Throughout my life, I've tried to get on top of my finances and understand my financial performance. I experimented with numerous finance tracker apps, but none of them truly worked for me.
The main issue was their demand for regular input—logging expenses, scanning receipts, categorizing transactions, and tracking goals. This felt like a burden, and I soon realized that I don't need to micromanage my transactions.
It's pointless for me to know if this week's spending is higher than last week's, or if I spent more on clothes this month than usual. What I truly want is a high-level overview of my savings. Did my wealth increase over the year? Is it worthwhile to diversify savings between CNY and USD? What's the total of my savings spread across several banks, brokers, and crypto-wallets?
To answer these questions, I don't need to track every financial detail; I just need to record my savings monthly, or even at longer intervals. This realization led me to create a simple Google Spreadsheet where I recorded my savings every month or two.
I was very happy with the result: it took me just 10 minutes per month to update my current savings (by editing existing records instead of starting from scratch), and I gained a clear overview of my savings. I could see my total savings in various currencies, their distribution, how much I had left in the country I immigrated from, and whether my money was "working" or just sitting in non-deposit accounts.
From Spreadsheet to App
Initially, I moved all the spreadsheet logic into a web app. I used this app for a few years and then decided to share it with the world. However, distributing a free web app proved tricky. I still had to maintain the infrastructure and worry about saving sensitive user data in MongoDB. That's why I decided to evolve it into a standalone Android app.
So, I started developing an open-source Android version of this app. All data is stored directly on your device, and you can even use it with other tools like spreadsheets for further analysis.
It's in the early stages of development, but you can already start creating your savings notepad.
Small demo: https://youtu.be/abH2uFe2hh0?si=PGXfDr_ZygNBuBfq
Apk available at github: https://github.com/skorphil/savnote/releases/tag/0.5.0
Your feedback is welcome, and feel free to contribute if you're interested!
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