miles for at least one international ticket a year).

You are my target audience! :) To be fair I think most people just kinda live and budget by feel. I have done this my whole life and it worked fine when I was single. However, having a family and more serious financial responsibilities makes things more complex.

The problem with going by feel is that it doesn't allow you to properly save for big things like Christmas or a big holiday. I don't actually follow a budget but I think that actually doing so would provide more freedom not less.
 
No budget that rigid would succeed.

The app idea you described though is pretty much YNAB.

https://www.youneedabudget.com

I havent used this so not sure of its full capabilities. What I am talking about is a payment solution (like credit card or debit) that is tied directly to your budget. It would be a way to budget that is 100% automatic after setup.
 
I havent used this so not sure of its full capabilities. What I am talking about is a payment solution (like credit card or debit) that is tied directly to your budget. It would be a way to budget that is 100% automatic after setup.

This connects to your bank directly and ties every transaction to a budget category. Very nice!
 
Get yourself a koho credit card. Load it with the cash you are willing spend and when it is gone you can't spend more. It pays 0.5% cash back which is better than all prepaid cards.
 

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